GET YOUR F'ING NOSE OUTTA THE TEXTBOOK I SAY!!!!

This is what I replied to you on Share It. I pasted it here cause I am just too lazy to retype the whole thing.



This is what the NIH says about suicide:

Older Americans are disproportionately likely to die by suicide.

• Of every 100,000 people ages 65 and older, 14.3 died by suicide in 2007. This figure is higher than the national average of 11.3 suicides per 100,000 people in the general population

It isn't surprising that so many elderly people commit suicide. Loss of loved ones, friends, family, health and independence has to be devastating. I refused to reorient any patient just to bring them back and make them acknowledge such a bleak reality.

I had one old dear, admitted with chest pain, who, when I asked her what brought her to X hospital looked at me like I had two heads. She said, "I'm having a baby." The 'duh' was unspoken but very obvious. She threw back the sheet and patted her very flat belly and said "see?"

What I saw was a tired old body, frail, age spots, skin tears from hastily removed bandages, varicosed legs no bigger than my wrist, knobby knees, breasts migrating to her armpits, thick toe nails and a ridiculously big grin on her face. "This is my first," she told me, "My husband and I are so excited, we want a boy."

I was supposed to tell this woman whose days of pregnancy probably ended during the Eisenhower administration that no, no she wasn't pregnant, she had been turfed over from the nursing home for chest pain and mentation changes and welcome to 2002, your health is precarious, your family is dead, you live in an extended care facility, but hey, at least you know what frigging time it is? Yeah, that was not going to happen.

I don't remember what happened with her. We probably stabilized her and sent her to a med surg unit before she was sent back to the home. I've thought of her over the years and prayed that she got to spend what time she had left happily anticipating the birth of her first baby.

So pass the Merlot Marti and we'll raise a glass to happy memories and living in time we were most happy. And to the nurses who will let us choose what we want to remember

 Those statistics are alarming!!! And thank YOU!!! my beautiful-er Nightingale for sharing with me your special story when I told you about that one particular senior who could very well be me a few years from now .... THANK YOU! for thinking out of the textbook .... where compassion and understanding and a little bit of common sense ALSO rules!!!

Well ya just gotta love someone who rocks designer non-skid heels, and struts her stuff wearing a Depends. We should all be so cool!

 Raising my Merlot to you right now!!!! Clinking glasses .... psssssst lets pretend we don't know they gave us grape juice instead... and if'n we ask for the whole bottle maybe some compassionte one will print out a label on the inkjet ... AGED MERLOT and affix it to the grape juice bottle for two old sassy sistas keeping the joint jumpin' .. here is to being allowed to age with our memories intact with free passport to travel to all our happy places ...

Well I'm gonna be a cheap date when I'm an old doo lolly lady. I don't like red wine so they can just bring me a glass of water and tell me it's vodka and I'll be happy.

 I work in nursing homes and have met plenty of very happy demented people - someday I will be one of them, I hope!  some people end up anxious or depressed - but they have pills for that and need to use them, bless us all!

 I may very well be one of them too Jackie ... I know you are younger but if someday you get to sit beside a loud sista with big hair and high heels who introduces herself as CLEOPATRA JONES ... you'll know we once met albeit via the cyberwaves....

As said above, simply brillant. 

 Thank you Esther ... sometimes that little bit of understanding goes such a long way .... why re-orient me or why zonk me out on pills when I am reliving happy moments? Sometimes one step out of the textbook is all it takes to realize that there too lies someone happy in their happy place....

Wow, that was incredible!

Thanks for sharing!