Adventures in Alzheimers: I Have a Pimple on my Belly

“There was a little girl, who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good, she was very good indeed, but when she was bad, she was horrid”

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The same thing could be said about Grampy...minus the curl, and the cute little girl.

Me and Grampy Sept. 2014. This was a good day.

Couple Wednesdays ago Mike was out of town and I had full time Grampy duty, so I made my dutiful trek over to his trailer park after a long day at work. In Grampy-land, some days are good days and some days...not so much. On good days, I find him in his recliner, watching a western movie on TV and he remembers that I'm there to give him his daily pills and watch a show with him. On those days he magnanimously offers me (cold) coffee from a (slightly used and stained) mug. On those days he pecks my cheek hello when I reach down to give him a hug.

This day was not one of those days.

I came in through the back door and found him standing at the sink in the kitchen waving a butter knife furiously around in the air and cursing like a frustrated sailor with Tourettes, at no one in particular. I loudly made my appearance known from a distance, keeping an eye on that knife, so as not to surprise him. He whirled around and began ranting at me. “I've been up since 5am cleaning up this !@#$%! kitchen! (the kitchen was clean, as usual) Some damn idiot broke in here last night and made a !@#$%! mess in my kitchen and left all this bread out (pointing the knife at three pieces of semi-stale bread on the counter) and now I have no bread! What kind of !@#$%! would do that!” ….and I'll leave out the rest of his rant.... He was agitated, disoriented, not happy and clearly in the middle of, what I call, an “episode”.

I quickly gave him a huge hug, held him for a minute to calm him down and asked, “Are you hungry dad? Are you wanting a sandwich?” He relaxed and replied “Hell yes I”m hungry!”. “OK”, I said “Let's go get us a sandwich at Arbys. How about that?” He brightened up. “Well OK I guess I'll go with you if you insist”. And off we went. He in his slippers and pajama bottoms which he refused to change. He did don his threadbare, plaid snap-button cowboy shirt though, so he wasn't totally ridiculous-looking.

This is NOT our Arbys...but looks just like it. 

We arrived at an empty (thank God) Arbys and Grampy was a happy camper by then. I walked briskly up to the counter, manned by a cute little gum-smacking teenage girl. I could tell she was new. She had that deer in a headlight look about her and in a small, rote voiced said “Welcome to Arby's can I help you?” At that point I turned around to see Grampy a few steps behind me with his right arm crooked high in the air and his left arm holding an imaginary dance partner, two-stepping it up to the counter and singing loudly to the poor girl “Si, si, si, I have a pimple on my belly”. Her eyes got wider still as she watched him and she nervously chuckled. I gave her an apologetic half-smile, saying, “He's not drunk, honey, he's just old”. But in the 4 seconds it took me to explain this, he had popped open his plaid shirt to reveal his belly...and the frighteningly large hernia that protrudes  from it. Honestly, this thing is as big as a fist and a sight to behold. It's like an alien being with a life all its own. The doctors say he's ok though and too old for surgery so they won't remove it...but I digress. Yes indeedy, he has a ginormous “pimple” on his belly and he's right proud of it. That must have been the last straw, though, because deer-in-the-headlights girl turned around and walked, nay sprinted, for the back— presumably the kitchen. My face bright red, I scolded Grampy as I buttoned him up again “Dad you CANNOT undress in public. You CAN”T do that! You scared that poor girl” He was laughing at me. “But I DO have a pimple on my belly, Cathy. See see see? Hahaha!”

This is before Rottenmeier tried to sell little Heidi to the gypsies

As I was re-dressing the old man, a middle-aged Arby's employee marched from the back (presumably the kitchen) and up to the counter. She was the clone of Fräulein Rottenmeier...the wicked woman from Heidi who tried to sell the poor child to the gypsies. You remember....but again, I digress. Her name tag told me she was the manager and I could tell immediately she was a no-nonsense type manager. She glanced briefly at Grampy then gave me the chastising, thin-lipped, one-eyebrow raised kinda look that you would give to a mother of a troop of unruly 5 year old soccer boys. In a surprisingly non-german accent she asked, unsmiling, “May I help you?” I was flustered. I was mortified. I was dumbfounded...I was hungry. Without asking Grampy what he wanted I told her “Can I have two number 1 combos and make his drink a coffee”. She rung us up. As I was paying, Grampy began to wander off, muttering “where do they keep the damn coffee around here." I quickly clutched his elbow and brought him back to me. “And when it's done would you mind bringing it to our table?” I asked sweetly. She nodded, still unsmiling, and watched us walk away— me looking for somewhere I could sit alone with my mortification...and with fun-time Grampy.

Next time we're going to the drive-through.