Odds and ends

I started working on a more substantive post, but am too tired and too distracted by football to do it justice so that will have to wait for another day. In the meantime here are a few odds and ends from the past few weeks.

For the first time in my life, I'm hearing my name and people aren't talking too/about me at all. There are several women named "Alice" in both nursing homes where I work. And even when I know staff a few rooms down aren't talking to me, my instinct is still to turn my head. I explained this to a man named Dave and he said he usually doesn't pay attention when he hears his name because most likely he is not the one being referred to. Maybe I'll eventually get used to it.

This week I was trying to get a gentleman to stand up and walk 20-30 feet. His response, "Why would I do that? I'm over 90 years old." I wondered what that had to do with anything but he seems perfectly content to let others do everything for him. I am trying to learn to motivate people to work a little in order to be as independent as possible. That motivating can be difficult, especially when some dementia is involved.

I've been "sick" in the last month more often than I've been in the previous 4 years. I only missed 2 days of work, but there has been quite a few days I've felt like I've been fighting something and by mid-afternoon I've been ready for a nap. It seems that most days, by the time I make supper I don't have much energy for anything else. Thankfully, I haven't gotten really sick, but hopefully I'm not assisting in passing around the stomach bug or influenza between the different residents I come into contact with. I wash my hands more times a day than I can count.

I actually got my laundry done this weekend without leaving a Kleenex in a pocket. That makes a big difference when the primary items are black scrubs.