Dimple's Discoveries

Adrenaline.-defined on dictionary.com as " a sudden burst of energy from an increase in the hormone and neurotransmitter adrenaline, esp. increased heart rate and blood pressure, perspiration, blood sugar, and metabolism". There have been moments at work where I felt the rush of adrenaline, none of which are moments I want to remember. Those times have been times of high stress and intensity, where often someone's life hung in the balance, or even just their well-being.  So many stories come to mind, I will do a two part series of adrenaline, but here is a story tonight: My last week at work before I left for school, I was in a patient's room, we were picking up our dinner trays for the night and making note of how much they had eaten, as we normally do, and I was glad I was in there. I went in and made small talk as I went to pick up the tray. I had my hands on the tray when she started choking. I immediately reached up and hit the...

Pickup Lines For Old People: Grandpa: Hey baby, you better call life alert because I've fallen for you and can't get up On that note... haha This reminded me of a few times where I have had patients hitting on each other, and on me. Once they are getting up in age, they tend to forget a lot of things that they used to believe in or standards they used to have, etc. Family members get upset because their parents are doing things they didn't used to think was appropriate, and expect staff to be able to keep them apart. One couple that we had was quite hilarious, his family had requested that we try to keep them separate, and so as I was just leaving around 9 or 10 every night, without fail, I would catch her sneaking, literally tiptoeing and crouching down trying to sneak into his room to visit him. I would always send her back to bed, much as you would chastise a 5 year old for being caught out of bed. The other day I was at work, I was working a double and a guy friend...

Death is a curious thing. Some fear it, some long for it, some temporarily defy it, but no one can escape it. In working for over two years now as a CNA, I have seen at least a hundred deaths, each affecting me in a different way. Watching patients pass away brings the beliefs and understanding of the afterlife of the aide to the surface very quickly. It is a test of faith. I've watched aides respond in all different ways to death, from crying, to refusing to enter the room, to a quiet acceptance of an inevitable part of life. This week taught me about myself as death approached our facility. This patient had been miserable, she was on hospice and expected to die soon, and had reasoned to herself that we (the nursing staff) were keeping her alive through our efforts, so soon all our services were being refused. Showers skipped, toileting ignored, meals sent back, and pleas that we help end her life were an hourly occurance. She was begging every staff member that en...

As a CNA we tend to see a lot of strange behaviors and actions from patients that you would never have imagined in your life. One of those was a graveyard where a patient had sundowners and was known for some less than ordinary behavior after the sun went down, and this night was no different. It was in the middle of the graveyard shift, and a smell was coming from his room, that when investigated and on first survey the source wasn’t found. Upon entering the bathroom it was discovered that this 80-something year old had climbed up onto the sink, pooped in it, then climbed back down and gotten back into bed. That was a one-time instance, and how glad I am that it hasn’t happened again, but this leads me to tell of another patient’s strange habit which is still enough to bring a smile to my face every time I think about it. When I first met this patient, she was on the toilet. No big deal right? Everybody goes to the bathroom, a natural thing. However, the next time I came into he...