Recently I got a call about my dad. I was informed that the nursing home was once again having to switch his room.
Awhile back they moved him because of constant arguing and cussing between him and his roommate. They fought about everything. It got to the point the nursing home decided it would be best to switch my dad to another room.
When they moved him, once again, arguing began. He and his new roommate battled over TVs. They seemed to constantly try to out do the other by blasting the volume on their TVs.
Then the arguing began over the room temperature. That was something my dad fought with his ex-roommate about also. It seems that my dad is always much colder than his roommate. Well being as it was summer temperatures, his roommate was wanting the air conditioner on; my dad did not.
The arguing ended up leading to it getting physical. I’m not sure if I mentioned it before, but my dad is now in a wheelchair. But evidently, he lost control of his temper enough that he stood up and pushed his roommate. He almost knocked the man down. In turn, his roommate shoved him back, knocking my dad back into his wheelchair. When this happened my dad ended up with a couple of small cuts on his hand, presumably from the wheelchair.
Exactly what was this physical altercation over? On a August day, it was over the heater. My dad wanted the heater on and his roommate was too hot so he wanted to turn it off.
One thing that didn’t make sense is why in the world did they put my dad in a bed next to the heater and air conditioner? They knew in his previous room he constantly blasted the heat and was cold. That battle became so bad that the knob to turn the heat down “mysteriously” disappeared. My dad swore he had no idea what happened to it. Sigh. . . It’s summer, so of course the roommate wanted the AC on. Why put my dad next to the AC? They should have seen this was going to once again be a problem.
Anyway, because it became physical, they said my dad had to be moved immediately. So, he is now in a different room.
While there may be some men in their 80’s who are known to get into fights, it is not the norm for all. In this case, it was once again connected to my sworn enemy: dementia. Since dementia set in, my dad can be so unpredictable. One minute he can be semi-cooperative; the next he can get physical. That is one of the biggest reasons my step-mother is unable to have him at home.
It’s so frustrating. Days before this incident, I had approached my step-mother with questions. Since he is pretty much unable to walk, I was wondering if she felt any closer to feeling safe if he were to come home. Then this occurs 🙁
Stupid dementia. . . .