And so it begins...

[rattfan]

Welcome to the new readers of my journal. I'll try to be interesting. I also mean to have more open entries.  Right now I'm not doing much, as it's very hot and I'm also recovering from my New Year 'celebrations.' One good thing about being able to go to bed and get up when you like is that it isn't difficult at all to stay awake past midnight!  Unfortunately I still get woken up at dawn by very loud birdlife, since I live next to a small nature reserve, with its own flock of corellas and just about every other bird you get in Perth.

Today I've been watching Stranger Things, whose fifth season I need to watch while I still have a Netflix subscription. They have a lot of good shows, but their non-ad subscriptions are getting on the pricey side. 

My mother, M, who's about to turn 95 on Sunday, called me this evening in a huge panic because she "could not find all the white crockery!"  Knowing this doesn't take much, I offered to come look, and located the errant mugs in a different, higher cupboard. What happens is one of the paid carers unloads the dishwasher for her and puts them away wherever. It was also just the mugs. Everything else was in its place, but M saw the empty corner and her mind shut down.

I think my sympathy levels have dropped, re the drama M comes out with. Any frustration, she gives up immediately, as with batteries and the hearing aids. "I wish I was dead!" M emotes. Me, "Yes, I know, but give me the hearing aid again anyway." These batteries are very small and circular and are fitted in differently from regular AA and AAAs, and there's definitely a right and a wrong way. It's just not immediately obvious, but M won't try more than once.

I think we're returning to the usual programming.

Comments

[which_chick]

I know hearing aids are super expensive (am having the fight with my dad, age 83, that the "ones he bought from amazon" are complete shit and he doesn't want to spend money to have nicer ones even though he HAS the money) but if it's an option, they do make fairly easy rechargeable ones these days. I never let dad get the battery powered ones because he would balk at the cost and his hands tremble too much for the fine motor control needed to do hearing aid batteries.

[rattfan]

Very familiar story. I explained to M that if she outlaid some money, she could get better ones, and she HAS the money, but no, it would be a waste, she'll be dead soon, blah, blah. The free ones from the government do at least work, when one remembers to change the flipping batteries!

My mum can sort of manage the changing of batteries, but I end up doing it a lot.

I think the only way to get new hearing aids past a senior would be if they looked EXACTLY like the old ones and you go, "Oh no, these are your hearing aids!"