The Creature Gullom

Miss Myra (not her real name) was an 88 year old visually impaired woman with a history of stroke that caused her to have impaired judgement and impulsive behaviors. The other day I went into her room to help a student check her blood sugar. We found her crawling on her bed screaming profanities. Miss Myra was rather "uninhibited" in both her speech and her actions and had no trouble making her thoughts and opinions known. People dreaded her because of this. In some ways she reminded me of Gullom from Lord of the Rings.
As we left the room after checking her blood glucose, I reflected on the experience. What do people like Miss Myra have to teach us? How can we remain cool and composed when she constantly hurls insults and threats at us? How can we have compassion on her and love her as Christ loves us?
The most repulsive thing about Miss Myra is not her insults, it's not her threats, its not her disheveled appearance, it's that she reminds us of ourselves. Looking at her is like looking in a mirror. The truth is that deep inside we are all like Miss Myra. "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." The difference between most of us and Miss Myra is that we can filter what we are thinking to make what comes out of our mouth socially and culturally acceptable. That doesn't mean that we don't have those same wicked thoughts. Unmasked, we are all like Miss Myra; our hearts are black and shriveled. We need God and His Holy Spirit to cover us with His grace and transform us into His likeness.

Let the Games Begin

Clinicals started again this week. Thursday was my students' first day of taking care of real patients in a nursing home. Fortunately, not a tear was shed and nobody (I kept counting them) hid in the bathroom! Sometimes it's the little things...
Today as I was wondering about the units on my usual rounds, I saw one of the students hurriedly carrying a large stack of towels down the hall. I figured she was on her way to a "code brown" so I followed her to see if she needed help. We were probably 5 feet from the room when I noticed that the carpet was damp. As we approached the room we found a lady standing with her walker in inches of water and an overflowing (and I do mean overflowing) toilet. In the few minutes it took for the maintenance man to come, the entire patient room had become a lake. It was a double room so the poor woman in the other bed was literally on an island. We managed to evacuate the lady with the walker to "higher ground."
I'm thinking this is probably the only the first of many awkward bathroom stories with students. Let the games begin!

Why Pets are Therapeutic

-Research shows that petting an animal can help with relaxation, a sense of well being and lower the blood pressure.
-God created Adam and gave him charge of all the animals. It was his job to wander about the garden of Eden and name them. Humans have an innate desire to care for animals.
-Animals mostly live in the here an now. My dog Olie lives every moment to the fullest. He seems like he thinks every moment is "the best ever." Every day I get home from work he acts like I've been gone a month, it never gets old. He doesn't hold a grudge. He'll give me puppy kisses minutes after I scolded him for chewing shoes. Olie doesn't worry about tomorrow and he doesn't care if he eats the same thing everyday. Ah, the things we can learn from dogs...