Working in long term care is not the echelon of nursing but rather a calling. The hours are long, the work physically and mentally exhausting and the pay questionable.
But there are clear defined moments when I know with certainty this is the work I am meant to do. Today I had one of those epiphanies. I have a resident with end stage Parkinson’s. Medications for his condition help most with the disease to achieve movement, unfortunately they don’t work for him. He is nearly frozen and unable to do no more than painstakingly in slow motion feed himself. Essentially everything needs to be done for him and the little he can do is with a great amount of effort. Even his facial muscles reveal little. He has a flat affect.
Our ice breaker came the day I decided to trim his mustache because he seemed to be munching on it with each bite of his meal. Now I’ve, thank goodness, never had a mustache but can imagine having a mouth full of hair with each bite of food is not a pleasant occurrence. With little nail scissors in hand, face to face, intimately close, focused on trimming this hair covering his lip, I sigh and state, under my breath, “Jeepers there’s a reason I went to nursing school and not beauty school“. In a split second our eyes met and I realized what I had stated out loud. I quickly added, “I guess I shouldn’t have said that out loud holding a pair of scissors to your lips“. I had never seen him laugh so hard. He’s body shook and his eyes watered. I couldn’t help but laugh myself.
Today, my friend is sick from aspiration pneumonia. As he was lying in his bed, breathing heavily and I told him I’d see him tomorrow, I stopped because I noticed he wanted to say something. In a very slow, quiet voice, he said, „You bring color to my life. I just thought you should know“.
Gary died of complications with pneumonia 12/24/2020. There must be a reason why such a good soul is taken on Christmas Eve.
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