I went to see my friend Laura this evening. I can't find the right thread. Anyway, she was very different today. Her countenance was changed. I was rubbing lotion on her hands and feet, which I always do, and noticed she was holding her hands over her lap in an odd way that I hadn't ever seen. But I kept rubbing moisturizer until I got around to her right hand. Then I could smell feces.
Laura can barely move. She isn't totally paralyzed, she just can only move slightly but she rarely moves at all. But she had managed to put her hands across her lap to try to cover the brown stain on the front of her nightgown. I don't know how long she must have been sitting in it for the FRONT of her nightgown to be soaked.
She must be so humiliated every time she messes the bed. Plus her butt has a terrible bed sore. She'll get blood poisoning again. While her husband documented everything, I went to find a nurse. I told the receptionist who said she'd get the nurse and it was 15 more minutes before the nurse came in.
She was different today. Something is wrong. Well, obviously something is wrong, if you sit in your own poop all day. But Laura would not or could not make eye contact. She stared straight ahead and would not look at me or anyone. When the nurse finally came in, I told her to have fun explaining it to the judge, and I left.
I came home and parked outside my house, just not wanting to go in. I wished my home was a quiet small place where I could be alone to cry if I wished. But my house has noise and people and a crab apple husband inside. I love my family but I'm over them by now. I'm getting older. I need time to myself. I just don't know how to get it.