HEARING IS THE LAST SENSE PEOPLE LOSE

     Mr. Ames was a 64 year old man who’d come into the hospital for rectal cancer surgery. The surgeon elected to put Mr. Ames in the knee-chest position on a special operating table. He was face down with his butt in the air for hours due to the operation being more complicated than the surgeon had anticipated. As a result, he had nerve damage to his legs from the bent position and compression and also developed blood clots in the femoral arteries. This wasn’t discovered until he’d been in our intensive care unit for a few days and was awake enough to tell us he had no feeling in his legs. They’d also become very swollen leading us to suspect blood clots.

     Unfortunately, one complication led to another and the blood clots traveled to his lungs and brain. He ended up in a coma and on a respirator. He remained that way for three more months in the intensive care unit until it was finally determined by an electroencephalogram he was brain dead. As difficult as it was for them, his large loving family made the decision to remove him from life support.

     The day came and the respiratory therapist turned the machine off and removed the endotracheal tube from Mr. Ames’ mouth. But he didn’t die. He took a deep breath, then another. His wife and children looked at each other in amazement. Hope could be seen on their faces.

     He continued breathing on his own so we moved him from the noisy intensive care unit into the quieter cardiac care unit. He was placed in a private room. It had glass walls and a glass door so we could see inside, but it also had a curtain that could be pulled for privacy when his family visited. He was a ‘no code’, so if his heart stopped beating we weren’t going to resuscitate him. This went on for another month, then we began seeing signs that he was getting closer to death. His family made us promise we would call them when he was within hours of death so they could be by his side.

     One night when I was working in the cardiac care unit, I could tell by the changes to his breathing pattern, his heart rate increase, and blood pressure dropping that he was going to die on my shift. I called his family as promised and they said they would be in as soon as they could get there. It was the middle of the night and they’d been asleep. I watched the heart monitor anxiously, hoping he would remain alive until they got there.

     Forty five minutes passed and they still hadn’t arrived when suddenly, his heart stopped and the monitor showed a straight line. I jumped up and ran into the room. He’d stopped breathing as well. I put my hand on his shoulder and leaned close to his ear. The last sense to go is the sense of hearing. I spoke loudly into his right ear, “Don’t go yet, Mr. Ames. Your family is on their way in. They want to be here with you. Hold on a little longer.” I watched as he took a big, deep breath and started breathing again. I looked up at the heart monitor and his heart began beating again. I stayed there another ten minutes until his family burst through the door. When they entered the room and gathered around I said, “Okay, Mr. Ames, they’re all here with you now.”

     The man who was brain dead smiled a brilliant smile, stopped breathing, and his heart stopped beating. He had a beautiful, peaceful expression on his face. I pulled the curtains closed and pulled the door closed behind me as I left the room so his family could grieve privately.

Musings on Turning 65 and becoming a SENIOR. YIKES!

            I’m 65 years old today. I’m on Medicare. I’m suppose I’m now officially a senior. I ignored AARP when they started contacting me at age 50. I’ve taken advantage of all the senior discounts at movie theaters and everywhere else they are offered but since the ages vary so much, I’ve pretended that it didn’t really apply to me. Now I can no longer ignore it. Now I’ll be watching to MAKE SURE I get my discounts.

            I was fine with turning thirty. I was terribly depressed when I turned forty. Fifty was great. I even had a big birthday party for myself to celebrate fifty. I made sure I had colorful flowers, balloons, table cloths, and nothing black was allowed. None of those silly “you’re over the hill” decorations entered my house. It was lots of fun. Sixty was a very bad year because my father had just passed away a couple of weeks before my birthday. I ignored that birthday as much as I could. My family and best friends wouldn’t let me ignore it completely, though. Bless them. Sixty four was bad, too. My mom passed away that year just before my birthday. I ignored it, too.

            This year I’m celebrating again. I’m healthy and life is good. What’s not to celebrate? I’ve noticed people seem to be nicer to me as I’m getting older. Is that my imagination? I hope not. Or, maybe I’ve gotten nicer since I’ve gotten older, so it’s coming back to me. Whatever: I hope it continues.

            I did have one encounter this past week that ticked me off. Signing up for Medicare and switching from my primary insurance has been confusing and I’ve had a lot of questions. I received a letter from Social Security with a telephone number for the Brea, California office if I had questions. I called one day about a month ago and a very nice woman talked to me and answered my questions completely. Then I got another confusing letter from Medicare so I called again. This time I got a really impatient little twit that talked to me like I’d lost all my marbles. I had to get very stern and parental with her before she finally stopped talking to me like I was an idiot and answered my question. I wanted to tell her my years of experience and college education trumped hers any day, but I held back. I remained nice and patient even though she wasn’t. I hope she doesn’t talk to all the seniors like that.

            Anyway, I’m now on to a new stage of life. I’m a SENIOR! I guess I’ll have to embrace it. I don’t have much choice, do I?

Cooking for two: easy crock pot chicken recipe

Most of the time I'm cooking for just two people. I've been cooking for a lot of years and I'm pretty tired of it. The thrill is gone, so to speak. I look for tasty and easy recipes, and this one fits the bill.

CROCK POT CHICKEN

4 chicken breasts (frozen is okay)

1 package dry Good Seasons salad dressing mix

1/4 cup of Sherry

1/2 cup of water

1 8 ounce block of cream cheese

Put chicken breasts in the crock pot. Pour sherry and water on. Sprinkle Good Seasons salad dressing all over the chicken breasts. Cook on low setting while you're at work or away playing golf.

When ready to eat, remove breasts and set aside. Cut cream cheese up in squares and melt it in the crock pot. Once it is melted, stir until smooth, then put the chicken breasts back in.

I like the chicken breasts shredded and mixed with the sauce. Rex likes them whole.

Serve over rice or noodles. I like it over steamed broccoli and cauliflower (carb free zone).

Next time I'm going to try adding artichoke hearts and maybe a few sun dried tomatoes. Mushrooms would also be good, or black olives. It's great plain!

Afghans in Perris

I'd worked as an RN for about 20 years when I decided to return to school to get a degree. In addition to earning a bachelor’s degree in Registered Nursing, I also was to receive a Public Health Nurse Certification upon graduation from California State University in Fullerton. I spent one semester studying public health and received my clinical training from the public health department in Corona, California. Riverside County, I was soon to find out, was NOT Orange County.

Towards the end of my semester I was assigned Afghan duty in Perris. It was 1990 and when the soviets invaded Afghanistan and civil war erupted, millions of refugees tried to get out of the country. I was to go see a large group that had somehow made it to Perris, California. There was one adult male that spoke English, and he was the only person that was able to work, so he wasn’t in the home most of the time. All of the refugees had tested positive for tuberculosis and the Public Health Department had been trying for months to get them in to have chest X-rays to check for active disease. In many countries of the world, people are vaccinated against TB with BCG vaccine, which isn’t highly effective. However, once vaccinated, the person will have positive skin test results for the rest of their lives. So, the only way to find out if they have TB is to X-ray.

     Perris is a dusty little desert community out in the middle of nowhere. I drove around and finally found the house. I parked my car and knocked on the front door. No answer. I walked around to the back of the house and found two mobile homes, up on blocks in the yard. I knocked on the door of one and it was answered by three women who did not speak English. They did understand I was there on some kind of official business...the white lab coat has that affect...and they led me to the main house. We went inside and they invited me to sit on the only piece of furniture in the place, a dirty white sofa. I did, and then all of the refugees gathered around and seated themselves on the floor in front of me. They smiled, offered ‘juice,milk,tea’, the only English words they knew. I smiled but declined. The place wasn’t exactly clean. I gave them the name of the man I was supposed to contact, and they pantomimed calling him on the phone. They gave me the phone and the man said he would leave work and be there in fifteen minutes.

     That fifteen minutes was the longest of my life. There I sat, perched on the edge of the sofa, surrounded by refugees that couldn’t speak a word of English. And they all just sat there looking at me, smiling every now in then. The most disconcerting person was an elderly man. He wore traditional afghan clothing, a long white caftan and pajama pants, and had a white turban wrapped around his head. He was obviously blind in one eye and that eye was scarred and clouded white, so when he looked at me, all I could see was the scarred eye.

     Finally, the man in charge arrived home and we were able to have a conversation. I provided him with all the information on where to take the people to get their X-rays, and how important it was to get it done. He was upset because he said they had all been checked prior to arriving in California and no one had TB. I apologized but stressed that they still needed to be cleared in California, now that they were living there. I made an appointment to return in two weeks to follow up, and rose to leave. All the Afghans stood, too, and followed me out to the car. They watched as I put away my briefcase in the trunk, then got into the car. They were still standing there as I drove away.

     Two weeks later I returned to the same situation, and no, they had not gone to get their X-rays. But I was at the end of my semester, so the problem reverted back to the head nurse.

 

ANGELS AMONG US/WHATSOEVER YOU DO TO THE LEAST OF MY PEOPLE

Whatsoever you do
to the least of my people,
that you do unto me.

 When I was hungry, you gave me to eat;
When I was thirsty, you gave me to drink.
Now enter into the home of my Father.

 When I was homeless, you opened your door;
When I was naked, you gave me your coat.
Now enter into the home of my Father.

 When I was weary, you helped me find rest;
When I was anxious, you calmed all my fears.
Now enter into the home of my Father.

When in a prison, you came to my cell;
When on a sickbed, you cared for my needs.
Now enter into the home of my Father.

When I was laughed at, you stood by my side;
When I was happy, you shared in my joy.
Now enter into the home of my Father.

                My brother, Richard, wrote a lovely post on Facebook recently where he talked of meeting God frequently while going about his business of the day. I’ve had those same experiences a number of times. There have been instances when I’ve met someone and truly felt that I was in the presence of God. I’ve left those meetings feeling as though I’d been given a special gift. Two encounters come to mind. These were situations where someone was being especially kind to me, for no apparent reason.

                The first time was years ago standing outside Buckingham Palace watching the changing of the guards. We were with a group of friends, and there was a large crowd in front of us. We were having trouble seeing. Out of nowhere came a little man in a wool overcoat and a top hat. He had white hair sticking out from under the hat and he was missing most of his teeth. He introduced himself and said he’d been one of the Royal guards when he was a young. He was so warm and engaging and before we knew it he’d told us to follow him. Somehow he parted the crowd like he was parting the Red Sea and we were soon in front. We thanked him and turned to watch the ceremony. When we turned back around he’d disappeared.

                The next encounter was when on a trip to Greece, my husband and I tried to use an ATM machine near the Plaka in Athens. We weren’t having much luck when out of nowhere; Christoph appeared and offered to help. His English was quite good and he said he’d learned it from American servicemen he’d met while working on a base in Greece. He helped us get money then he started walking around the Plaka with us. He ended up spending several hours showing us various points of interest and talking about Greece. He took us to an Orthodox Greek church and lit candles for us for a safe trip. He gave money to a man outside the church that he told us had AIDS. Then he took us to the Sunday Street fair and bought apples. He wouldn’t take a “tip” or any money from us but he did leave us at a friend’s jewelry store at the end of our day. I bought a pair of Greek key earrings from the friend. I suppose that was all the thanks Christoph needed. Interesting...his name was CHRISToph. Makes you stop and think.

                Many times I’ve met homeless people on the streets and something about them made me stop and think...was this really a homeless person or an angel in disguise? What if it was Christ himself that was nudging me to see the homeless person. Some people call me a sucker, but yes, I always give them money. Sometimes I buy them food if we’re near a fast food restaurant. But I always think, there but for the Grace of God go I.