My gramps the Pill Pocketer + 88th Birthday Party

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You know, my grandfather is very smart. Almost too smart. However, he has reverted back to being a kid in some sense. I kiddingly call him, “gramps the pill pocketer.” If you follow us on social media media, you know he turned 88 years old this past weekend and he has been hiding his pills in his pocket after the nurse leaves. This is according to my grandmother. SO, we did a little investigating. 

My grandmother ratted him out a couple weeks ago telling my aunt that he has been putting his pills in his pocket and pretending to swallow them. Now, I have been there when the nurses give meds and they literally watch him swallow so at first, I thought he was just being difficult with my gram and trying to aggravate her, by saying he wasn’t taking them. BUT he got caught while my other aunt was there and he claimed, the pill was burning his tongue and that’s why he took it out of his mouth. Hmmmm, clearly he had thought that through prior in case he got caught. The nurse was like, “what do you mean, the pill burns your tongue?” His response was, “I am not taking those pills anymore. I never had to take them before and I’m not going to start now.” Now he is known as the pill pocketer. I am sure he isn’t the first resident to pocket his pills! -ha. 

You see, my grandfather thinks that once his meds are adjusted, he can come home. Like, live at home….for good. I am partially to blame for that thinking because the only way we could get him to go to the nursing home voluntarily 4 months ago, was to convince him that his medications needed to be adjusted for his dementia and diabetes.

Prior to putting him in the Nursing Home full time, the doctors recommended that we explain to him that the medications needed to be monitored 24/7 by professionals at the nursing home and until they could figure out his med dosage, he would need to stay there. Each day that passes, he gets a little worse with confusion and sometimes, he thinks he’s in his 30’s doing push ups in the military. He asked me again yesterday, to bring him his knee pads because his knees hurt from doing pushups. He is NOT doing pushups, he just thinks he is. Man, I hope I don’t end up as mixed up as he is at his age. While it’s funny sometimes, it’s pretty sad. 

Updated to add video:

 

He turned 88 years old this past Sunday and we had a big family gathering at the nursing home to celebrate. He was on his best behavior and was happy and chatty. The day was all about him, so of course he was well behaved! -ha 

My aunt got him a pair of headphones so he could wear them in his room as his roommate has his TV and radio very loud all the time. My grandfather decided to have a talk with his roommate about it and I’m guessing it didn’t go so well as every time I am there, the radio is blaring. He told my aunt the headphones were going to pop his brain out they were so tight.- ha.

So that’s the pill pocketer story for the week. -ha. I often wonder how many more birthday’s he will have. How many more Christmas’s he will have. It’s a pretty strange feeling watching my grandparents age and deteriorate. I mean, we are all aging and deteriorating but they are just doing it more visibly I guess. It’s hard to explain. My grandmother has her follow up oncology appointment tomorrow which hopefully goes well. They will determine if the radiation she completed last month, helped stop the tumors from squeezing her esophagus and if she will be able to come home for short visits. She is so depressed at the Nursing Home and I don’t blame her. More on that later this week.