Adapt and make Adjustments

Monday Evening, December 30, 2013.....its windy and cold out there tonight, but after all it's the end of the year, so not unexpected

So I wanted to Blog about my Lady friend.  This week's Therapeutic Harping has had some new challenges and on top of that, my Lady is sick with the upper respiratory flu.  That alone is cause to worry as her Immune System is compromised to begin with and then you add this virus to it and she is a very sick Lady.  Now, having said that, she is also a very strong-willed Lady and I think she will fight with everything she has to kick this.

I had to write about the Priest coming in today to give the Anointment of the Sick to my Lady.  I am not Catholic, but I know a few things about the Catholic Faith since I have worked for the Catholic Church for several years, which includes 2 Priests.  I am not one to hold back on the questions, so I asked many and got some pretty cool answers too!  I had read some of the Prayers from the Prayer Book sitting around the Rectory and they are comforting and pretty straight forward.  I was ready to witness this Rite that was about to be given.

When the Priest walked in, I was playing the Harp, to which he said, "how very nice".  So I introduced myself and asked how he was to which he replied, "I'm good, I'll have what you're wearing".  I cracked up because he was pointing to my Face Mask.  He asked where he could get one and I told him I had one left and it would be the "right" thing to do by giving it to him.  Ok...a good chuckle for sure.  I asked if I should leave and he replied, "not unless it will make you uncomfortable".  Ok, great I am staying.  I told him my Lady could hear him and would understand he was there, so he moved closer and spoke so beautifully to her.  I guess I expected something a bit more "somber" but instead he was upbeat and cheerful.  When he was done and we closed with the Lord''s Prayer (her favorite) he was like, "ok you are good to go now!"  I just smiled after he left, thinking how wonderful life is.....so I played "It's a Wonderful World" on the Harp.

I'm going to back up the afternoon a bit and write about when I first got there.  I noticed her breathing was VERY slow and they had put her on Oxygen.  Hummmm, this is where I have to go back and starting planning my tunes.  Most of what I play for her is upbeat, familiar tunes with a Pulse Tempo of about 75-80, but it didn't seem right today so I started with Unfamiliar, 60 BPM and stayed with that for about 40 minutes.  Most of this time she was sleeping, but when she woke, she engaged and smiled.  She was very aware of my being there and slowly I changed my tunes to 75BPM and switched over to some of her favorite familiar tunes.

So here is a new challenge for Therapeutic Harping in a 2-Patient Room....her Roommate BLARES her TV at top volume....it's that simple.  It is so annoying and she is fighting her own battles so you can't be angry with her.  It is so distracting for me and I am sure most of the time she was in the room my Lady can not hear the Harp.  The good news is the Roommate can hop in her power-chair and scoot herself out of the room....so as soon as she would leave, I would turn off her TV..10 min later she was back, louder than ever.  I don't know what the solution is.  I am not normally in that room with my Lady, I take her to the Dining Room or the Day Room but with her being so sick, she can't leave her room.  I guess the Musician in me comes out when I change keys to the whatever is playing on her roommate's TV....in 10 minutes I played in 3 different keys, LOL   So I think in order to get along in this wonderful world we live in, we must adapt and make adjustments which is exactly what I did!