leah's Blog

Entry for May 19, 2007
May 19, 2007 | 10:52 PM PST
Tags: mother's day , gift , rugosa rose , lilac , violet , yarrow

One of my patients' mother was having a rough weekend last Friday night, so I put together a little care package of plants from my yard for her and gave it to her, from my patient, for Mother's Day last weekend. I gave her a rugosa rose baby, 3 pots with 3 stems in each of lilac, 3 pots with 2 starts in each of yarrow, 3 pots with 3 starts in each of violets, and 2 pots with 1 start in each of oriental tiger lily. My patient is 11, has a developmental level much younger, and does not speak, but I told her mother that W was upset that she couldn't get up out of the bed and go get something for Mother's Day, so I promised I would take care of it for her. W's house doesn't have a whole lot of ornamental landscaping and I wasn't sure if her mom had much of a green thumb, so I typed up a letter from W to her mother that included how big each thing would get, what to expect from it, and what sort of care it needed. Along with some more personal stuff purporting to be from her daughter, which may seem odd to people who don't work with children like this, but I assure you, they each have very distinct personalities, know exactly who they do and do not like, and express their feelings quite clearly. At times you can even tell how frustrated she gets that she can't actually speak. I've been working with her for about a year or so now and in the very beginning her mother told me how much it meant to her that I talk to her when she's awake, as some of the nurses do their work in silence, thinking because she can't speak back that it's not important to interact with her. It seems the most obvious thing in the world to me. Anyway, she cried and said she was going to frame the letter.

I worked there again this past Friday and the plants haven't made it into the ground yet, but they're looking well, all except the rose is still a bit wilted. I think the plan was to plant them yesterday. I hope they do well.

(I didn't do anything at all in the yard today other than refill the bird feeder, so a story instead.)