Balloons and quarantine

Friday, January 6, 2017
Mom, Donna and Ailene were already having dinner when I arrived.  Jacquie wasn't there.
We had Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies (cauliflower, carrots, etc.) Dessert was apple crisp.  They forgot to give me one, but I ate mom's leftovers.  It was good.
I brought clementines from Morocco for the girls.
Mom really likes them.  She was even able to peel one for herself.
It looks like many patients at St. Michael's are under quarantine.
There weren't that many people in the dining hall.
Ming said there were no horse races this evening because everyone touched the die so tonight they were going to play with a balloon.  Each participant gets a foam noodle with which to swat a giant balloon.  That facilitator uses a badminton racquet to swat a giant balloon to each person and they try to swat it back at him.  It's quite fun, but you have to wait your turn.  I notice that the residents get distracted and forget what they are supposed to do.
Shanta was quite proficient at this.  I thought mom would be better, but I think she got distracted. She was able to hit the balloon but not with the force that Shanta did which seems strange, but I think part of it was that mom was unsure how to hold the noodle.  Or maybe her noodle was limp.
The volunteer was a young Asian male and he was the facilitator, as Ming went to do an activity in another area of the building.
I noticed that Joan, the lady that has the bed beside mom's had a large bruise on her face around her eye.  Yikes!  Joan's daughters were there (or maybe granddaughter?).  They said she fell.
I talked to Sharon on the skytrain last night and she said her mom had a fall.  Her daughter who is a nurse, went to investigate and it turned out that she had had a stroke and she is now paralyzed on one side.  Sharon said you have to check all the time because not all the staff at the nursing home has proper training.  She said that after the fall, staff had checked her mom and thought that she was fine, but the next day she couldn't get out of bed.  To her daughter who is a nurse, it was obvious because half her grandmother's face was sagging that she had had a stroke.