Al and His Telephone

Wednesday Kristen brought Al his telephone. When I arrived, he was still sleeping, but the aide woke him for dinner. It was funny to hear the aide, “Albert, you need to wake up….Albert.” Apparently he was very tired from the morning therapy and slept most of the day. I am thinking of calling him Albert now, and when I mentioned that to him, he made a face. Anyone that wakes up after being sound asleep would be a bit incoherent, I know I am if awakened like that.

Back to the telephone. When we told Al that his phone was there, he immediately wanted it, and tried to make a call. The phone did not work, and he became frustrated. I called Kristen to ask her about it, and she said it would be corrected the next day. This was not satisfactory to Al, and he became agitated over this. I told him it would all work out, and his frustration continued. I received another call which told me how to re-activate it, and I did that, telling Al that it would be an hour until it worked again. Every five minutes he continued to check it, and I told him, just wait and it will be fine. Now I am telling you this because sometimes things in life that we are used to be in control of, we are not. That can be frustrating. For Al, the telephone is one thing that he can control, and the level of frustration became elevated when he could not control it. We need to keep these things in mind as we visit with him.

As far as the dinner, he didn’t want any part of it. He kept saying, “This is just awful, I don’t want a thing!” Now Al has lost a considerable amount of weight, and I told him if he didn’t eat, he would end up half the man he used to be (Physically). To that he smiled.

Yesterday, Al’s phone was working because he called me. Some of you may also have gotten a telephone call now that Al can talk and has his phone. It continues to amaze me at the progress.