Things I learned from working in a Nursing Home

Well, from the last time. I was offered an accepted a job as a CNA at Meadowlark Hills. The day after I did that I was offered an interview at the orthopedic sports medicine center. I waited from about a week and a half for the interview a couple days later I was offered and accepted the job. I'm very excited for it. I start on Thursday. I can't wait to learn everything there. This means I had to give my boss of two weeks at Meadowlark my two weeks notice. It was awkward. Mostly because I'm not used to letting people down to do something good for myself. It was definitely selfish and I hate selfish. So yesterday happened to be my last day and now I'm going to reflect on my 3 week stint as a CNA at a nursing home.

1. Life sometimes doesn't end so easy. Some people we needed to use mechanical lifts to just get them out of bed into their wheel chairs. I can't imagine having lived a good life and reach the near end and to be living off of machines to move around because I'm not mobile.

2. Touch is good. I'm not a touchy person. I have never really been. But, a lot of time the elderly just needs a warm hand to hold or a nice pat on the back. This usually makes them a lot more responsive to me, which is really great.

3. Everyone poops. I'm not ashamed of this with my family, but with anyone else I'm extremely uncomfortable with bathroom humor. I'm very excited not to be working with "BM" (bowel movements) any longer. I guess I can say I'm a little bit more advanced in my poop knowledge now.

4. We all need love. One night a 100 year old women told me I needed to find a man because I wasn't getting any younger. As if I needed this reminder. But she shared with me that she was married at the age of 18 and now her son from this marriage is in his 80s and hasn't been doing well because of a stroke he suffered. He stays at another facility, but she misses him terribly. She loves her great-grand babies and she's constantly talking about them. She talked about how she would love more visitors, like the other residents get.

5. Death is inevitable. This is not to say that I didn't know this before I started there, but one of or residents did die while I was there. Life is so fleeting before you're constrained by your debilitating sickness

6. Sometimes you have to be spoon fed.  I guess it's okay. It makes things easier, but sometimes it's not the best for you.

7. If you have the ability to do something, don't tell yourself that you don't. I'm not a person who is really needy and I want to be this way when I get to be elderly. I want to never let myself be defeated by thoughts that don't build me up.


That's about it. It was a really unique experience, I didn't enjoy it, but sometimes learning good things isn't fun.

Fools Day

Happy April 1. Happy Palm Sunday

I've been doing just a small about of studying and lots of praying today. More than usual, and my usual is not enough. It is incredible how free my soul feels right now. The peace that God can bring... wow. I can't even describe it. I'm not making any major life decisions or having any sort of tragedy in my life, either. This means great things for me, because I especially lean on God in those moments and once I get through it I depend less on Him. So I spent much more time praying today, listening to the prayers of others, listening to God.

I constantly ask Him to make my heart and mind purer and my attitude better. He definitely just made me see how I can do that and I will most definitely need His help, but I'm so glad to have a great counselor to guide me.

Since March 11, which was the last time I wrote I've applied at several places around Manhattan as a CNA and last Monday I had an interview at Meadowlark Hills. This is probably the largest retirement home/ long term care facility in Manhattan. I desperately didn't want to do this, I wanted to be in a physician's office seeing all the cool things that they deal with every day. I was worried that I didn't interview well, and this was really my last hope for a job in Manhattan. I had advised a back up plan to move and work in Wichita this summer because I didn't feel this working out. Well, friday evening I got a call to come in for a second interview. I can't say I'm really that excited, but I've really be praying lately  that I would be obedient to God's calling for me. "If you say go, go." sort of thing. I don't think I have to feel excited, but I must be willing to serve where I am. So if Meadowlark Hills is where God wants me, that's where I'll be, trying do my very best work for Him.

Also, Frank Martin left KSU and they hired Bruce Weber. I don't really have an opinion, lots of people are saying that Frank leaving KSU was not really what the media said it was and lots of people are upset with the hire of Bruce Weber. Just like we gave Frank the chance, this guy totally deserves a chance too. That's all I have to say about that.

So my mission until... well, until forever is "Less of me, more of Him."