Hayden and the Nursing Home

I am a firm believer in the saying "do unto others as you would have done to you". For those of you who have kept up with this blog, you will remember that my grandson Hayden was born last October. It was a traumatic mess for me. Over time I have been good to his mother Vanessa, even at Christmas, when she still wanted nothing to do with me. Well, six months after his birth, I am finally beginning to reap those rewards! She has sent me a few pictures of him (my first look at him!!!) and wants to talk to my husband and I to explain herself and finally allow us to be a part of his life. I have mixed feelings about this. I am afraid she will pull the rug out from under us once we get attached to him. I could not go through that a second time. I see red lights and warning signs everywhere, therefore, I shall proceed very cautiously! ( he does look like Robert!)

On another note, the job at the nursing home is killing me! Two double shifts in one week is just too much! I have a very needy group of residents.......some very sick folks. One woman came to us basically to die. She has breast cancer with mets to the liver and brain. Sometimes she is quite hateful and other times very sweet. I noticed her left leg looked a little swollen the other day, so I ordered a venous doppler on it. It turned out she had a blood clot in that leg that was huge! It went from her groin to her calf! I have never seen such a large clot before! Needless to say, she was ordered to remain on complete bedrest while we attacked it with blood thinners. I explained to her, in no uncertain terms, that she would die if any of this broke off and went to her lungs......and still she fought us on the bedrest. Her reasoning is that she's dying anyway, so......what difference would it make? I guess that mindset is to be expected from someone who is terminal, but I can't accept it. I let her know how much everyone loved her, and told her there was no reason to rush the inevitable. She has since softened up quite a bit, and even gave me a big hug the last time I worked, telling me how sweet she thought I was. My next mission with this lady will be to help her to make amends with her son before it's too late. He lives in Kentucky, and for some unknown reason he has no contact with her. She needs to fix this while she still can. And I will help her.

Blessings

I worked a double shift Sunday. It made for a really long day, but a few of my patients (or maybe I should call them residents) helped make it better. Let me explain. I have one room that two young guys live in. I call them "young" because they really are. One guy (I'll call him John for privacy reasons)is only 51 and the other is only 53. John is a quadriplegic who suffered a spinal cord injury when he decided to get drunk and go swimming in a quarry with his girlfriend. I don't know all the details, but this guy, over the years, has lost both legs just above the knees, has a colostomy, and no feeling below his nipple line. He has been that way since he was in his 30's. His attitude is great though! He is our practical jokester. The one who will have you digging in the closet looking for his shoes (ha!). I have to wonder how he dealt with his injury in the beginning. And how would I handle it if it were me? His roomate (whom I will call Joe for privacy reasons) is a paraplegic who has lost one leg at the knee and has no feeling from the waist down. I don't know what his story is, but he is also very upbeat and happy most of the time. I have bonded with these two jokers, and so they worry about me. Anyway, they often order food because they realize how bad the food in a nursing home is. On Sunday night they decided to order a pizza for for their dinner. Keep in mind that John has to be fed. I agreed to feed him his pizza. When it was delivered I went in their room to feed him. They made me pull up a chair, sit down, and eat pizza with them while feeding John in the process. I spent that 20 minutes just enjoying their company and forgetting I was at work. It made the rest of the night a little easier to get through. It also made me think. How would I react if something happened to put me in the position they are in? I can't honestly answer that question, but I just don't know if I could handle it. To lay in a bed or sit in a wheelchair day in and day out, not being able to move anything but my head and having to rely on other people for absolutely EVERYTHING would be devastating to me. And so I thank God. I thank Him for all that I am, and all the blessings in my life. In our day to day lives, we often don't think of the little things as blessings, but they are. Just being able to brush my own teeth each day, or to pick up the remote to the TV, or even sitting here now and typing this blog.....all are blessings we are given each day. How would we feel if they were taken away?