IN A BIT

When you ring the bell for the nurse she comes to ask you what you want, after you tell her she says "In a bit".   When you ask if it is time for dinner she says, "In a bit".  When you call to a staff member as they are going by your door they say, "I'll be back in a bit".   Howard had a whole list of things that is responded to with "In a bit".  Actually they seem pretty quick to return but I wonder if that administrator part of him is emerging again and in an attempt to organize his routine, "In a bit" only works sometimes.  When Kris and I arrived this evening he and Kathi were working on his recognition of the basic schedule that the staff follows.  He said he was relieved that he didn't have to be responsible - he would just wait.  Actually Kathi was helping him with therapy that the speech therapist asked her to do.  He is still having a hard time remembering the sequence of things and wonders if he might have to go back to OHSU again.  We assured him that he is in the very best place for now.   It is a much closer step to home.  The staff in this rehab is doing a terrific job for him.

He asked Kris how his clients are doing and for us to bring a really good book for him to read before he goes to bed.  That is something he has done for years.   It should be comforting for him to slip into an old routine.  He described his old favorite schedule to a tee.  Perhaps, in a bit, he will be able to follow it.