You Gotta Read It, To Funny

[hppygrndma]

Didnt quite know where to put this, but thought it was worth reading, you will find its true. A nurse friend wrote this on a very long, difficult night shift one night.

ODE TO AN OLD LADY

Dear crabby old woman,

I do see you and you are all these things.

But now you are here with some gross disease.

You're bored and you're lonely,

and no-one has called,

but PLEASE, stop trying to get up, DADGUMMIT YOU"LL FALL.

I really dont care if you wont't take your pill,

the pain will get worse.....

Trust me,.. it will.

Then you'll be crying, and yelling, and making a squall.

And wonder why I don't come, the instant you call.

Now I want you to know,

I've been patient and kind,

I know you are old and losing your mind,

but the guy down the hall is sitting in poop,

and JAHCO is rounding with their circus troupe.

I've been here ten hours with no lunch and no break,

I've turned all my patients,

and my back really aches.

All my people are fed, and at least presentably clean.

Mose gripe as much you do, and say that "I'm mean".

To care for others is a CHOICE that I make,

you'll have to forgive me,

I'VE DONE WHAT IT TAKES...

[burn out]

Crabby old women are the hardest to take. The other day while I was breaking my back to help turn this 70 year old 280 lb beauty queen she cried out "You are hurting me, I hope you never get as old as I am" To which I replied, Thank you very much , I always have prayed that I would be given a short life. She stopped complaining

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

YES! I have been so tired of reading that poem's counterpart- as if we don't give everything we have...but we just don't have the resources to be perfect.

[MIA-RN1, RN]

Is that poem's counterpoint the one supposedly written by a nursing home patient that talks about her life and how nurse's don't know what the patient was before old age set in? The one they made the little film about?

[irish_std/n]

yep this is it!

See Me!!

What do you see, nurses, what do you see?

Are you thinking, when you look at me --

A crabby old woman, not very wise,

Uncertain of habit, with far-away eyes,

Who dribbles her food and makes no reply,

When you say in a loud voice -- "I do wish you'd try."

Who seems not to notice the things that you do,

And forever is losing a stocking or shoe,

Who unresisting or not, lets you do as you will,

With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill.

Is that what you're thinking, is that what you see?

Then open your eyes, nurse, you're looking at ME...

I'll tell you who I am, as I sit here so still;

As I rise at your bidding, as I eat at your will.

I'm a small child of ten with a father and mother,

Brothers and sisters, who love one another,

A young girl of sixteen with wings on her feet.

Dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet;

A bride soon at twenty -- my heart gives a leap,

Remembering the vows that I promised to keep;

At twenty-five now I have young of my own,

Who need me to build a secure, happy home;

A woman of thirty, my young now grow fast,

Bound to each other with ties that should last;

At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,

But my man's beside me to see I don't mourn;

At fifty once more babies play 'round my knee,

Again we know children, my loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead,

I look at the future, I shudder with dread,

For my young are all rearing young of their own,

And I think of the years and the love that I've known;

I'm an old woman now and nature is cruel --

'Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool.

The body is crumbled, grace and vigor depart,

There is now a stone where once I had a heart,

But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells,

And now and again my battered heart swells.

I remember the joys, I remember the pain,

And I'm loving and living life over again,

I think of the years, all too few -- gone too fast,

And accept the stark fact that nothing can last --

So I open your eyes, nurses, open and see,

Not a crabby old woman, look closer, nurses -- see ME!

[TazziRN, RN]

My response to the original poem was always, "I do see you, y'old crab, when you gonna see ME???" My heart goes out to the type of old woman that the poem talks about, but then there is the flip side: the truly crabby old woman that you just wanna heave over the bed rail because nothing you do for her is good enough.

[snowfreeze, BSN, RN]

HUmm, today I snapped at a very rude husband whose wife I had already spent plenty of time with and 2 documented times on the bedpan also, this was 10am when two of my other 3 patients were now reportedly sitting in poo. He yelled at me across the hall and waved me to his wifes room as though I was a jaywalker. I told him he will not boss me around nor will he speak to me in the manner he did. I had been in that room multiple times already and now had to also care for my other patients, this while I kindly cleaned up the incontinent poo of his wife. He snapped back that I was not to snap at him and I responded that yes when I am spoken to in the manner he did that I will snap back. I am one person and cannot be in 4 or more places at the same time. I also told him that I don't take kindly to being told thatI am not doing my job properly. Well, he did appologize later and we did have a nice chat. Sometimes people need to know that they are being unreasonable. I hope they hire more nurse aids soon or more nurses so I don't have too much work in too little time.

[LauraF, RN, ASN, CNA, LPN, RN]

Those poems both are so true. One causes you to slow down and think about what you do. The other can go to those who no matter what you do will never be happy.

[burn out]

My response to the original poem was always, "I do see you, y'old crab, when you gonna see ME???" My heart goes out to the type of old woman that the poem talks about, but then there is the flip side: the truly crabby old woman that you just wanna heave over the bed rail because nothing you do for her is good enough.

But the part that really gets to me is that crabby old woman refuses to help herself..I feed her because she refuses to feed herself, I break my back because she refuses to even help lift a finger for herself..she has given up

and if she dosen't care it is really hard for me to when I have done the best I can.

[MIA-RN1, RN]

yep this is it!

See Me!!

That poem always makes me choke up a bit. The black and white film of the poem is beautiful. Its shown to all the clinical groups the day of their first semester first clinical in the LTC before they go to the facility. Edited to say that the instructors also hand out Kleenex before they start the tape!

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

yep this is it!

See Me!!

What do you see, nurses, what do you see?

Are you thinking, when you look at me --

A crabby old woman, not very wise,

Uncertain of habit, with far-away eyes,

Who dribbles her food and makes no reply,

When you say in a loud voice -- "I do wish you'd try."

Who seems not to notice the things that you do,

And forever is losing a stocking or shoe,

Who unresisting or not, lets you do as you will,

With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill.

Is that what you're thinking, is that what you see?

Then open your eyes, nurse, you're looking at ME...

I'll tell you who I am, as I sit here so still;

As I rise at your bidding, as I eat at your will.

I'm a small child of ten with a father and mother,

Brothers and sisters, who love one another,

A young girl of sixteen with wings on her feet.

Dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet;

A bride soon at twenty -- my heart gives a leap,

Remembering the vows that I promised to keep;

At twenty-five now I have young of my own,

Who need me to build a secure, happy home;

A woman of thirty, my young now grow fast,

Bound to each other with ties that should last;

At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,

But my man's beside me to see I don't mourn;

At fifty once more babies play 'round my knee,

Again we know children, my loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead,

I look at the future, I shudder with dread,

For my young are all rearing young of their own,

And I think of the years and the love that I've known;

I'm an old woman now and nature is cruel --

'Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool.

The body is crumbled, grace and vigor depart,

There is now a stone where once I had a heart,

But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells,

And now and again my battered heart swells.

I remember the joys, I remember the pain,

And I'm loving and living life over again,

I think of the years, all too few -- gone too fast,

And accept the stark fact that nothing can last --

So I open your eyes, nurses, open and see,

Not a crabby old woman, look closer, nurses -- see ME!

I have this framed in my living room.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

That poem always makes me choke up a bit. The black and white film of the poem is beautiful. Its shown to all the clinical groups the day of their first semester first clinical in the LTC before they go to the facility. Edited to say that the instructors also hand out Kleenex before they start the tape!

That was when I first became aware of the original poem---my first day of clinicals in LTC. I've never forgotten it. And while I know there are some nasty old people in this world, there are also plenty of nasty young people and nasty middle-aged people. I just hope that if I ever become like the 'old lady' in the poem, I'll be cared for by nurses with a little compassion and the sense that there's still a woman behind the faded hazel eyes and the time-worn face.