 On our first visit,
Aspen was extremely interested (nosey is a better description)
in his surroundings and would have loved to have been
able to run around and check every thing out but, instead,
he listened to what he was being asked to do and behaved
remarkably well...sitting, purring and playing with
his dragon fly..his favorite toy..to the delight of
many people. On subsequent visits, Aspen now understands
what he is expected to do and simply does it.
A
normal resident visit usually lasts about 5 minutes.
Aspen sits on a lap or bed listening to the "oohh's
and aahh's" of how "beautiful and soft" he is, while
loving all the pets he is getting. If the situation
warrants a more active performance, he will run in
circles and jump up, endlessly, trying to catch his
toy. I answer their questions regarding what kind of
cat he is, his personality traits, sometimes explaining
what it means to be a 'show cat' and listen to stories
of pets they have loved. It is often difficult to take
him away, especially when he has decided to fall asleep
while cuddling with someone. They say "Oh, he wants
to stay with me!" Margaret, one of the aids, loves
how he rides on shoulders and she will scoop Aspen
up and walk from bed to bed, room to room with him
on her shoulders (I smile and quietly follow!).
Although we are supposed to be visiting only certain
floors each time, there are several people (and that
list is growing) who somehow find out that Aspen is
in the building and the nurses hunt us down with requests
of "special" visits to his biggest fans. And, yes,
he does have a fan club..I have given his picture to
many of the residents and it is quite comical to walk
into many rooms and see MY cat's picture displayed
on bulletin boards, dressers, TVs and tucked in corners
of family portraits..with explanations given of "Those
are the people in my life that I love, and I love him
too". |
ADDENDUM - 8/6/04 :
This therapy thing just keeps getting better and
better... Yesterday, the Alzheimer's lady (from
my last story) TALKED!!! She continues to be very
alert the minute he sits on her lap and after he
was with her for a while, she looked straight at
me and said "I love him so much".
Several other
times she said something directly to Aspen, but
we could not understand the words. During last
visit it seemed several times like she was going
to cry; this time she actually smiled a number
of times when she was looking at/petting him.
The visits are drawing a crowd - the staff is
enjoying her break-throughs and continues to state
that
the cat is the only thing that makes her alert
to her surroundings. She waves bye each time
we
leave. I promise her that I will bring him back
soon, and this time she grabbed my hand and squeezed
it.
On the funnier side, one lady thought he was "a beautiful dog" but "liked my
jewelry better than my beautiful dog" (I left making sure I still had it on!)
...and, boy this was a first....one guy thought he was a badger!!! |
|
Because a number of people have suffered strokes,
their motor skills are impaired, making it difficult
for them to 'gently' pet a skinny Siamese. I find it
necessary to be constantly alert to this and sometimes
have to strongly hold someone's hand to assure that
Aspen is not in harm's way. This exact problem was
covered as part of the training from the Delta Society.
I'm very impressed with the thoroughness put forth
by the Delta Society in this regard, as I feel confident
that I have been properly educated on situations to
watch out for and how to handle them kindly and correctly.
Not only does Aspen glow in the light of many a smile,
he has also created some happy tears. As a victim of
stroke who rarely smiles and is not able to speak,
he was quietly curled up being petted on this woman's
lap; she had a smile from ear-to-ear and was 'belly-laughing'..
the whole time with tears of joy streaming down her
face.
Aspen now probably knows the entire life's story of
this lonely, old Polish woman who speaks no English
and was unable to converse with the staff. He sat on
her lap, they stared into each others eyes for many
minutes and she just kept quietly talking to him (in
Polish!)..he listened and was interested in everything
she said..there was no language barrier.
Dot, Aspen's biggest fan by far, is a very spunky,
85-year-old woman (dressed in capris and a sailing
t-shirt!), who was one of the original founders of
the Animal Rescue Foundation in Terryville, CT. Not
only does she request a special visit each time we
are there, she sometimes goes from floor to floor by
herself in her wheelchair until she finds which room
we are in! Although Aspen's visits touch many people,
I truly feel that it means the most to Dot. Having
been someone who devoted much of her life to helping
stray and abandoned animals and knowing (maybe better
than many other animal lovers) the deep, true meaning
and importance of the human/animal bond, I simply cannot
imagine how empty it must be for this woman not to
be able to reach out and feel soft fur whenever she
wants.
There are, of course, people that do not like cats
(however, not too many in this facility). A few are
just plain grouchy and say "I don't want to see that
thing". But Aspen has managed to convert a large majority
of this small group of self-confirmed cat-haters. The
scenario many times has gone like this: We walk into
a room and say "Hi, we have a visitor for you. Do you
like cats?" The person says "No, I hate cats..no use
for them..you can't trust them." Then we say "Oh, that's
okay but we're just going to see if your roommate wants
to visit with him for a while." After watching Aspen's
visit with the roommate, on our way out, the confirmed
cat-hater almost always says "Hey, bring that cat over
here..I don't want him sitting on me, but I want to
see what he looks like better." We oblige the request..then
you hear "If I wanted to pet him, he's not going to
bite me, is he?"..then you hear "Well, you know, I
told you I hate cats but do you think that he would
sit on my lap?"..and Aspen goes to work again. It's
quite funny! However, I find it sad that they have
passed through a whole lifetime of missing the warmth,
softness, joy and love cats add to your life.
We have also done group visits with a gathering of
residents in the recreation room. I was somewhat skeptical
of this at first but actually found it to be more interesting..with
many people asking questions and others responding
to my answers..and many people telling the group tales
of animals they once loved..and others trying to top
those stories! Aspen, in the meantime, will sit with
someone for a while and then decide it's time to move
to someone else's wheelchair/lap by using their legs
as a bridge!..he makes it around the whole room like
this.
When I started bringing Aspen for therapy visits,
I made the comment that the most satisfying thing would
be to encounter just one big breakthrough with someone;
someone who lives trapped in their mind/body and does
not respond to outside stimulus. I didn't know if it
would ever happen, but could only hope. My wish has
not been long in coming. On our last visit, the aid
and I walked into a room of an Alzheimer's patient,
with the aid explaining that we'd give it a try but
this woman has responded to nothing in a very long
time, so we'll make it quick. I put Aspen on her lap
and then I took her hand and started making petting
motions on him with it. Within seconds she jerked her
head down to look at what was on her lap and exclaimed "Oh!" I
no longer had to help her pet the cat; she took over
all by herself. You could tell this was someone who
had petted many a cat in her time..she knew what she
was doing...she was so gentle and just kept stroking
him over and over; she actually stayed focused on him
the whole time. Aspen stayed with her for about 20
minutes. By the time we were done, there were about
10 nurses in the room with us..no one could believe
what they were seeing. I asked if I could please take
a picture and the aid said to her "Look over there
at the camera."...and she did!!!! Everyone started
clapping. I almost started crying.
I have found this whole experience very enlightening
and am looking forward to continuing to visit with
these people and meet new ones. Many of their stories
are very interesting; listening to life experiences
of those now in the twilight of life is heart-warming.
Being able to experience this with my very special
Lilac Point guy by my side is awesome! And, true to
who Aspen is, he continues to love these new adventures,
thrives on all the attention and is bringing lots of
smiles to the faces of lonely people. YOU GO, BOY!
Mary Soucy |
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