Nursing Home Weekend Visit

It's been a while since we visited granddaddy and daddy at the nursing home on the weekend. Grandmama and I go 2 - 4 times during the week so I use the weekends to catch up on things at home.

I took my kids (youngest son is 5, middle son is 8, oldest daughter is 12) with grandmama to see granddaddy and daddy today. They had not seen each other in quite a while (maybe 2 mos?). Yes, I felt like the sorry daughter/granddaughter. LOL

My dad was in the bed, trying to nap (I think). I put his clothes up, talked with his roommate for a bit and then talked to dad. He only looks at me. Sometimes he smiles. Today his eyes searched mine as if looking for recognition. I ask him questions but never expect an answer. His hands were tightly holding the bedspread. Finally I had to go check on granddaddy.

We had wheeled grandmama and granddaddy and parked them in front of his room. Granddaddy's roommate was napping his geri-chair in the room and I didn't want to wake him.
His roommate is a very nice fellow. I think he has had a stroke at some point in this past. I'm just guessing here. It takes him a long time to speak so it takes some patience to listen when he has something to say. He has been in this nursing home a very long time (I'm told). He has a fanny pack on his waist that he keeps just about everything in. One day, he was watching the Cosby Show on tv. It was the first time I had heard him laugh. What a wonderful sound! He likes to watch the kids when they come in as well. I never see any of his family there. Maybe we miss each other, maybe they just don't have time to visit. For some reason, I always feel the need to take care of any roommates my daddy/granddaddy has had. I try to temper that since I have so many other things going on. I have washed some of his clothes on occasion (the facility normally does his laundry but somehow his clothes will get put in with granddaddy's clothes). I bring him the only thing he ever wants which is Captain Black. It's a pipe tobacco. I don't think he gets to use it much but that's what makes him happy. For all of you anti-tobacco people, *get a grip*. When you can't be mobile, you can't enjoy the basics of life, it is *NOT* a bad thing for him to have this simple pleasure. He's living on borrowed time as it is. I would just as soon watch him enjoy the time he has left than deny him on the possibility that he might get an extra day. Now I'm off on a 'quality of life' tangent. Sorry...

Granddaddy was so very excited at seeing the kids. I thought he would never let my youngest go! My kids have been around nursing homes so long that they are very comfortable there. My youngest crawled up in granddaddy's lap and declared himself "Granddaddy's Boy", much to the (pseudo-)chagrine of my grandmama. Grandmama said that she wouldn't make him his cheesy hotdog (his favorite afterschool snack) on Monday if he was Granddaddy's Boy. Granddaddy told him that was alright, he would 'make' grandmama fix his hotdog. It was all in fun. I was glad to see that he still has his sense of humor. When his sense of humor is gone, that is the beginning of the downward slide. Granddaddy couldn't remember their names but I whispered to him wha they were. My kids weren't offended, they knew this could/would happen.

Eventually it was time to go. Granddaddy did his usual "stay 30 more minutes" and "take me with you". This time, he followed us almost all the way down the hall to the exit. He finally stopped, knowing the alarm would go off if he got too close to the door. (He has on a Wander Guard.) We all waved to him and left.

Now onto the laundry.....

Who knows how to get the pee smell out of clothes???? So far the only thing that comes close is washing in cold water with Biz on an extra rinse. I can still smell it but it's not as overwhelming. One day, when the smell was worse than usual, I washed one load of clothes 9 times. It still smelled.

GACK.

Suggestions???