Thursday 18 August 2011

A Day of Two Halves

This morning I spent an hour sitting with Vera. 93 years old and she is not 'going gently into that good night'. The screaming was hard to cope with but the weirdest thing was the way she kept looking intently at someone I couldn't see. The curtain between the living and the dead seemed very thin today.....

....then later, after the ambulance took Vera we had some entertainment. A duo, who my manager had told me were very funny, came to sing and play music. Well they were funny all right - Ken is the Les Dawson of the concertina world whilst Deirdre sang even more bum notes than he played. Irene kept giving me a worried look that said 'where's the Candid Camera?' whilst Dorian (who deserves a whole post of her own) didn't stop sniggering all the way through, then blamed me afterwards for having a cheeky face. Whatever charms I may possess by the way, a cheeky face isn't one of them :S. Needless to say my work colleagues all showed clean pairs of heels, leaving me singing-along by myself, as usual. Looking on the bright side Ken and Deirdre were cheap, knew every song from the 30s to the 60s that we threw at them and are keen to come back. And the residents enjoyed it once they realised they weren't part of 'You've Been Framed' so that's all that matters.



From tragedy to comedy in six hours.

6 comments:

  1. I knew someone who spent time in hospital, and her bed was across the way from an old lady who was dying.

    As the woman was on her way out of this life she began thrashing about and screaming out in terror, and fighting off something. She died like that. I do wonder what exactly we see as we slide into the next dimension.

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  2. fab post Keshling!
    fee x
    (I have a cheeky face!)

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  3. You took my breath away with this post, beautiful and moving. x

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  4. Good post. Entertainment sounds fab - you should have secretly recorded them! (That's a bit sneaky, eh?)
    Liz & Shortbread & Ginger

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  5. I worked in care for many years with the elderly who sufferd with Alzheimers, and brain injury and profound complex learning needs. I always used to feel very humble to hold someone's hand as they passed away and to be able to lay them out was a great honor and very humble time the last special time and thing i could do for them. I would always open the window to let their spirit fly. Reading your post touched me as i understand just what you mean. take care, dee x

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