Reading to Audrey

For the last couple of months I've been volunteering at a nearby nursing home. I was matched up with Audrey (not her real name), a 97 year old woman who is in bed all the time except for the evening meal. She wasn't very talkative at the beginning. My questions seemed to frustrate her. When I found she played the piano I tried to find out what kind of music she had played but she didn't remember. My question about who her favorite authors were was met with a similar response as if I was making her think too hard. The 2nd or 3rd time I stopped to visit she asked if I would read to her. I was glad to so I started in on a book chosen by her daughter. We are nearing the end of that book and have settled into a routine. I try to get there around 4 on Tuesday afternoon when she is awake after a nap. I ask how she is to which she usually responds, "Oh, about the same." I tell her a bit about my week and she usually remembers what I have told her before. Soon she asks if I'm going to read so I get the book and read until someone comes to get her up for dinner.

Once I thought Audrey had fallen asleep so I stopped reading. Her eyes popped open and she told me she was listening even though her eyes were closed. A few weeks ago she really did fall asleep as there was no response when I reached the end of a chapter. A few minutes later she woke up and felt bad for falling asleep. I asked her what was the last thing she remembered and picked it up from there. That reassured me that she really was listening and understanding. Since she is rather hard of hearing sometimes when we are talking she asks me to repeat something several times. Though she has never stopped me when I'm reading, I've wondered how much she actually understands. That little episode told me that she is at least getting the gist of the story.

This past week she declared that it was too hot to read. She'd fall asleep for sure. It was warmer in her room than usual and we discovered later that the AC had been turned off on her side of the room. Instead of reading we watched a TV game show and then the news together. She always has her TV on mute but her roommate on the other side of the curtain had hers tuned to the same channel so I could hear what was going on and fill in some of the details for Audrey.