an eccentric old man

 I met Mr. K. in the summer of 2022. Before I met him, I noticed the spelling of his name was different from the common spelling of mainland China, so I thought he was from Hong Kong or Taiwan. But later I found that he was indeed from mainland China, so I thought the staff in the hospital misspelled his name. However, it turned out he changed the spelling himself after he went to the USA. 

Mr. K.  was in his late 60s or early 70s. He has a modest figure, and a relatively big head with some sparse hair. According to the information I got from Mr. K. and hospital staff, he was an engineer before retirement and worked in the United States patent and trademark office. Thus, he must have a great educational background. In fact, his English was pretty good, which made me doubt the necessity of my service. Soon, I acknowledged the reason. Mr. K. behaved eccentrically in the rehabilitation hospital. Although I had met several weird patients, Mr. K.was the most erratic person I ever met so far.

 It was not clear if it was his true personality or because his emotion control was affected by his disease. Mr. K. was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease some time before he had a stroke. I heard that he had been hospitalized for about half a year before he was transferred to the rehabilitation hospital.  Complaining about dizziness, headache and extreme fatigue all the time, Mr. K. also had double vision because of his stroke, which needed to be corrected by special eye glasses.  The stroke significantly weakened his legs, but did not have any noticeable effects on his arm. So, he could only walk using a walker with very small steps. But he had no difficulty in speech and swallowing, therefore he only had physical therapy and occupational therapy.

 One bizarre thing about Mr. K. was that he always loved to remove all his clothing when lying down in bed. Also, he often talked to people without opening his eyes. In addition, Mr. K. was a terrible patient since he did not want to follow instructions and was often reluctant to participate in therapies. I remembered that a therapist came in the morning and asked if he wanted to get up and do some exercise with her. Mr. K. said he did not feel good and did not want to get up, though he did not have any pain. Then the therapist would allow him to do exercise in bed, so he only did a very little amount of exercise in this section, and not even open his eyes. Sometimes, a therapist wanted to encourage him to get up, and go to the gym to do more exercise, and he would just refuse bluntly. Therefore, the most activity he had in one section was walking two laps in the gym. 

Mr. K. was irritable. Once, I tried to help persuade him to exercise more by saying more words, and the therapist cautioned me that Mr. K. could get angry if I did that. I was astonished, because I only tried to help, and I never had any patient mad at me before. However, my later experience taught me that this therapist was not exaggerating. 

One day, he said he was very tired, so he stayed in bed without eating his breakfast. At 10 am, a physical therapist came, and he refused to do any exercise, so the physical therapist left after 10 minutes, and I also left the room because I was not supposed to stay alone with the patient. It was possible that this situation made him angry, and he pushed his breakfast down to the floor.    

 

At another time, a young female occupational therapist asked if Mr. K. wanted to have a bath. I forgot why Mr. K. refused, but I remembered that the therapist spent 5—10 minutes advocating the shower, but he still refused. Then the therapist said her plan for today’s section was to give Mr. K. a bath, since Mr. K. refused it, she had no choice but to leave. So she left, and Mr. K.had nothing else to do in this section. About 5-10 minutes later, Mr. K. said that he wanted a shower after all, and he called a technician in to give him a shower. The technician declined, saying that since he declined a shower from a therapist, she would not give him a shower, and left the room. Couple minutes later, Mr. K. called the technician again, this time he said he wanted to go to the bathroom. So, the technician helped him get up and moved to the bathroom. In the bathroom, this guy removed all his clothes and demanded a shower, and claimed that he would not put on his clothes before he got a shower. This is the most bizarre situation I ever had. Mr. K. stayed in the bathroom naked for about 15 minutes before he was covered with a blanket and moved back to his bed. 

During the first two days I had with Mr. K., he treated me OK. He would talk to me and listen to my explanation. However, the situation changed quickly. He complained about everything in the hospital, from food to house care to health care. When I tried to defend the hospital by explaining things, he became angry and said he did not need my service, and I should just leave and never come back. When I told his nurse about the situation, she said I should not listen to him and just came back whenever I had an assignment.

 Mr. K. really hoped to go back home soon, and asked about it almost every day. Besides, because of Mr. K. 's behavior, he became a real headache for the staff in the hospital, and I believed most staff in the hospital hoped he would be out of their hands soon. However, because of his vicious demeanor, it must be very difficult for his loved ones to handle him at home. I only knew Mr. K. has a wife, but I never met her, and I also did not know if he has any children. At last, I heard from a nurse that Mr. K. would be discharged soon. So I suggested the nurse tell Mr. K. immediately, and thought it would cheer him up. However, I did not know Mr. K. would not go back home, instead, he would go to a skilled nursing facility. Therefore, when the nurse told him the news, he became furious and said that he did not need to go to another facility. When the nurse explained that it was the decision made by his wife, he demanded to talk to his wife immediately, which was impossible. It was such a mess. But at the end of the day, Mr. K. was moved to another facility despite his protest.