The Caring Nurse

Hello my friends. I didn’t mean to ignore your posts today, but I did not read so many and I missed…

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The Caring Nurse

Hello my friends. I didn’t mean to ignore your posts today, but I did not read so many and I missed that. You all have something wonderful to say or an awesome photo to show me. Each of you are a part of my family and I feel like I lost touch today.

It is after midnight here and I am tired; but I couldn’t go to sleep without chatting with you. Today has been a busy day with a few changes. We started this morning off with Al’s two shower girls stopping by.

Al got his bed bath and clean bedding. For breakfast he still had the yearning for chocolate ice-cream with chocolate syrup; so his request was given. There was some free time  and Al took a nap. He usually falls asleep for an hour after his bath.

Then the Hospice nurse stopped by. I had not met this certain nurse, but I liked her caring attitude. She checked over Al. She couldn’t get all of his vitals as they were too soft to hear.

She saw his open areas and ordered a prescription for them. She noticed his swollen eyes and the constant drool and ordered medications for those issues too. By the end of the afternoon, all new medications had been dropped off here at the house.

She and the caregiver and I had chatted for sometime. Talk about the difficulties we were having of moving Al and injuring his skin. We chatted about his  urinating. By the end of her visit new changes had been put in place.

By five p.m. everything she had ordered had been delivered. Now I call that one fine nurse. She was firm, she made decisions with asking me first. I admired and respected her and wished that she would return more often.

With phone calls made in front of me I was informed of when people would arrive. I was told to let her know and she would return. About two hours later a company for home medical supplies arrived. The nurse was called and met them here.

The medical supply team brought in a hoyer lift. This is a special lift that with attachments raises Al out of bed.With the assistance of me, the nurse and the caregiver we were able to lift Al up and place him in his recliner.

His poor body just curled up in a ball from lack of strength. The caregiver stood by him and held his head so it wouldn’t fall forward or to the side.

The medical supply guy took the old mattress out and replaced it with an air mattress. A motor attached to the end of the bed, once turned on, filled the mattress with air. We placed Al back in bed. When we got him comfortable I asked him if this new bed felt better and I heard him clearly say yes. This made me very happy.

After we were satisfied everything was working properly the nurse and medical supply guy left. A couple of hours later, the nurse and another nurse showed up. They had with them more supplies to help Al stay comfortable.

They went to work and taught me and the caregiver about the Texas Catheter. This in place with no pain for Al, brought relief for him in so many ways. No more pulling and pushing to turn Al over to change briefs. No more bulky pads and wrinkled throw-a-way pads lying under him.

My hands that have electric shocks from my diabetes  sent through them from tugging and pulling when I turn him over have been relieved. Al is able to lay in  peace without being bothered so much. Al was finally comfortable.

Everything in place the nurse and other nurse left. The humming of the air mattress and the beautiful feel of the new mattress lulled Al into a sleep I have not seen in him for a long time.

He slept for three hours. I have not known him to do this in so long that I was actually checking on him more often to make sure he was alright.

Al is still refusing to eat most foods. When he does eat, he eats ice-cream. He still complains of his body being frozen. By this he is telling me he can’t move his body parts, but yet there was a peace within the room.

I relaxed some and just listened to the hum of the machine and thanked God for a wonderful Angel nurse that appeared this morning. Her professional attitude and caring concern went miles with Al and me today.

The evening went well. No unexpected surprises. Rhino, the cat is guarding Al’s room and I am sitting here smiling for a busy yet brand new day.

Delicate Situation

How do I tell a story without being gross, or making you want to run for the bathroom? I am not sure, but I will do my best to say each phrase delicately.

Al is my brother, in case you new blogger followers do not realize it. Al has Parkinson’s and is mildly mentally challenged. He is also a heart patient. I have been caring for him for almost five years.

In the second year of caring for him, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. He has gone through many changes in these two years, the latest being urinating in his undies. Here lies the issue of yesterday and today.

I go to a local pharmacy that takes Medicare, and we purchase a gadget called a Texas Catheter. It is very similar to a regular catheter, except it has a condom like look and feel that attaches to the outer part of a man’s private area, instead of a tubing being ran inside. There is a bag that attaches to the leg and a tubing attached to that to let the drippings flow from Al to the bag.

Now, I am sure that most of us are grown ups here and have seen the male specimen. We know that it can do tricks, by hanging low or hanging high. I say this with much blushing!!!

Now picture this, 2012, as Ma would say on The Golden Girls. Bathroom, Al sitting down on the shower chair, sister, me, sitting down across from him on another chair. Cuts open the cover for the bag and the cover for the attachments. I look at poor Al’s eyes and tell him I am soooooooooo sorry, that I have to be with him in such a delicate situation like this, and I will hurry as fast as I can, and if I hurt him, please say ouch!

I put my surgeon’s gloves on and I look at Al’s body part, and ask myself how am I going to get this tight-fitting rubber piece over something that is looking down at the floor and not standing at attention.

I think, tick tick tick tick, and I tell Al, well bud, here goes nothing, but I did not mean actually nothing, because by the tenth time of trying to get this stupid thing on, and it flipping back at me and reminding me it was not going to listen, I had probably made a naked spot on his skin where once there was hair.

The sweat was pouring off my brow and I could feel Alvin holding his breath. It was like doing a delicate operation with no knife. FINALLY, I get the little gadget in place. I attach it to the bag on the leg, and I have him stand up so I can see how it fits when he moves and then sits. We go through these motions a couple of times.

I am disappointed that the tubing is not very long, not giving Al much space, but it was all in place, so I quit. I wet a wash rag and wiped Al’s arms and back down where he had sweated from fear of losing his man hood, then peeled off my gloves, tossing them in the trash, and go to my own bathroom and cool myself off with a shower.

Now all this happened yesterday, before he fell in the early evening, so when he gets up from his nap, he tells me it rolled off. I said what rolled off, and he points to his umm,  his personal area, and says, that! I thought, oh my gosh, it was so darn tight, that his whole thing fell off. I was castrating the poor guy and didn’t even know it! He says that he placed the bag in the trash. I said alright, I will call the pharmacy and tell them this is a disaster for the two of us, and ask if they have any suggestions.

After the fall and checking him out, I go to start supper and guess what is lying in the kitchen sink, THE BAG. Oh how sick! It has been in my sink, quick, get the bleach and a new pair of rubber gloves!!!

I take care of all that and the area is now all sterilized, ready for supper preparation, but I have now lost a bit of my appetite. I go to the computer for a bit, so I can forget the memory of my poor sink, and then later go back to do my duties. I did a load of laundry after supper, and discovered that each pair of undies and shorts were at different levels of wetness, so when the timing was right, I had to tell Al that he would have to wear the depend briefs from now on, and he didn’t say too much.

This morning, I called the Pharmacy and explained the issues, and she said she had longer tubing, that would help Al to move better, therefore the little attachment would stay in place.

To bribe Al to get him out of the house, because I had told him prior, that we would not be going anywhere today, and it is hard to change what was once said, so I knew that Arby’s was having a deal today on their new sandwiches, Turkey sandwiches. A great deal, free! Also, Dairy Queen was having a buy one blizzard get another for ninety-nine cents, so I ask him if he wanted to do these two things, plus ran back over to the Pharmacy. He jumped at the opportunity for blizzards, well not jumped, but did say yes.

We go and get the sandwiches, then go to the Dairy Queen and got the blizzards and then went to the park and ate in the shade on a bench. He is a slow eater compared to me, so after I was done I snapped these photos. After Al was all done, we went to the Pharmacy and picked up the longer tubing, and then I remembered that he needed a new electric razor, so I also stopped at the drugstore and bought one for him.

We go back home and we head to the bathroom. I am explaining to him that this will work much better with this new longer tubing, and since I had one day’s practice with the attachment going on correctly, this would be a breeze today.

Soft tears started flowing from his eyes, and he told me he felt like a little kid. I said that I understood, which I really did, but this old disease was trying to pull one over on us and we had to stay ahead of it.

He took his clothing off, while I put my doctor gloves on and I once again asked myself how was I going to get this on something that was not looking up.

It was no easier for him or me than it was yesterday. He was crying, and I was sweating tears. After several attempts and no progress in works, and no extra hands to help me, and having pulled the last hair I could get by with without being hit, I gave up. I told Al this is the pits, we can not make it work, and I am not going to have you suffer for this, when the bag of briefs was setting right beside us. He shook his head, and he, himself, yanked that nasty rubbery piece off of himself, and he threw it in the trash. I put all the clean items back in the bag that it came from at the store, so now I have all these little gadgets lying here that can’t be taken back. Texas Catheters anyone?? LOL