When I was a little kid, during class mass, we used to pray for the elderly and the "shut in". I always thought that was a sort of wierd phrase. I knew what it meant. It meant those people who had lost their health to the extent that they could not leave thier home, or sometimes even their room. Still, even as a seven year old it occurred to me that they wouldn't be "shut in" unless somebody shut them in....that is, that no one brought part of the world to them in the form of visits, etc.

Mr. T.D. is shut in. His movements are very limited. He can go from his bed to his chair in the livingroom of his two bedroom apartment, which he shares with his wife. His is the bedroom closest to the livingroom. He can also go into the bathroom about once a day. That's it.

Wednesday through Saturday, I got my chance to see how I would do in the more extensive "care giver" role. Mrs. T.D. wanted to visit extended family in PA and they had asked me to live in as housekeeper / companion to Mr. T.D. He had personal care provided by CNA's ( certified nursing assistants) Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to help him with his bath, shave, and other personal needs, and he is alert and able to take his own medicines. He is unable to get something for himself from the kitchen -even so much as a glass of water. Nor can he answer the door, get the newspaper, put the phone back on the charger, retrieve something that has fallen to the floor....you get the picture. So, though he could be left alone for an hour or even two he could certainly not be left by himself for any considerable leangth of time, and I strove to schedule any going out, as for groceries, to the two hours per day that the CNA's were supposed to be there.

Kinda sorta. Mr. T.D. is a veteren. He served in the Air Force during the Korean War. He signed up. The VA ( vets administration) pays for CNA's to come for two hours per day. They are supposed to give him his bath, shampoo, shave, help him do his teeth, change his bedding, launder his sheets and prepare a simple meal for him. It's possible to do all of this in two hours. You don't even have to rush. I know, because I did all of that on Saturday. But only one of the CNA's did - the one who came on Thursday. Mr. T.D. said, "she's the poster child for the agency. They use her in their training videos. She's very compassionate, and professional and everybody - all the patients- are clamoring for her."

I'm guessing they aren't clamoring for the young lady who came on Wednesday, gave Mr. T.D. a lick and a promise, sat down to watch t.v. and left after she had been there for an hour - after calling her supervisor to make sure she would get paid for the time. She said she wasn't feeling well. After she left, I felt a little queasy myself.

I slept in the back bedroom, the one used by Mrs. T.D., which has a little bath attached so there were no privacy issues. I was able to pop out, fully dressed at 7:30 in the morning, as for work. 7:30 is a little early for a Winged Creature such as myself, surely a member of the owl family. However, there wasn't much of a commute.

Over those days, I cooked meals, opened and closed windows, fetched the urinal, did all of the not insubstantial laundry associated with taking care of a gentlemen who is partially incontinent and taking a diuretic, housework, grocery shopping, mail sorting, fooling with the air conditioner and the fan. I guess I was shut in too.

"I don't know how you stood it. I'd have been climbing the walls in 48 hours" The Hub said with a wierd expression on his face....hmmm. Respect!

"I thought it was kind of cool. I was useful. It mattered what I did. I wasn't just moving paper around, ya know?"

"You're a strange bird, Little Bird" said The Hub.

Strange, I guess...but, at least True.