CHAPTER 31

2025-3-13

Till now I am Lun's dental hygienist and royal barber.

I visited Lun after dinner and he rested in his bedroom. Hearing me chatting delightfully with the staff, he came out from his room and said “teeth brushing” to me while he was ten feet away in the hallway. That was an instruction for me to carry out the routine cleaning his teeth, so that he could prepare for the following programs. Those included bath or shower; desert after dinner; light off and sleep on bed. With these his day is well lived.

Last week three residents and staff of the three shifts all caught a cold or influenza. A staff phoned me telling me that Lun was coughing, luckily with a good appetite and no fever. He was alright in general. Yet to prevent contraction, I was advised to skip a visit. With thanks I agreed. This skip also meant that one teeth cleaning activity would be skipped too.

During my weekly visit to Lun, the following items were brought along, including two plastic bowls, two toothbrushes with one hard and another soft. The hard one was for cleaning and the soft one for massage. One bowl for one brush. The timing for brushing was determined by me from the beginning. It was gradually transferred to Lun when he integrated this as a routine in his daily living. Once he became keen doing it and that was the time to let go.

Without dad's inspection for two weeks, Lun would get dirtier teeth. He lied down and opened his mouth for my examination. As expected, the teeth were much dirtier. Following the protocol, massaging after brushing, starting from the lower row to high, left to right, and lastly outer to inner, his teeth were thoroughly cleaned. I can be relieved for a week because the cavity for Lun is prevented. A week of tartar would be too soon to become plague.

Serving Lun is not easy, especially for activities involving privacy and body contact. He may not cooperate. Only a very few staff were allowed to cross into his boundary such as toothbrushing, followed by nail cutting and haircutting is a big thing for Lun.

Years ago he allowed an experienced staff member to cut his hair lightly in the very beginning. It always resulted in a unique hairstyle for each cut. Another female worker was added onto the list. Gradually his hairstyles were standardized and looked good. Since then I was free from worrying about his hair style, but losing him as my customer. Four years ago Lun's younger brother paid professionals for a haircut. Last May I cut and kept two small bunches of hair from my wife for memory while she was in bed in the hospital. Since then, I have been my own customer for haircuts.

Starting next week, I as a barber had to resume cutting Lun’s hair.