Marcie was a very active and amazing 86 year-old with severe anomia. She couldn’t visit with her friends and go out to lunch or church anymore. She was going to have to wait months to get therapy where she lived, so her daughter called The Aphasia Center to see if we could help. With no space at The Aphasia Center, we created a modified program for Marcie to start getting the therapy she needed. So how did she do?
So what ultimately made you decide to come here other than the fact that we were able to get you in, in that two weeks?
That was it! Well, so I just took that as a sign that this is where she was supposed to be.
I’m really glad that it worked out.
I am too. Because it was like “She has to be here” This is, she can get there she can get there right now. That is where she has to go. And i don’t think there was a single thing… and then, just can I interrupt myself so I don’t cry? The condo idea, the apartment, is perfect. We were talking about that the other day. It’s close, we’re right looking over the bay which she loves from living in Hawaii all those years, she loves that. There was no drama. No, we have a condo for you. No, just come right in. Nope, the keys in the lockbox. Nope, it’s all done. There would have been so much drama for us to get here, find a place, make sure it was set up right. We would have been in a hotel. Right, seriously, don’t you think we would have been in a hotel? Residence Inn or whatever. So that whole part might be seamless to you guys but it was perfect for us. Because we just come right in. And when we were coming in this last time, mom and I flew in from Denver to Tampa. And she said “Do we have our same condo?” and I said “We do”. She said “Oh, okay”. Like, even that was familiar for her. So as soon as we got there Sunday morning, we were unpacking the car and she was sitting out there on the lanai watching the boats on the bay. And it was like okay, we’re back home. We’re ready to go. So that was lovely, I don’t know if people tell you about that but it was lovely.
For the record, can you think of another moment at home or anywhere where you saw something that you hadn’t seen from mom in a while?
Pretty amazing, I hadn’t heard more than four or five words in a row. Maybe seven, I would count. “That was seven!” Pretty good, very good. And she just came out with 75 words, 4 sentences explaining her next month. “Going to Jacksonville, going from Saint Pete, going to Jacksonville, we’re in Saint Pete now. Then we’re going back to Colorado, then we’re going out to Napa and you know blah blah blah blah.” You know, really? Where the hell that come from? It was amazing. I never expected. I was just sittin’ there on the couch workin’ on the laptop, I just kind of dropped it and went… “What is that?!”. Pretty impressive.