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.