Beware the Super Moon

The second full moon of the month, a blue moon, was also a Super Moon, and I experienced the effects of it when I visited my mother. From the moment I walked it, I could feel an awkwardness in the room. The people who usually greeted me glanced away or sat sullen. I looked across the room and couldn't find my mother. The nurses were not around, though a staff member was on hand. Ah, there's my mother, sitting near the door to the deck, head slunk over, arms dropped by her side.

A kitchen work entered the room and saw my mom, "Connie, wake up. You have a visitor." Little movement. Eyes could not open, head could not be raised. I talked with my mom and asked, "Am I bothering you?" "Yes." "O.K. Keep sleeping."

As I sat there, a woman approached me and started conversing in groans. No staff was nearby to redirect her. Another woman kept asking me to open the door so she could leave, and I confessed I did not have a key.

After a while I got a chocolate ice cream out of the freezer in case my mother woke up and wanted her chocolate, but a woman stood over me and shouted, "Take my food. Take my food. Let me bite it. I want it." I tried to explain that I cannot give anyone any food but I could get someone to help her. She just repeated more loudly her phrases.

As I stepped away from her to let her compose herself, one woman grabbed me and another uttered a swear word. I kept moving to safety. Another woman came up to me and said, "You are the only one who can help me. All the others left." Each person seemed to have their own drama.

Then the once-mute woman wheeled up to me and said, "Hey, what's up?," and then went on her way. A woman with intellectual difficulties kept shouting praise for me and saying "You are the only one to talk to me."

Then I sat near the empty nurses station and a different intellectually challenged woman sat down at a piano and started to play songs while a song leader inspired many to sing. The pianist was certainly a happy savant.

I visited my mother over the course of the hour and a half and only once she lifted her head and said, "Hi Baby," and sunk back to sleep. I might want to try a different time to visit when she is alert and full of spunk.

I left and drove back to Boston to face massive traffic delays.

My sister selected a hospice service this week. No substantial changes will occur with my mother's care. She will remain in the same place and the hospice service will visit her twice a week and will set a plan for her medication and comfort.