What is it about my nose? I've now had two patients comment on it. The first, a few weeks ago, asked if I'd had a nose job. The second, yesterday, the sister of a patient said she loved how my nose curled up. Really? Thanks, I think... If I was going to compliment someone I don't think it would be on their nose. Just sayin'.
I've had a full caseload for the last week, and it's been good. Challenging but good. Luckily I've seen the same patients every day, so that makes it easier for me to treatment plan.
One of my patients is highly medicated for pain. I've realized this since I began working with her. Her stories are always outlandish and crazy. She has done just about everything. She was a nurse. She is a pilot. She has a "retreat room" that she rents out to people who come to Colorado. Oh, thats right, she came from Colorado to have surgery at the Clinic- because the doctors out there said she would be paralyzed. She told me today that she used to interview boyfriends of women she knew- to see whether or not they would be good together. "Of course" she had to "charge them five dollars." Oh, and she's never heard of chocolate covered popcorn- but she said that it must be better than mountain oysters. (If you don't know what they are- don't google it, they are testicles of some animal or something.)
This morning she told me she thought she was being over medicated, so she decided to cut back on her pain medication. She said "Every time I lay down I fall asleep, and I shouldn't be doing that, I'm not working." Needless to say this afternoon I went up to her room to see why she was late for therapy and she was curled in the fetal position in bed, in terrible pain. She decided that she still wanted to come down for therapy, but started talking non-sense when we were getting in her wheelchair.
"Are you my Beth? I'm going to take you back to Colorado with me and find you a cowboy. A good cowboy. You know, you'd be good at branding the animals."
"Me?" I said? "You think I'd be good at branding the animals!? I'm a vegetarian."
"Oh, well maybe not. You know, there are people in India starving."
Her sister interjects at this point and says- "She's heavily medicated right now..."
The patient starts in again. "You know, my church sent 8 water buffalos there."
"What about water buffalos?" I ask.
"My church sent 8 of them to India. You know, because there are people starving there."
Needless to say, we stayed sitting, and played Wii to work on her UE strength that session.
Oh, one other thing. Another patient I'm seeing right now made me laugh today. She is an 87 y.o. admitted for a CVA. Another therapist was helping me with her today, and he was explaining what he wanted her to do. She looked up at him- all 90 pounds of her- and with her big brown eyes and Italian accent siad, "say what?!" when he was finished explaining what to do. Never did I think I would hear a woman of her age say with such seriousness "say what?". It made my day.
I <3 my patients. I really do. They make everything worth while.
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