I recently joined a Facebook group for caregivers of people with dementia. A lot of the people on there are caring for folks who are in their 80s and 90s, but some of them are in the same situation I am in; caring for someone who is WAY too young to be dealing with this horrible disease.
One woman recently posted that she had been sewing something on her sewing machine and accidently ran over her finger with the needle and called out for her husband to come help her. He got up from his chair to come to where she was, but then forgot that she needed help and then sat back down and continued watching TV. She had to handle removing the sewing machine needle from her finger all on her own.
That story really stuck with me for two reasons. Number one: I’ve been sewing for probably 45 years. I’ve never come close to sewing my finger in the machine (now, watch me do it this coming weekend.) After I got over the queasy feeling that thinking about an injury like that gave me, I can’t imagine how on earth she did it! The space under the needle is too small to fit your finger in. And two: I have to be grateful that M isn’t NEARLY as bad off as this woman’s husband seems to be. If I yelled to M that I had hurt myself, I think his curiosity would overcome anything else and he would be compelled to find out what I had done. But, I can see that he will most likely lose that.
I am noticing that more and more things are being left half-way done. When I got home from work yesterday, M was supposed to have cut the grass. I saw that the political signs we have in our front yard (local “vote for so-and-so” signs) had been taken up and that part of the yard was cut, but the main part of the grass near the house hadn’t been touched.
He came outside as I pulled into the garage and I asked him about the grass. He said that he had cut it, but then he looked at the yard and saw that only half of the front yard had been done. He laughed and said that he must have stopped early and that he would finish it tomorrow. Fine – no big deal.
This morning, as I was getting ready to leave for work, he told me that he remembered why he didn’t finish the front yard. It was because our dogs had gotten out of the house (which means the door to the house had been left open . . . by him) and had come into the front yard while he was cutting the grass. He stopped mowing and put the dogs back up and then put the mower away after he put the dogs back in the house. Again, not a big deal, but it’s obvious that he didn’t remember to finish the job once his attention had been taken away from it.
On Sunday, my mom was over and we had some ice cream. I asked him to put the ice cream away as part of cleaning up after lunch. He put the lid on the ice cream and then put it back on the kitchen counter. My mom came behind him and put the ice cream in the freezer.
None of these things are vital or critical. Nothing would have been impacted if they had gone undone. But I’ve noticed that I have to check behind him to make sure the doors are locked at night and all the lights are out – even if he is the last one to come upstairs to bed.
More changes I have to be aware of and think about.
I sewed over my finger. I was doing a very intricate project and it happened. Not as bad or painful as you think it is.
OMG – you’ve made my stomach hurt again. It sounds horrible!
I ran my needle into the end of just my fingernail once while sewing in a zipper and having my fingers too close. I would guess with different foot attachments and doing intricate work where you’re really holding closely, you could potentially catch maybe the corner of your finger?
I guess you could just keep in your mind that you have the equivalent of a teenager in your house now? Doesn’t finish things because they get distracted and forget, puts nothing away, never closes doors, doesn’t turn off any lights, will argue over nonsensical things. ❤️
And now you’ve made my stomach hurt again, too! That’s just too painful to think about!
You’re right – I do have a surly teenager in the house again. Yuck!
I have been sewing since 8th grade (we had Home Ec classes way back then) and I have never stitched my finger(s). I understand how that could happen with a zipper foot or some other specialty foot, but I am with you, I don’t see how that could happen with a standard foot, unless you have really skinny (boney) fingers.
Cheech’s comment about the teenagers is right, but I’m pretty there are a lot of adults like that, it sounds like something my brother would do, except he wouldn’t forget, he just doesn’t finish what needs to be done.
🙂