Thank You............I think.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

One of my favorite stories relating to nursing. This happened to me when I was a CNA for a LTC facility. It was my first exposure to the medical field ever.

When I was a landscape laborer, I often shunned doing the winter snow removal. Being a laborer, snow removal for me meant spending hours upon hours shoveling sidewalks, out in the cold, while the owner and his favorites plowed the driveways in their trucks. It was good money, it had to be otherwise no one would do it, but often I found myself turning down winter work. During the off season, I would find work as a fry cook or some other position just to get by. A couple winters, I worked as a CNA.

Once such winter, when I declined to be a part of the winter crew, I worked at a local LTC facility that had an Italian woman who was there for the rehabilitation services. She had a thick Italian accent and we kept two bottles of homemade wine in the fridge for her. She got a glass of that wine every night, it was listed on the medication sheets if I recall.

This woman was always very assertive, borderline pushy with me. Every time I walked past her room and she saw me through the door, I would hear an all too familiar chant being said in a thick Italian accent "BOY, HEY BOY, you come over boy". I'd enter the room and be ordered to empty the trash, straighten out the books on her window or whatever task tickled her fancy at the time. I'd do it, and she'd excuse me with another familiar chant "OK BOY, you go away now, you go do something for that woman across the hall." Much to the ire of the RNs in charge of me, I referred to this woman as Darth.........short for Darth Vader.

This went on for the entire winter, and my time with the facility was coming to an end. My landscaping boss called me to inform me we would start spring clean ups in three weeks. I promptly turned in my two week notice to the LTC facility. I was glad too, I was tired of being indoors and being a CNA at this place paid a little less than working as a landscaper did. Oddly enough, it was also Darth's last few days with us, she was going home with her family.

Darth left before I did, I was not working the day she left. On my last day before I would be gone to start landscaping again, I went in and everyone was looking at me with this odd wry smile on their faces. Some cracks about......stuff I didn't understand, were being directed at me. I walked past the nurses station on my way to view the assignment board and saw a framed letter. It was written by Darth's family. Very complimentary letter. The second and third to the last paragraphs were covered though. I wondered why, turned around to see no less than four nurses watching me and laughing and decided to ask "why?". They directed me to the DON office and said to ask her, so I did.

In the office was a photocopy of the letter, without anything being covered up. As best I can recall, those two paragraphs went something like this:

"At first we were appalled that someone like (insert my first name) worked at your facility. We even started to look into moving our mother to a different facility. In the end we decided not to though, with our mother's glowing reviews of (my first name). We kept an eye on him and her belongings on the days he worked and found no problems with his performance."

"We are not certain what he did to get himself into the situation he finds himself in currently, but we wish him the best of luck. Seems your facility not only rehabs the body as with our mother, but also the soul as with (me again). We hope he has learned his lesson, continues to grow as an individual and may God have mercy on his soul."

I did the Scooby-Doo tilted head "Errrrrrr".

The DON was laughing like I have never seen before. She filled me in on the real story.

Seems this family and their mother somehow got the impression I was an "orderly". A Prison Work Release Orderly. IDK how that impression came across but thats what they believed. They were under the impression I was put on a bus downtown in front to the prison, came to work, did my thing and then went back to spend my night at the prison.

[NewAggieGrad09]

LMAO!!! Awwww

[noreenl]

OMG I can't believe this story!!!! I desperately needed a laugh this morning I am just sorry it's at your expense!!!! You obviously have a beautiful heart and a patient soul!!