Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Aukje de Vries' Diary Day 31

It is not quite so grey as the previous days, but it is dentist’s day again. I get there just in time, at 12.00 noon, but the dentist is half an hour late. I get a choice: wait or get another appointment. I prefer to wait, that is to say, I go outside for half an hour. The sun tries to come out. Obviously the dentist does not have lunch and my appointment starts at 12.45. From where I lie I can see the sky. Does the sun come out? Is the sky blue of grey? I can’t see. The upper windows of the dentist’s office are very dirty. After an hour an a half the ordeal is over. The dentist is satisfied. He encourages me: everything is going according to plan. So far no bad luck. From now on the frequency of the appointments will decrease, the worst is over, so it seems.

I do not feel ready to be very active the rest of the day.

My friend Anne calls. She has read the article about Mea Vita and buurtzorg in last Saturday’s newspaper and asks me if I have seen it. She thinks, rightly so, that I will be interested. She has more experience with care than I do. Quite some time ago she has had a hip replacement but it was not done well. She now has had her third operation on the same hip and is in rehabilitation. She is taken care of in a care home and she tells me that in this home they have just opened a spiritual centre.

She has gone there and she liked the atmosphere. She says that she is very glad there are institutions like this care home, because where else could she have gone? Her own home is an apartment in Amsterdam on the third floor. There is no elevator in the building. She is looking for another apartment, but finding an affordable place to live in Amsterdam is a problem.

She tells me that she thinks her care home is quite good, although it is large. Therefore they can also organise quite a few activities for their inhabitants. I am glad to hear. She will leave in one or two weeks but it is not yet clear whether she will go home or somewhere else. She will continue to need some help in the time to come.

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