Seeing Virginia (an anecdote): Part Two

Seeing Virginia: Part One

Like many of my residents over the years, Virginia had been a nursing assistant prior to her retirement. In our early sessions, I encouraged her to discuss how it felt to be “on the other side of the stethoscope,” as I put it, but she was too focused on the plot to steal her home.

I spoke to her social worker about it. “I’m not sure if Virginia is going to benefit from therapy because she’s pretty confused, but is there any reality to her worry about her house?”

Her social worker sighed. “I was hoping when she first got here that she could go home, but her daughter is selling her house so that’s not going to happen.”

I could see how that could be interpreted as theft.

I kept meeting with Virginia, making mental notes on how much time in each session was spent on agitated theories versus reasonable discussion of confirmable events. I met her comments about plots with empathy and redirection; I greeted her reports on attending activities with enthusiasm. Our early meetings were about 90% agitation and 10% reality, then 80/20, then 70/30. We were making progress.

A minor health crisis proved mentally beneficial. We discussed her doctor’s recommendations, things she could do to take care of herself and what to expect when she went to the hospital for her medical procedure. The conversation was now 80% reality.

The week after her return from the hospital, she expressed concern about her roommate. “Tell them to check her for a rash. I thought I noticed something last night.”

They checked. There was nothing. But Virginia the nursing assistant was back.