Demolition Ma Style

Ma sometimes has trouble operating her motorized chair. She'll do fine for awhile and then BAM!! The damage that gets done during these crashes is like the elephant in the room that no one mentions. Her bathroom as been the worst. She hit the door so hard that it drove the door stop right into the door making a large hole. Fortunately it is at the top of the door, so it's not that noticeable. One wall in her bathroom seems to be her favorite crash site these days.

It was in bad shape with holes galore. She decided she wanted to have her bathroom painted and one of our sitters agreed to do it, but of course the wall needed to get patched. The sitter - Pam - was very patient and kind and patched the wall, sanded it and painted it. Within one day it had scrape marks where Ma got too close and the arm of her chair was dragged along the wall. More holes have had to be patched, sanded and repainted several times in several weeks.

I have seen Ma go full speed ahead into our fireplace, into furniture (which has all kinds of dings and scrapes now), into the railings on the deck, into bricks around the gardens etc. Sometimes she just can't stop. She completely loses it and even if you are telling her to stop or that she's running into something she still keeps going. She rarely says anything after one of these episodes although sometimes refers to the chair having "just taken off".

Today before I came home I called the morning sitter - Deb - to ask her to come in a little early tomorrow as I have an early appointment. She said that when Ma was pulling away from the breakfast table, instead of going through the door, she went the other way and crashed into the wall under the window. Deb said she seemed totally disconnected from the incident. Of course, when she realized what had happened, then she wants Deb to get the patching compound out to patch the holes.

When I got home she was eating at the table and the extra kitchen chair was pulled over in front of the patched area, I guess so I wouldn't notice. I don't want to embarrass her so I just pretend I don't see these things.