THE MISSING CLOTHING
By Floriana Hall
I am one of the lucky people who had never experienced having a loved one in a care home. My mother died suddenly at the age of fifty-nine and no close family has ever been placed in a nursing home. However, I have visited friends occasionally who were in different nursing homes. That did not lead me to suspect some of the incidents which could happen when there are so many people involved.
This past six weeks, I have found out how the homes operate because my husband, Bob, fell and cracked his ribs. He fell from the second to last step down in the recreation room. Previously, he had fallen six times in 2009 in the living room, outside at our granddaughter’s home, and twice in the bathroom.
It was determined in the hospital that he has had a number of mini-strokes, but the scan did not show when they occurred. After four days in the hospital, he was transferred to a nearby care home where they helped him to rehab.
His clothing was not marked because the aid told me she would mark it. The shift changed and she asked the next aid to mark Bob's clothes but it was never done. One morning in the rehab room while everyone was doing various exercises, Bob noticed the man next to him had a brown shirt on just like his. He said, “I have a shirt just like
that.” There was no reply.
When I checked the small closet, I noticed that some of his clothes were not there, including four pair of boxer shorts, two undershirts, and a new pair of sweatpants. I went down to the laundry room and looked for the missing clothing but without success.
On my way down the hall to my husband’s room, I passed an open door where I spotted a man wearing his missing brown shirt. I told the nurse’s aid that I found my husband’ shirt. It was laughable.
My husband is home now but some of his clothes are missing again, including the brown shirt and boxer shorts, and undershirts. Who knows where they are? I guess I will have to call the laundry room and complain but I have a feeling they will never be found.
Did the washer eat them?
One of my friends told me that practically every time she visits her mother in another care home, her mother is clothed in someone else’s clothing. Guess that is typical when there are so many patients and also so many caretakers.
My husband has been home almost two weeks now, and we may as well say goodbye to the missing items. At least my husband isn’t missing, and I pray that I am strong enough to care for him myself.
FLORIANA BERDYCK HALL was born in 1927 in Pittsburgh, PA, She is a Distinguished Alumna of Cuyahoga Falls High School, OH and attended Akron U. She has been married to Robert for 59 years. They have five children, nine grandchildren, one great-granddaughter. She is author/editor of ten nonfiction inspirational books, SMALL CHANGE, self published; THE ADVENTURES OF FLOSSIE, ROBBIE, AND JUNEY During The Great Depression (2006); THE SANDS OF RHYME, poetry; DADDY WAS A BAD BOY; OUT OF THE ORDINARY SHORT STORIES; HEARTS ON THE MEND (2006); FRANCIS, NOT THE SAINT (2008) and GATHERING GRACES, poetry (2008). Founder/coordinator of the Poet’s Nook at Cuyahoga Falls Library, Floriana is Editor of the group’s four books, VOICES IN VERSE, THROUGH OUR EYES, POET’S NOOK POTPOURRI and TOUCHING THE HEARTS OF GENERATIONS. She has won many poetry contests and is mentioned in WHO’S WHO IN US WRITERS, EDITORS AND POETS, WHO’S WHO IN INTERNATIONAL POETRY, MARQUIS WHO’S WHO IN AMERICA. She has been published in the US, UK, France and India and is a Poetry teacher, YOU, ME, AND POETRY, at www.LssWritingSchool.com. Contact Floriana. .
