We have all seen television shows featuring interviews with centenarians. Many of these one hundred plus years “young” souls had wrinkles and white, gray or sparse hair. Many of them were in wheelchairs or not as “able” physically as they used to be. But if you look into the face and eyes of many of … More How to Keep Your Inner Child Alive and Well
Life is full of humorous events. Sometimes, I think they help us keep our sanity. It is easy to laugh at mistakes, slip ups, and other embarrassing things others do, but it is harder to laugh at ourselves in our own moment of weakness, at least immediately after they happen.There are a few funny … More Can You Laugh at Yourself?
One of my four favorite seasons each year is winter. (Yes, for various reasons, I love each one.) I’ve seen them all from South Carolina to the north to the western, mountains of North Carolina, and eastern North Carolina; I have been through one hurricane in New Orleans and one in North Carolina. I have been … More Winter Beauty
Inner peace is a home grown commodity; beginning with the seeds of nourishment, parents loving us when we are babies, then as children. Add the nourishment of loving parents; give the sunshine of growth from personal experiences, life lessons, and a love for our Creator/Spirit/God, as well as our fellow man, and our own peace will … More Which Peace Are We Talking about Here?
First joy that awakens me, is my black cat, Norie. She jumps up on my bed and stares at me in the fading darkness, until I wake up to feed her. If I don’t wake up right away, she snuggles up by my head, and we doze for a while. Second joy is expectantly looking … More Five Daily Sources of Happiness for Me
I enjoy going to my home town in Upstate South Carolina. I was born in Greenville and grew up there in a loving family. The first 22 years of my life were spent there, getting my education from first grade through a diploma school for nurses. My husband and I met there too. Greenville is … More I Am Proud of My Home Town Greenville, SC
Today, I felt led to write this post about little things. Since I had back problems several years ago, I know there are some things I can not do without having pain again, sooner or later. A little back ache after being on my feet for hours without rest tells me that I need to … More Little Things
As an older woman in my mid-seventies, I offer the following seven strategies to help add quality to your single (or married) senior living. These suggestions are for Seniors, who are active and independent. Becoming a Senior Citizen often involves difficult adjustments in our lives. Long marriages may end with divorce or the death of … More Seven Strategies for Single Senior Survival
Several years ago I learned a lesson about miracles and prayer blankets. I never heard of a prayer blanket before. Although there are also prayer shawls knitted or crocheted with the same purpose. My neighbor, Ms. S, used to sew prayer blankets from two pieces of material that was a yard long and a yard … More A Blanket of Prayer
I was a medical nurse for about nine or ten years. Then, I was trained as an ICU/CCU nurse and worked 17 years in CCU/ICU (Coronary and Intensive Care Units). After about seventeen years of nursing in Coronary or Intensive Care Units, I herniated a disc in my neck and had to retire from ICU/CCU nursing. … More My Back Brought Me to a New Career
There is something many people have forgotten about or are afraid of giving or receiving: the gift of touch. I know there are times when touching someone is inappropriate but I have learned it can be very healing in the right circumstances and with the right people. My mother and father were both affectionate with … More The Gift of Touch
I had just finished getting report on my assigned patients on a different floor from my usual cardiac patient floor. My report was just about finished when my patient — labeled “a difficult patient” — in room 205 requested her pain medicine and her medicine for itching. Pain and itching are not uncommon for a dialysis … More She Smiled!
There are parts of this story that may be disturbing but not graphic. It is about how a medical team worked together to care for disaster victims. In the 1970’s I was a nurse in a 5 bed ICU/CCU unit in a small two wing, one floor community hospital near New Orleans. On the way … More The Night I Will Never Forget
Years ago I took care of an unforgettable cancer patient. She had lost her hair from the chemotherapy, but not her spirit. She quipped about her bald head and how funny she perceived her appearance, calling herself “squirrel head.” I often reminded her how beautiful she was, but she’d just wave her hand at me. … More A Kind Hearted Cancer Patient Gives a Gift
p My patient, Ms. Q, was on oxygen in the Coronary Care Unit where I was a nurse. She became quite a challenge as you will see. Ms. Q had a long history of cigarette smoking coupled with a heart attack. On her admission she and her family were instructed on our policy of no … More Compassion and Understanding
During the 1980’s to 2000, the nursing staff wore “scrubs” (surgical pants and tops) on all the floors because nurses sometimes got “pulled” to other units. With patients with highly contagious diseases or blood splatter like in the Emergency Department, white uniforms were highly impractical. The nurses caps, often called our “glory,” also went by … More Nursing in the Late 20th Century
I attended and graduated from Greenville (SC) General Hospital School of Nursing in 1972. This school was one of the last three-year diploma schools in the state and maybe the country. Three-year schools are now obsolete with two-year nursing schools, which offer an associates degree, and four year schools in colleges and universities, which offer … More Student Nurse Life in Early 1970s
joyful2beeblogs 
You must be logged in to post a comment.