Useful or not Useful
I received this transcription because I asked my Aunt to call me when she went to visit my mother, who is suffering from dementia. I asked my Aunt to call me but then I didn't answer because I started watching TV. My mother no longer has a phone she tried the code on her phone so many times that it shut her out permanently. That's a fairly predicable outcome for someone with dementia and an iPhone with a passcode.
My mother's name is Sandra Ruth Godsil. She was born January 8, 1939. This coming January 8, she will be 85 years old. My Aunt Karen is about 18 months younger and mentally acute. It's easy to forget that she's nearly as old as my mom. She's pretty much the same as she's always been. But I don't take it for granted - I'm increasingly impressed and appreciative of our normal conversations about the books we're reading, the desserts we're enjoying, the rain, wildlife and what her dog has most recently dug up or eaten.
As for whether this transcription was useful or not useful – It serves as a proximate analogue for the confusion of dementia, and has it's own stream-of-consciousness beauty. I find it to be post-modern art of the highest order. A partnership of human pathos and artificial intelligence; poignant and dryly humorous, especially when you take into account the full context. A tough and mentally acute woman named Karen in her eighties engaged in conversation with her closest sibling and best friend, her sister Sandra – someone she has shared much of her life with. The fact that technology is transcribing a conversation that didn't need to happen, really, if human beings were able to step back and rewind from our digital present to a less-digital yesterday, when phones were just phones. And my mom had one. And I could call her on it.
As for the the transcription itself: It's a reasonably accurate representation. Some of the words are wrong and some of the dialogue is missing. In line 3, the "that" should be a "let's" as in "let's see." In line 4, the "No" is actually an "Um." In line 8, there's another bit missing. My Aunt Karen is scrolling through her texts looking for a picture of my 3 kids – that are now grown, 21 yr old triplets – and my aunt is saying that she will bring a picture of the next next time and before my aunt can finish the sentence my mother asks "what's that?" And my aunt answers, "that's a dog." And my Mother says, "oh, that's a dog." And then aunt Karen dryly comments, "They don't look like dogs ... yet." I can hear my mother laughing in the background. She asks, as she always does, when's the next time we're coming by.
Later, in line 16, the transcription has some subtle errors. What my mother actually says is "Everything is so upside down, you know, Marty and all the other different people in my life passing ..." and aunt answers, again dryly "Yeah, it's kind of a pain." And then my mother says, "to lose your father and husband practically in the same week" and then my aunt says "Actually, mother and daddy died along time ago. And I can make out my mother saying, at some distance from the phone, "But to lose my husband and brother practically in the same week ..." And my Aunt turns the conversion back to the present, to the good times we're having. The transcription says "bed types" but what she actually said was good times.
Today, called the assisted living facility that she's living in, the Aegis. They were nice enough to put her on the phone. She's confused and cycles through the same issues over and over. She says she's doing some work for the School District and once again re-iterates that my father isn't doing well.
Is her transcription of her reality - is it useful or not useful?
There is no cute artful ending to this.
Dementia is an equal opportunity disease - it hurts everyone it touches.
I received this transcription because I asked my Aunt to call me when she went to visit my mother, who is suffering from dementia. I asked my Aunt to call me but then I didn't answer because I started watching TV. My mother no longer has a phone she tried the code on her phone so many times that it shut her out permanently. That's a fairly predicable outcome for someone with dementia and an iPhone with a passcode.
My mother's name is Sandra Ruth Godsil. She was born January 8, 1939. This coming January 8, she will be 85 years old. My Aunt Karen is about 18 months younger and mentally acute. It's easy to forget that she's nearly as old as my mom. She's pretty much the same as she's always been. But I don't take it for granted - I'm increasingly impressed and appreciative of our normal conversations about the books we're reading, the desserts we're enjoying, the rain, wildlife and what her dog has most recently dug up or eaten.
As for whether this transcription was useful or not useful – It serves as a proximate analogue for the confusion of dementia, and has it's own stream-of-consciousness beauty. I find it to be post-modern art of the highest order. A partnership of human pathos and artificial intelligence; poignant and dryly humorous, especially when you take into account the full context. A tough and mentally acute woman named Karen in her eighties engaged in conversation with her closest sibling and best friend, her sister Sandra – someone she has shared much of her life with. The fact that technology is transcribing a conversation that didn't need to happen, really, if human beings were able to step back and rewind from our digital present to a less-digital yesterday, when phones were just phones. And my mom had one. And I could call her on it.
As for the the transcription itself: It's a reasonably accurate representation. Some of the words are wrong and some of the dialogue is missing. In line 3, the "that" should be a "let's" as in "let's see." In line 4, the "No" is actually an "Um." In line 8, there's another bit missing. My Aunt Karen is scrolling through her texts looking for a picture of my 3 kids – that are now grown, 21 yr old triplets – and my aunt is saying that she will bring a picture of the next next time and before my aunt can finish the sentence my mother asks "what's that?" And my aunt answers, "that's a dog." And my Mother says, "oh, that's a dog." And then aunt Karen dryly comments, "They don't look like dogs ... yet." I can hear my mother laughing in the background. She asks, as she always does, when's the next time we're coming by.
Later, in line 16, the transcription has some subtle errors. What my mother actually says is "Everything is so upside down, you know, Marty and all the other different people in my life passing ..." and aunt answers, again dryly "Yeah, it's kind of a pain." And then my mother says, "to lose your father and husband practically in the same week" and then my aunt says "Actually, mother and daddy died along time ago. And I can make out my mother saying, at some distance from the phone, "But to lose my husband and brother practically in the same week ..." And my Aunt turns the conversion back to the present, to the good times we're having. The transcription says "bed types" but what she actually said was good times.
Today, called the assisted living facility that she's living in, the Aegis. They were nice enough to put her on the phone. She's confused and cycles through the same issues over and over. She says she's doing some work for the School District and once again re-iterates that my father isn't doing well.
Is her transcription of her reality - is it useful or not useful?
There is no cute artful ending to this.
Dementia is an equal opportunity disease - it hurts everyone it touches.