Today I took some time to visit my 98 year old grandma in the nursing home and then “broke her out of jail” as she calls it, for some dim sum at a nearby restaurant. It seems like she really hated the place as they cooked crappy food (she was a really good cook), rushed her during bath time, didn’t have enough activities and in generally, she was really bored. We only asked her to go to the nursing home (at age 95) after she kept falling and bleeding when her head hit the walls since she was on a lot of aspirin.
She described one of the activities, in which all the residents are suppose to sit and listen to Chinese Opera in a common area on a big screen:
Nursing Home Worker: Hi, would you like to join us in listening to some Chinese Opera with the others?
Grandma: No, my leg hurts.
Nursing Home Worker: The music is so beautiful. Your leg won’t hurt after listening to it!
Grandma: What kind of BS is this? Of course my leg will keep hurting. If I fall, can you even lift me up little woman?
The worker ran away soon after this conversation. It’s not hard to imagine where I get my cynical humor from as I started laughing after this story.
Grandma also described some of the residents she avoids:
The 94 year old lady – I can’t talk to this lady who is in a wheelchair, she is crazy. In the beginning she asked, “What is your last name?” So I told her. Then she kept asking me, again and again, “What is your name?” OK, that was annoying. But then at meal times, she would say, “Oh, my mother-in-law is waiting for me to eat” and then she would wheel herself out of the dining room. She is 94, I’m pretty sure her mother-in-law is dead!
The new resident – Recently at my dining table, they assigned a new resident, a man. He won’t go to physiotherapy because he says nothing is wrong with him. I told him something must be wrong with him, or he wouldn’t be here! He is also a pervert because he keeps looking at the nurse’s butts. He claims he can tell their fortune by their faces and touches them. Yuck!
When I have time, I try to call or visit grandma as she is quite lonely. My mother says she shouldn’t complain as she is fed and someone does her laundry. Mom plans to run for senior president on the floor and party once she gets to the nursing home. My dad says that is BS…oh well…things to look forward to!
Musings of a Generic Asian 