Saturday, August 25, 1984

Ruth woke me up five times last night to go to the bathroom and urinated every time. I got about one and three-quarters straight hours of sleep and several fifteeen minute naps. Ruth isn't satisfied anywhere and there comes a time when you just have to leave her in her wheelchair or bed, and look in on her from time to time. If you purposefully disappear while she is in her wheelchair, she will peddle with her feet and turn the wheels of her wheelchair with her hands, and eventually work her way back to her bedroom. It is excellent exercise for her. When she gets to her bedroom, she then wants to go to bed, and then thirty seconds after going to bed, she wants me to get her up again. My boss told me to keep her up for at least twenty minutes at a time. I also understand why the television is on all the time, even though no one watches it. Ruth yells and repeats loudly, even in her sleep. I understand the foam rubber around the bed, baby bed, bumper-style, to prevent her from hurting herself too. Ruth gets a sleeping pill at night, but it only lasts about five hours. She has arthritis, poor circulation, a clogged artery and either a hernia or a tumor that seems to be getting bigger.

Steve had still not moved when I came home this morning, and has arranged to store his stuff at his brother's apartment. His sister told him that she needed her privacy. How stupid to spend your rent money. Greg wants Steve's room, and I am planning on breaking down the furniture in that room Monday and laying the carpet, sometime between 9:15AM and 6:45PM.