The last couple of weeks I've worked a lot...52 hours each week to be exact. I have so many interesting cases and experiences, but every once in a while one really stands out, so I wanted to share...
One of the patients I took care of the other night was a man about 55 years old. He had long beard and thinning hair that was fairly long--making him look older than his 55 years. The most striking thing though was that he was terribly jaundiced. A long history of alcoholism had damaged his liver and he was in the final stages of liver disease. His feet and ankles were very edematous and he had difficulty even shifting positions in bed.
His mother sat with him for most of the evening and then left when visiting hours were over. He rarely called for anything and didn't say much to anyone.
On one of my rounds to him, I asked if he'd like to try getting up to the bathroom. He nodded, so I called the nurse to help as he was a rather large man.
With great effort on his part, he managed to inch his legs to the side of the bed and come to a sitting position. We brought out the bedside commode and placed it a few inches away from the bed. Then we brought his walker around and placed it in front him. He put his hand on the handles, we hooked our elbows under his arms and supported him while he shakily stood. He shuffled his swollen feet the few inches needed to get to the commode and sat down.
We finished taking care of him and got him back to bed in the same painstaking way we'd gotten him up. As we tucked him into bed he said softly, " You ladies are angels."
It made my heart smile:)
Paul
Kelly with sister, Wendy
Daniel
Holly
July 2009
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3 comments:
Made me smile, too.
I remember this light bulb moment I had while doing some personal care with a lady with Alzheimer's I worked with. I was in the middle of thinking how unpleasant it was when the thought entered my head, "how would I want a person helping say, my mother, in the future, to feel about caring for her. All of the sudden it wasn't unpleasant at all as I realized that this was somebody's mother, or sister, or wife, or daughter.
I really admire the people like you who dedicate their lives to taking care of people who can't do it for themselves. You are a very hard working and loving woman, Kelly!
Elise, your comment brought back a memory. Eighteen years ago this month, my mom was diagnosed with leukemia. The doctor said that she would probably only live about six weeks unless she had chemotherapy which might put the leukemia into remission for a couple years. So she chose chemotherapy. When her hair started falling out, I asked her if she'd like me to comb it out and she said yes. As I combed out the hair that was falling out, I managed to put some of the hair into a kleenex and tuck it into my pocket without her seeing. I knew that she was dying and I wanted the sample of hair so we could pick out a wig for her to be buried in. When Mom died, my sister and I took the sample of hair and went shopping for the wig. A customer at the store overheard us tell the woman helping us that we were buying a wig for our mother. The customer said to us, "That's wonderful of you to buy a wig for your mother. I know she'll love it." We didn't tell her that our mother had died. She just thought we were getting it for a gift. Incidentally, Mom died five weeks after she was diagnosed.
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