100 years and counting

I had a fabulous patient today at hospital clinicals. She is 100 years old and a retired GYM TEACHER! Never married, no kids....hmm....did just meet the world's oldest switch hitter? She really was a cool, cool, lady. She had 8 siblings and every last one of the others died before 50 of various causes. And here she is...100 years old as of Christmas eve 2007. I got to take her down a floor to a special tub room with a shampoo station and wash and dry her hair. My instructor was a little nervous that I wouldn't know how to do that but I was able to assure her that I've been watching THAT particular nursing skill since birth--literally. I was excited to call Mom and tell her I did a 100 year old head. My first head, and it was 100 :) This patient was sharp as a tack. Sharper than a couple recently post-menopausal people I can think of (you know who you are..sorry! hahaha!). She was just fascinating to talk to. Her favorite sports are swimming and bike riding; she just stopped both a few years ago. She had pictures and bouquets from different groups of people she has taught or somehow touched over the years (and this is just a short term hospital stay for exacerbation of congestive heart failure). One picture was of a bunch of young men, about 25 years old, standing around her with a birthday cake sayng "Happy 100th, Connie!". I asked her who they were and she said "Oh, those are a bunch of big boys I used to supervise on the playground". That would have been after retirement because if they are 25 (she did say they are in college) she would have been at least 80 when she supervised them on the playground. Do the numbers blow your mind or what? She even imparted some words wisdom: "have some fun!" I couldn't agree more! What a treat to spend the day with her. Just had a fun evening with the kiddos, too. Here is a perfect example of why I wanted a big family. Wils got into something in the laundry room and cut his finger; the cute wasn't too bad but it did bleed copiously. He came to the living room hysterical because he was bleeding. My Lord, you would think someone had pressed an emergency response button. Before I was even back with bandaids they had a gurney (complete with his special fuzzy blanket) set up, drinks with ice and straws, books for him to read as he recuperates, etc. Oh, and Ben was in the laundry room making a get well card. Recovery was swift what with such supports in place. Shouldn't we all be so lucky? Right now they are all in bed in the same bedroom because after the drama of traumatic injury and miraculous recovery, followed by a full lunar eclipse, they just had to be together. Wil and Ben are at the end of Ana's bed and Wil just said "I'm sleeping with Ben. He's being nice." (To which Ben smirks...WHAT is he planning? haha!) We all stood inside my curtains by a window watching the eclipse. It was cool, but they are a little too slow for the pace I like to move at! When I tried to step away for a minute there would be a major pitter patter of little feet coming after me. So we stood there for many minutes The silence was broken often by a famililar little voice. One interation gave me a glimpse of things to come: Wiliam, while looking out the window, also noticed his dump truck in the snow in the driveway. "HEY! That's my dump truck! Right there! Look guys!" Ben...monotone, flat affect, unimpressed, wry..."Yeah. Maybe it's causing the shadow on the moon" (he was being sarcastic...lol....and the big kids got it completely and we all had good laugh). One more thing of note. Ariana just LOVES taking care of people who are sick or hurt. You would think nursing would be an ideal profession for her, but she can't stand the sight of blood or boogers or anything like that. After the fun of setting up and ER and carrying out a care plan, she came to me and said "I do want to be a nurse after all, but the kind that HELPS PEOPLE, not the kind that has to look at blood!". Sad news for me to end the day---Zac has weaned himself. He just has no more interest. It's been waning since he had RSV; I was told that might happen because they are so uncomfortable with sucking. Many moms will pump and bottle feed (it's easier for them that way), but I couldn't see doing that at 11 months (he will be in a few days!). So there concludes the long and illustrious career of my ..........personal feeding devices. I'd like to have a retirement party for them; they deserve it! Maybe reconstructive surgery? Falsies? Do we still have Grandma's somewhere?