oh the joys of being a CNA..

I'm going to be singin the blues tomorrow when i have to get up for work. No matter what drugs i take..(okay so sometimes i like sleeping pills), i never seem to feel rested. I've been getting up everyday at getting in that frigid car to go to work every day this week. I'm not complaining.. actually i am. Its just been a hard week- and i'm going back to Logan tomorrow and i'm not ready for the new semester at all. Oh well.

Patient # 1: The past 2 days of work have been delightful. First of all, a new patient i had was the most adorable greek man ever. He was the type of person who acts like he's known you forever. After i cleaned up his house and cooked him breakfast, he showed me a greek cookbook and we talked about greece for about an hour. He told me that i need to learn how to cook chicken and okrah, (whatever the heck that is..) He told me about his wife who had just passed away a few months previously..and it was sort of heartbreaking. With tears in his eyes he told me how much she loved going back to see her family in Greece, and how she would go every year. He choked back a sob and i could tell he was torn- he didn't know whether to go back without his sweet wife. Life is so different for him now..and i could tell he missed her so much. He showed me pictures and I mentioned how beautiful she was. Again tears filled his eyes. I tried to change the subject to something lighter.. so i said... "You like whiskey?" hahahha he had a whiskey book on his table and a few bottles lying around. it was a funny conversation :) He sure liked his scotch. I dont blame him. I'd drink myself to death if my spouse of 60 years died. (Not really. Okay.. maybe.)

Patient # 2: Another patient i had was the sweetest old lady; and can i just say she was absolutely STUNNING. I'm not kidding, i couldnt figure out who she looked like for like an hour.. but then i thought, she is the spitting image of Angelina Jolie..in about 40 or so years. I'm not even kidding. Sorry if thats creepy- but whatever. Her red lipstick and purple eyeshadow she could have done without, but her smile was so genuine. and her eyes lit up whenever she talked about her family. She told me she met her husband in a factory they were both working at during the war...And they couldnt get married for 3 years until he returned from the service. They had lived together in that very house for 60 years until he passed. Now she lived there alone..and i could tell she was lonesome. Her kids want to put her in an assisted living, but she has all those memories there. :( I told her that assisted living places are over rated, and she seemed to be getting along fine. (Her kids probably wouldnt like that, but whatever. i love her.) She told me that she would look at this digital picture frame her kids got her when she was lonely, with most of the pictures on there of her husband. It was pretty tender. I was off to the kitchen today to make her lunch, and as i was preparing her meal i found that i had to search the fridge for anything that wasn't expired :( She settled for pears and tuna fish that was close to its due date..its all she had. Later we watched a full hour of 'Alaksa's Most Extreme' and it was funny. Never watch bear attacks with an old woman. hahahahah. She is great. I'd post a picture of her, but that is SO against all the rules of HIPPA. Not to be confused with hippo.

Patient #3: Earlier this week i went to an old patients house that i saw over the summer... lets call her thelma.. and she had declined alot since i last saw her. I kinda don't like going to her house..its always messy and smelly and it makes me so sad that she lives there by herself. To her i was a new face, she didn't remember me, so she was giving me a really hard time. I've never been impatient with a patient. Ever. but this lady was KILLING ME. and it probably went down in the books as one of the grossest nights of my little CNA career...I'll spare you the details. I've never dry heaved at a patients house either..hmm. it was awful. But i scrubbed drool off me all night. (and other things i wont say.. they rhyme with meces.. boop.. and smit) Thelma refused to take her pills for me, so she kept them in her mouth all night and spit out the drool on occasion when i turned my head. It wouldn have been so bad if she hadnt refused to take them before i got there...but she sneakily spit them out after her neighbor gave them to her. I found them all sticky in her lap, stuck to her pants. Oh thelma. My shower was extra long that night.

Patient #4: This morning as i tried to wake bev, she refused to get out of bed and said, 'i'll be ready when i'm ready!' Ron had to come in twice to coax her out. He slowly hobbled over to her bed in his christmas robe and loafers and leaned down and said, "Good morning precious!" He put chapstick on her lips, and leaned over and gave her three little kisses. He continued, "I'd sure like to have breakfast with ya this mornin. I think it'd be best if you got up and got ready for the day so we can spend the mornin together." A huge smile came over her face and she agreed to get out of bed. They are still so in love. I love seeing them together. I don't know what i'm gonna do when she passes away.

Patient # 5': Mary was in the last stages of alzheimers..and her husband has struggled to take care of her for about 5 years, all by himself. I could tell how frustrated he was. He was really cross with her when she wouldnt respond, or would hold tight to her wheelchair and get mad at us. He had to be cross with her or else she wouldn't do a thing.. but it still made me sad. I asked her how she was doing.. and her husband said, "don't bother, she cant understand anything youre saying." Obviously she was confused 90% of the time.. but when he left the room, i was changing her soaking wet brief she was sitting in all day..and she quiety said to me, "Thank you for all you do. I really appreciate it." It felt kinda awesome to hear her say that.

Though i end up plugging my nose about 1/2 the day when I'm working... Its worth it. Every little frustrating moment is worth it...for moments when i see patients greiving, saying thank you, talking jibberish, smiling, laughing, saying things that make no sense at all, and all that good stuff.