Grandpa Jim : The End Days?
We got a new strip today in For Better or For Worse launching into a Grandpa Jim story arc. I had not expected a new story until next week; but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? 3 solid weeks of aging, ugliness, and “how I hate being a mom” were more than enough for me.
If Lynn Johnston is getting ready to roll us into the endgame, the final weeks of story, then Grandpa Jim’s appearance needs to tell us whether or not he is going to be going into the Sunset Manor for a higher quality of care, or just maintaining the status quo forever.
Today’s strip seems to be in the “status quo” territory, since April is delighted that Grandpa Jim has enough physical dexterity to put up two fingers. Grandpa Jim is back to his usual acerbic thought balloon wit comparing his tricks to those of a dog’s. If Grandpa Jim can actually sit up, beg and roll over; then those would be dramatic improvements in his physical condition previously presented. I expect Lynn Johnston is not thinking about that, and has instead focused on a new joke she heard among her aphasia friends, i.e. “What’s the difference between someone suffering from aphasia and a dog?”
Another possibility I that we are headed into Sunset Manor territory and April Patterson is there with Grandpa Jim either to support him or to give us the emotional feedback from April witnessing her grandfather climb another societal mountain to surpass on the way to death.
There is also the possibility that showing 2 finger is proof positive that Grandpa Jim will make a full recovery; but I doubt even Lynn would go there after all this time.
If Lynn Johnston is getting ready to roll us into the endgame, the final weeks of story, then Grandpa Jim’s appearance needs to tell us whether or not he is going to be going into the Sunset Manor for a higher quality of care, or just maintaining the status quo forever.
Today’s strip seems to be in the “status quo” territory, since April is delighted that Grandpa Jim has enough physical dexterity to put up two fingers. Grandpa Jim is back to his usual acerbic thought balloon wit comparing his tricks to those of a dog’s. If Grandpa Jim can actually sit up, beg and roll over; then those would be dramatic improvements in his physical condition previously presented. I expect Lynn Johnston is not thinking about that, and has instead focused on a new joke she heard among her aphasia friends, i.e. “What’s the difference between someone suffering from aphasia and a dog?”
Another possibility I that we are headed into Sunset Manor territory and April Patterson is there with Grandpa Jim either to support him or to give us the emotional feedback from April witnessing her grandfather climb another societal mountain to surpass on the way to death.
There is also the possibility that showing 2 finger is proof positive that Grandpa Jim will make a full recovery; but I doubt even Lynn would go there after all this time.
posted by howard at 10:27 PM
15 Comments:
Now that the meds have kicked-in and the cloud of depression seems to have dissipated, there is also the possibility that showing 2 finger is proof positive that Grandpa Jim will...continue to be thankful for being alive and rejoice in spending time with loved ones.
Anon NYC
Gramps' transition to an even bleaker ante-room to the afterlife does seem to be where this strip is headed. As I've said once or twice beforehand, it seems to me that he'll be the first one to die off-camera after the first fun strips end. Also, he'll probably be surrounded by people who think that he has no idea what's happening to him. Not even April, his greatest supporter, knows how lucid he really is.
Anon NYC,
continue to be thankful for being alive and rejoice in spending time with loved ones.
Good point. Yes, it hasn't been that long since Grandpa Jim was thinking things like "I remember being merry." A Grandpa Jim who is not constantly depressed and back to making jokes (even if they are just in his own head) are a great improvement. I am still curious about Sunset Manor though, and if Iris or Elly will push it.
dreadedcandiru2,
Not even April, his greatest supporter, knows how lucid he really is.
This is one of the strangest parts of the Grandpa Jim story, where the easiest method of talking to him of using his picture book, has all but been abandoned for these jokes about the people around Grandpa Jim guessing what he is thinking, and then getting excited (as today) when they are right. After all, there have to be jokes that could be made from (mis)interpretations made from the picture book.
There is one aspect of aphasia (like unto the Boxcar comments) that I had hoped would be explored with April, and that is the strange part of accessing parts of someone's brain through music that cannot be done with regular speech. In other words, an aphasic man can sing an old song he knew perfectly fine, but still be barely able to talk. Since Grandpa Jim had stroke #1, I keep expecting April to pick up that guitar and Grandpa Jim to warble along with her on some old favourite of his, and create both a special bonding moment and point out in no uncertain terms that there is still someone inside Grandpa Jim's body. I know from comments in the monthly letters, Lynn knows about this; so this "guessing game" humour does not sit well with me.
I don't much care for it either. By relying on their baffled inability to communicate with the man as a source of cheap laughs, Lynn has unintentionally made the Pattersons look like callous chumps.
Howard,
I keep expecting April to pick up that guitar and Grandpa Jim to warble along with her
And now, with April's recognition that Grandpa Jim's mental state has improved, I predict that this is precisely what we're going to see later in the week!
Anon NYC
Anon NYC,
And now, with April's recognition that Grandpa Jim's mental state has improved, I predict that this is precisely what we're going to see later in the week!
A bold prediction. I hope you are right. I would hate to think it’s going to be a whole week of Grandpa Jim thought-bubbling jokes.
DreadedCandiru2
By relying on their baffled inability to communicate with the man as a source of cheap laughs, Lynn has unintentionally made the Pattersons look like callous chumps.
That is an unfortunate side effect. The part that continually dumbfounds me is why Lynn would go to the trouble to research it, put it in her strip, and then throw out the realism of that communication picture book.
I don't know about that either. It seems to me that they'd have insisted on using that because they have to communicate somehow. Nobody I know of would abandon something useful like that because they had some weird belief that if he didn't make a complete recovery, there was no point in dealing with him.
dreadedcandiru2,
Even a few coffee talkers have asked that question about the disappearing book, so I know the topic is not a forbidden subject. Maybe the book will reappear along with April singing to her grandfather this week.
We could very well have a breakthrough this week, at that. It all depends on what Lynn plans. Either he'll slowly recover off camera or linger as he is now. If April's hopes that he is more lucid than her parents fear are shown to be correct, I can see two things happening: Muted praise from the CTers and a hostile reaction from the Yahoo group who all seem to hate April for reasons that are hard to decipher. Jim Inman in particular seems to despise the child.
dreadedcandiru2:
Nobody I know of would abandon something useful like that because they had some weird belief that if he didn't make a complete recovery, there was no point in dealing with him.
Unfortunately, I found out that such people exist, and while they are the minority, they are apparently not rare amongst the 60-80ish set. My best friend's grandfather had a stroke about two years ago. Her grandmother was raised to believe that all illness/disability is merely laziness and personal weakness. So, when Grandpa was sent home from the hospital, as soon as the home care nurses and the adult children left, she threw out all his communication aids, his walker, etc. She really believes that her husband is just malingering and could walk and talk perfectly if he would just try. She stopped taking him to speech therapy because she felt the exercises were demeaning and pointless. She does not see any point in having him around if he won't act like a totally normal person.
Even stranger, she has managed to find quite a number of people in her community who support her attitude. They especially hate the idea of "picture books," as they are seen to be childish and insulting.
I will say that if I were Grandpa, and trapped inside my own body, with no way to meaningfully communicate beyond the most basic ideas, I would want to die. I would see it as an existence without meaning or joy. It is not possible to have a real relationship with another person without communication. So I would view my continued life as a mistake of modern medicine.
I have strong beliefs that modern medicine has prolonged life far beyond a point where it is useful or enjoyable for many people who are 80+. My own grandparents were infirm by their late 70s, but lived to be almost 90. The last 10 years, they could not care for themselves, or leave the house. My grandmother went blind, and lost all her favorite hobbies after that. They sat in their house and waited to die. And neither one of them felt that the occasional visits of relatives were enough to make that misery worthwhile.
I personally hope Lynn will give Jim a more dignified exit. But her treatment of his affliction, thus far, has been to treat it as cause for a one-liner. Tacky in the extreme, IMHO.
qnjones,
So, when Grandpa was sent home from the hospital, as soon as the home care nurses and the adult children left, she threw out all his communication aids, his walker, etc. She really believes that her husband is just malingering and could walk and talk perfectly if he would just try. She stopped taking him to speech therapy because she felt the exercises were demeaning and pointless.
Personally, I have not encountered this attitude with stroke victims; but my range of experience is very limited in this area. A careful examination of the For Better or For Worse, involving Grandpa Jim shows aspects of this attitude. Presumably Grandpa Jim is still doing speech therapy, but that picture book is long gone and who knows what happened to it?
There was the August 14 -17, 2007 sequence where Iris and Elly talk about how Grandpa Jim is acting like a little kid or being bad-tempered, when he doesn’t act like they want him to act. Or there was the sequence where Grandpa Jim and Iris come to Christmas dinner using the Para-bus with not a sign of Patterson help anywhere for that journey, showing the belief that the Richards must accomplish this task independently.
Nice to see your post, qnjones.
She really believes that her husband is just malingering and could walk and talk perfectly if he would just try.
Unfortunately/fortunately, I know elderly people with severe disabilities and dementia. I haven’t heard of anyone throwing out a perfectly good walker without having something better in its place, but I have observed people in total denial. I remember an 80 year-old man who could not accept that his wife had dementia. He kept saying: “Why is she doing this to me?” By denying her condition he was hoping that she would be OK.
Not everyone who is trapped inside his or her body wants to die. Stephen Hawkins is one person who comes to mind, but there are many others. I think people want to die because they feel that they have nothing to live for. Hawkins has physics and Grandpa Jim has Iris. And this week we have April and this blog! Life is good…
Anon NYC
Anon NYC<
And this week we have April and this blog! Life is good…
::Blushing:: Thanks.
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