3/04/2009

Almost all healed!

Many of you know I have been getting treatment at home from an abcess that the hospital lanced back in January on my upper left thigh.

Well, as of today my nurse said that I will be discharged from them as of this coming Friday! The cut in my leg has healed to the point now that the doctor told me on Monday that they dont need to pack the cut anymore with gauze. Yesterday my nurse said that in the last couple days that the cut has closed a LOT since she saw me on last Friday. Its only a dime sized hole now. It was about 6 inches long and 3 inches deep at first when I left the hospital. Amazing! I am so glad to have this over with.
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This reminds me of when I was in high school, and I THOUGHT that I wanted to go on to be a nurse. In the middle of 11th grade I told my family that I wanted to be a nurse, and took college prep courses in preparation. I even got hired at Nightingale Nursing Home as a nurses aid to get the feel for working in that career. I started as part time.

Let me tell you, I loved working with the poor sickly patients, caring for and feeding and clothing them. I got really close to a lot of them. Some had dementia and many just had ailments that their family could not handle at home. The patients were very nice, and I loved helping to take care of them.

Later, after graduation, I worked there full time and I was transfered to the ward where the patients were worse off. I had a boy, then 18, who hung himself playing cowboy with a rope and cut off the oxygen to his brain. He could not talk, or walk and could barely sit up in his bed. We had a 23 year old woman who got MS after giving birth to her daughter, and could not talk well and could not walk. Her parents had her baby and her husband left her soon after the birth. She used an alphabet on a pad of cardboard to spell out what she needed because her speach was so bad. Later I had many patients die after having cared for them for over a year. I suffered from their loss and later changed my mind about being a nurse.

I went on to work in offices, and loved the interaction with customers and co-workers. I worked for 14 years for Holley Carburetor Co. as a Receiving clerk and later a Traffic Co-ordinater following shipments around the country to our Southern plants. But I was laid off when the company decided to whittle down and then close the plant here in Warren, Michigan.

After that I worked for 16 -1/2 years at Specialty Sealants, in Sterling Heights, MI, selling caulking materials and Waterproofing products to contractors in the area. I was the one and only office manager doing all the ordering, stocking the warehouse, driving the Hi-Lo, and doing all the customer service, recomending the right materials for the jobs.

Now, since my stroke, which was 5 years ago, on my birthday, May 7th, I was forced to retire and have gotten on dissability Social Security. I could no longer do the job I used to do. My job now is to take care of my hubby, Barlow, and together we try to take care of this home. He retired about a year and a half ago due to increased pain from artheritis in his knees.

I spend a lot of time helping my daughter, Caroline, by picking up her kids from school and taking them home on the days that she has to work those hours, and by going to going to Bingo on occasion. Time has slowed down, day by day, but the years keep spinning by so fast its like we're in a whirlwind and cant stop it! I feel like a 20 year old mind in a 80 year old body! How do I make it stop! LOL! (or do I?)

5 comments:

♥Caroline♥ said...

glad that you are able to help when you can mom...love you!!

I could never do nursing...it's too sad.

Mal Kiely [Lancelots Pram] said...

[[[hugs]]] Glad to hear about you, Ma'am :)

Anonymous said...

Paula, It is a good post. Your life is much like mine in that I had several occupations also. I have been fortunate however not to have had the health problems. But that shows that you are a fighter and that you will continue to find ways to make life just a little better for all around you. I am glad the wound problem is cleared. My daughter mentioned the other day that she would like to meet Caroline. Possibly when the weather clears you and she would join us for a cup of coffee and a chat. We would come to your neck of the woods ( you like that phrase? That is my mom talking)

gammamoma said...

Momma, we would love to meet you twoboth some day. I have lots of time off, but sadly Caroline works varied hours and days, so getting a date with her is hard to do. If your ever in the Warren area, we could arrange something.

Anonymous said...

I'll talk with Cindy about it and if the snow holds off we will set it up.