S's sense of humour is very much intact. Sometimes I have no idea what she is laughing about - when I go to bed and she's engaged in conversations with her 'friends' which provoke regular gales of laughter, for example. (I don't mind this at all, in fact it's a very nice soundtrack to fall asleep to.)
But often she makes and enjoys jokes. Today, her care worker was taking her for a routine appointment at the GP surgery. She'd never been before so I started giving her directions for walking - it's not far. She preferred to drive, so I gave her the slightly different driving directions. Three phone calls later (the last of them from a mile away from the destination) I realised that the surgery would have by then closed for its (very long) lunch hour so they should come home. When they were back they were both in very good humour. P, the care worker, told me that she had just said to S, 'Would you give me a job as a chauffeur?'. S had looked at her and said, 'Hardly!'.
She also said that S couldn't tell her how to find the surgery but knew they had gone wrong, which I thought was interesting.
S also enjoys comedy programmes on TV. We watched 'Would I lie to you?' last night and she was clearly following it all the way through and laughing her head off.
The important point for me is that people who ask her questions and get what appear to be nonsensical answers, would have no idea that she could do these things and probably wouldn't believe me if I told them.
I have spent many happy hours volunteering at a day centre for people with dementia, and I completely agree - we have plenty of laughs.
ReplyDeleteI also know that many do learn new things (your previous post); they are especially good at learning new faces (carers, helpers and nurses do change), and I find this interesting.
Yes. Thanks again Lesley.
DeleteMom learned that the man nurse "Jesus" is the one that does sports with them. she can't remember his name, but she sure knows she likes him because she loves volleyball. She learned that she didn't like the "bather" as she wants to bath herself. Names, not so much; but hey, I don't have dementia and I take supplements to help me with names because as a realtor I have a ton of names, addresses, etc., in my memory bank to keep up with.
ReplyDelete