{"id":571,"date":"2013-06-26T14:03:02","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T19:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.caregiversunite.org\/?p=571"},"modified":"2013-06-26T14:03:02","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T19:03:02","slug":"playing-the-hand-were-dealt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/?p=571","title":{"rendered":"Playing the Hand We’re Dealt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_1114\"<\/a><\/p>\n

An activity I\u2019ve discovered that my mom and I can enjoy is the card game of solitaire.\u00a0 Although the name of the game would suggest a solitary player we\u2019ve teamed up to play separate parts to reach the goal of the game.<\/p>\n

Originally, we played solitaire as an afternoon diversion in Momma\u2019s assisted living apartment.\u00a0 As time has gone by, it has also become a tool for me to gauge her state of being.\u00a0 Since she has stopped talking, I read her body language to determine how she is feeling, i.e., does she have a urinary tract infection that needs to be treated.\u00a0 The way she plays cards says it all.<\/p>\n

Whether we are seated side by side at a table or we have a table between us, I initiate the game after we have accomplished the daily ritual of cleaning her teeth, hands, and fingernails, which I follow by rubbing lotion onto her arms and hands.\u00a0 Now I know her hands are clean and how well she cooperated tells me if we can proceed with card playing.<\/p>\n

Some days, her answer is no to the suggestion of cards.\u00a0 However, I may go ahead and deal out the cards in front of her and see if I can engage her interest.\u00a0 I count out the seven cards out loud, over and over, each set of seven, until the game is set.\u00a0 We look over the hand that we\u2019ve been dealt and see if any cards can be played.\u00a0 I play those cards, naming what I\u2019ve done like the red six goes on the black seven, until\u00a0 we\u2019ve played all we can,\u00a0 Then I set the remaining deck in front of her on the table and see if she\u2019ll pick them up.\u00a0 Here\u2019s when I need to wait for her to make a decision.\u00a0 She may eventually reach for the cards to begin the game. I may offer the deck to her and she may accept them. \u00a0\u00a0 If not, I pick them up and count out the first three cards to lay face up.\u00a0 I go on like this until she decides to join in. When the game calls for a card to be turned over, I tap my finger on the card as a queue for her to do so.\u00a0\u00a0 If she has become interested in the game, she will comply.<\/p>\n

I have found that the longer we play, the more engaged she becomes.\u00a0 We may play multiple games, hoping to finally win and when we do, I celebrate with a lot of cheering.\u00a0 This generally elicits a chuckle or smile from her at our success. Eventually, with repetition, she may even initiate laying out the beginning cards, which is quite an accomplishment compared to where we started.<\/p>\n

This time we spend together has become not only a diversion and a communication tool, but also a philosophical attitude. Although the game of life is often played alone, we\u2019ve teamed up to play the hand we\u2019ve been dealt together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An activity I\u2019ve discovered that my mom and I can enjoy is the card game of solitaire.\u00a0 Although the name of the game would suggest a solitary player we\u2019ve teamed up to play separate parts to reach the goal of the game. Originally, we played solitaire as an afternoon diversion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,5,21],"tags":[32,69,72,268],"class_list":["post-571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activities","category-author-publication","category-personal","tag-activities-for-alzheimers-disease","tag-alzheimers-disease-article","tag-alzheimers-disease-information","tag-tips-for-caregivers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4cxZR-9d","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}