memory

We never asked why my father can't remember.  However, the visiti ng Nurse-Supervisor launched into a fairy tale to explain:


You see memory is like a river.  When it runs long, it runs deep.  If it is temporarily diverted, those small branches are nothing as compared to the long-running, central stream.


ERGO, by implication, she seemed to suggest:


Don't be surprised if, when your father wants to get up, he simply forgets his walker.


And I thought to myself the following:  Who is her audience?  My mother?  Or me?  Or both of us?
Do I need a fairy tale to aid my understanding?


Sorry, but this is nothing more than a new version of the old story of the drug with power to put people to sleep---say it in Latin, it's more impressive.  It has a sleep-inducing power or virtus dormitiva.


I'm not going to get more detailed, but the nurse's words were worthless.


We already knew that my father has trouble learning new things---or remembering new things.


And if the nurse had been listening to me, (and supervisors/managers by definition never  do)
she would have realized the idiocy of her little story-----because I went on to say:


But my father can learn.  He has gotten in the habit of adding the cannula to his nostrils, so that
he gets oxygen while sleeping.  


And what I didn't say because I'm polite (and will add now to make the point clear)  And that's not the product of eighty or sixty or however-many long
years of the river rushing onward.  At best, that's the result of four months of practice!


So, how come this new river-stream is running so strongly?


The comparison with a river is empty.  It is no better than saying:  Some things he remembers; some things he doesn't----because some things he has done many, many times in the past.


But, my example illustrates that some recent additions to memory survive.  And the pseudo-explanation makes no room for that.


Now, as a Nurse, someone should get some basic appreciation not merely for random facts, but also for the scientific method.  In this case our Visiting Nurse-Supervisor has shown her lack of a basic grasp of scientific method.


You may say, her story only helps people accept reality.  yeah, right, after three years of living with my father who is increasingly senile, I need someone to remind me----Someone who only sees him every month (at best).  Neither I nor my mother need an outsider to interrupt our routine, and get on a soapbox with a bit of pretentious puffery to remind us of facts we see every day.


The whole business is not only absurd but also insulting.