Our Generation in a Nursing Home

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[color=#9933ff][font=monotype corsiva][size=4]Okay not the best sounding thread title ever, but I haven't made a thread in months.

Anyway last Friday the activity guy and I were doing the female residents' nails and talking about how the residents aren't allowed blue nailpolish or glitter unless it's on their care plans because they didn't grow up with blue nailpolish and the like. So then we got on a discussion of how when our generation is in a nursing home you'll see old men with black nails and guy liner rolling down the halls with women wearing neon coloured nailpolish.

Now I don't know how true that is, but that got me to thinking about what other people think it may be like when our generation becomes the geriatric generation. So by all means if you have an idea bring it up. This could be interesting. At least to me. But I make my living with geriatrics.[/color][/font][/size]

[Katie!]

I'll be that old lady that makes inappropriate comments at everyone.

[eleanor]

[font=trebuchet ms] I'd rather die early than live in a nursing home, tbqh.[/font]

[pooperson]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]I hope I get senile & think I'm Lady Gaga.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[quote name='Lunox'][font=trebuchet ms] I'd rather die early than live in a nursing home, tbqh.[/font][/QUOTE]

[color=#9933ff][font=monotype corsiva][size=4]Actually I think it depends on the nursing home. The one I did most of my hospice cases was really nice. They did happy hours once a month with alcohol and it was almost like apartments. It also smelled better than the one I work in now.

Now the ones that look like institutions I think if my kids send me there I'll stop eatting so I can haunt the damn place.

Tapeperson: We don't have a Lady Gaga in any unit where I work. But up on my friend's unit there's a resident who strips when she feels the need to do so. She was doing it last week so they wouldn't send her down to wait for the pediotrist with me. Instead her own CNA had to go with her when it was her turn. My friend also has a guy who marks his territory.

I want to be the lady who tears down the hallways running over CNAs at random. [/color][/font][/size]

[chibi-master]

I'd would rather die early. The only perk of being an old person would be that I have an excuse to use a cane regularly without being questioned about it!:catgirl: That and I can walk around acting like some wise, feeble genius...

[Raiha]

[COLOR="Plum"][FONT="Times New Roman"]I plan to be a hot old woman pinching the butts of the male nurses in the hospice I'm living in while I die happily overmedicated.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[color=#9933ff][font=monotype corsiva][size=4]Looks like Chibi #2 is gonna be the Blingified pimped out resident. Again... you pimp Chibi!

If I end up in hopsice, I want to have rye every day with a bit of water and a constant injection of morphine from a pump to keep me very happy.

But I definately want to be the confused resident who rolls around in a motorized wheel chair throwing food and wondering when my dead parents are coming to pick me up.

By the way, my posts are a little glimpse into my world. Which I have to work in on Christmas Day.[/color][/font][/size]

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]I shall simply do what I did last time and barter several innocent souls in return for rejuvenation. Of course if Ace has any potential at all he'll replace me before then, though I doubt him capable of such a feat.

Personally I don't want to live past the point where I'm capable of looking after myself in my own home, at least relatively speaking. If I did end up in a nursing home, I'd probably be that old guy attempting to maintain a jovial outlook on life and divvying out little pieces of advice to the young'uns but also having days where I consider everyone around me an idiot and vitality is wasted on the young as much as wisdom is wasted on the old.[/SIZE]

[Rachmaninoff]

[FONT="Trebuchet MS"]If I do like my other relatives and have issues with dementia, I won't even know I'm there since I'll be reliving the past. I can't say I'm too keen on the idea but at the same time it's too far away for me to really care about it.[/FONT]

[SaiyanPrincessX]

[SIZE="1"]I saw a comedian talking about this once, it was really funny. Listening to rap, and swearing like a sailor..yeah that would be a sight.[/SIZE]

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[quote name='Rachmaninoff'][FONT="Trebuchet MS"]If I do like my other relatives and have issues with dementia, I won't even know I'm there since I'll be reliving the past. I can't say I'm too keen on the idea but at the same time it's too far away for me to really care about it.[/FONT][/QUOTE]

[color=#9933ff][font=monotype corsiva][size=4]Interesting Rach, my fiance's maternal grandma has alzheimers- a form of demensia. Right now it's just her short term memory that she has issues with (I called Wednesday before Christmas and she told me that she'd have Lee call me and did he have my name and number after I'd told her who I was) Her long term memory is still in tact (with obvious exceptions, she thinks my fiance and his brothers are younger than they really are)She can for the most part get herself dressed and do the majority of her ADLs without supervision, but my fiance's mom walks her through the steps of taking a bath (She's a CNA at a local nursing home) and writes down lists of some activities to keep her busy (ie: feed the fish in the fish pond, let the dog out ect ect) so she can slow the effects of the disease along with the medications.

But you're right you won't know your in a nursing home. Or you'll know your not at your regular home and keep insisting that someone take you back to your home- or get your decesed spouse to come get you. When I worked in assisted living for strictly memory care residents one guy would sometimes go down for dinner, go back to his room and take a nap then come out a few hours later convinced he'd missed dinner- so myself or one of the other RAs would make him a sandwhich. There was also the time one new resident convinced four other residents that there was a resturaunt in the main lobby and they kept hitting the exit doors trying to find it. :animesigh.

Growing old isn't too enjoyable of a prospect, but there's an Irish saying that goes: [COLOR="Green"]Do not regret growing old, many are denied the PRIVLEDGE[/COLOR]. And I believe that's true.[/color][/font][/size]


[quote name='SaiyanPrincessX'][SIZE="1"]I saw a comedian talking about this once, it was really funny. Listening to rap, and swearing like a sailor..yeah that would be a sight.[/SIZE][/QUOTE]

[color=#9933ff][font=monotype corsiva][size=4] You forgot the guy liner and the loud alternative music. Heck by the time we get old and some of us make it to the home there could be dueling stereos, or more likely dueling iPod ports.[/color][/font][/size]

[SunfallE]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]I've no idea what it will be like, but I'm not terribly worried over it. I used to have a more negative view of nursing homes but not anymore. I had to get guardian ship for my grandmother who suffered from dementia and lacked the ability to care for herself anymore.

As much as I wanted to leave her at her home, there just wasn't the funds to pay for someone to keep an eye on her all the time. It didn't help that her memory problems resulted in her taking a broom and smashing things when they didn't work right.

It gave me a better appreciation of how important those kind of places are. She got the care she needed and with her memory issues she didn't know where she was, at all. Though it also meant she no longer knew who I was either.

I only hope I make it to 90+, like my grandmother did, before needing that kind of care. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[quote name='SunfallE'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]I've no idea what it will be like, but I'm not terribly worried over it. I used to have a more negative view of nursing homes but not anymore. I had to get guardian ship for my grandmother who suffered from dementia and lacked the ability to care for herself anymore.

As much as I wanted to leave her at her home, there just wasn't the funds to pay for someone to keep an eye on her all the time. It didn't help that her memory problems resulted in her taking a broom and smashing things when they didn't work right.

It gave me a better appreciation of how important those kind of places are. She got the care she needed and with her memory issues she didn't know where she was, at all. Though it also meant she no longer knew who I was either.

I only hope I make it to 90+, like my grandmother did, before needing that kind of care. [/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[color=#9933ff][font=monotype corsiva][size=4] As someone who's worked in memory care, hospice and as a home aide as well as someone who will be marrying into a family with a member with alzheimers I have to give you a lot of credit for taking care of your grandma for as long as you were able to. It's a lot of work to take care of someone depending on the stage. I'm also glad you don't feel any guilt for putting your loved one in the care of people who are somewhat trained to do so. I say somewhat because every case of Alzheimers/ demensia is different.

My soon to be mom in law is a CNA and when she gets home from work she takes care of her mom. Recently she also found out that her boyfriend has Parkinson's while visiting him in Alberta. When she came home she put her mom in respite care for a week in the nursing home she works at for a week. So see even the people who make a living taking care of other people's loved ones need a rest. It's not easy. But we do it anyway.[/color][/font][/size]

[Nony]

Each room will have a computer built in to the bed. I hope.

[SunfallE]

[FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"][COLOR="RoyalBlue"][quote name='ChibiHorsewoman][color=#9933ff][font=monotype corsiva][size=4] As someone who's worked in memory care, hospice and as a home aide as well as someone who will be marrying into a family with a member with alzheimers I have to give you a lot of credit for taking care of your grandma for as long as you were able to. It's a lot of work to take care of someone depending on the stage. I'm also glad you don't feel any guilt for putting your loved one in the care of people who are somewhat trained to do so. I say somewhat because every case of Alzheimers/ demensia is different. [/color][/font'][/size][/quote]Thanks. I didn't want to put her there, but after trying different options where we would stop by after work or have someone else come to the home and work with her each day, as the dementia got worse it became painfully obvious that she needed 24 hour care.

She had also fallen and gotten so hurt that she couldn't even fix herself food at one point. We tried having her back at home again after she was in a place to recover from her fall, but it didn't work since the brief time away from home only resulted in her having trouble recognizing her own home.

After checking all the options I learned that here in Utah if someone's income is below a certain point the state will cover the rest of their care. So placing her in the nursing home was the only way we could make sure she got the care she needed. There simply wasn't enough money to pay for care at her house since she needed it 24/7.

Ironically, once she had been in the nursing home for a bit, she did a lot better since they made sure she got her meds and that she was taken care of. She didn't really recognize me anymore but at least she was happy at the end. [quote name='Miss Anonymous']Each room will have a computer built in to the bed. I hope.[/quote]So you can still get your regular Shino fix, amirite? :p[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Nony]

[quote name='SunfallE'][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]So you can still get your regular Shino fix, amirite? :p[/COLOR][/FONT][/QUOTE]
If anyone even still knew or cared about Shino, it'd be 'cause of [i]me[/i] being all old and farty on the forums saying, "See, back in MY day, we had a li'l series called .hack!"