A little earlier in the week, we met Alexis. Every Tuesday, the octogenarian goes to the Plaine-Haute day center, where he is the dean. Stage of the traveling day center (Maji) of Central Brittany, this weekly meeting is intended for people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. A way to stimulate cognitive abilities, from memory to language, including reading, attention or daily management, while breaking social isolation. To offer a day of respite to caregivers, who take care of their loved ones on a daily basis, too. This is the case of Lucienne, who has shared Alexis’s life for six decades.
“At the time, he lived in the Paris region. Born in Plaine-Haute, he came back to see his parents for the holidays and that’s how we met,” says the retiree modestly. It was in 1964. Alexis, a fitter at Citroën, and Lucienne, a teacher at Plœuc college, said “Yes” two summers later. They will welcome three children and, having lived in Val-de-Marne for a long time, will return to enjoy a peaceful retirement in the Quintin region, near Saint-Inoë.
“I’m still stuck, I don’t go out”
Until Parkinson’s disease interfered in the couple’s life. A diagnosis made eleven years ago when Alexis’s approach became slower, when small everyday gestures became a challenge. Today, the Plénaltais can no longer walk. And Lucienne, 79 years old, doesn’t let him go, helping him to eat, to move from his bed to his chair and vice versa. Except Tuesdays, when her husband goes to the day center in Plaine-Haute, and Fridays when he is welcomed at the ADMR in Corlay. “I breathe, it’s a relief,” admits the former teacher. It allows me to go about my business. And to rest, above all. »
“During this day, the wives, exhausted, can breathe, go to the hairdresser, see a friend…”, underlined Véronique Mastin, coordinator of Maji. And the caregiver shares: “I’m always stuck, I don’t go out. I go shopping when he’s not there but I don’t see too many people anymore, I have a very limited social life. » A few years ago, the retiree took Alexis with her. “But I can no longer transfer his chair to my car, I would be too afraid of him falling out,” regrets this little woman. So, every week, a Mobitub shuttle comes to pick up the old man at his doorstep to take him to the Orchard room, where the day reception stops.
-Home support
“If he was at home 7 days a week, it would be heavy. The rare weeks when the Maji was closed, it was heavy for him as well as for me,” says Lucienne. Especially since her husband “always happily goes to day care”. “There is a very good atmosphere. Nursing assistants are like that, I really praise their merit and their patience. Alexis feels good there, that’s the main thing. »
And for the octogenarian, these days at Maji and ADMR delay entry into nursing homes, where he is already registered “just in case”. Allow the couple to continue to share their daily lives, too. “Morale is good,” smiles Lucienne, who explains “not talking about her illness” to Alexis. “We are happy in our house. It has its own landmarks, it is set up on purpose. We would be very distraught if he were to leave. At least there we both stay. »
Health
