Until the fire department gives the all-clear. I sat alone in my room. The B52s and Culture Club kept me company. Many times, when the fire alarm goes off, it's because someone pulled it. I wonder if this time there really is a fire. If there is, will I make it out alive? I am on the third floor.
My bed has an air mattress. it sounds like it is alive and breathing as it fills with air. This took some getting used to. I wondered what the strange, creepy noise was each night. When my aide puts the bed rail up the mattress deflates with a shushing sound. Until it's reset and filling up it is like lying in a hole.
Med and treatment carts rumble as they pass my door, They sound like small earthquakes.
Many mornings. I am awakened by the chopping sound of the pill crusher. Or, aides and nurses talking in the hall. The squeak of the stand-up lift as aides come in to get me out of bed.
Machines whirring. Oxygen hissing. All of these sounds are positive because they help residents live.
Residents yell for spouses who are long gone. Alzheimer's is stealing their minds.
The dining room can be loud in the mornings. The staff talking. Dishes clattering. Residents talking. A cacophony of sound.
All of the sounds I've described, positive and negative are just a part of life in a nursing home.
Hear that? The med cart is coming.
My bed has an air mattress. it sounds like it is alive and breathing as it fills with air. This took some getting used to. I wondered what the strange, creepy noise was each night. When my aide puts the bed rail up the mattress deflates with a shushing sound. Until it's reset and filling up it is like lying in a hole.
Med and treatment carts rumble as they pass my door, They sound like small earthquakes.
Many mornings. I am awakened by the chopping sound of the pill crusher. Or, aides and nurses talking in the hall. The squeak of the stand-up lift as aides come in to get me out of bed.
Machines whirring. Oxygen hissing. All of these sounds are positive because they help residents live.
Residents yell for spouses who are long gone. Alzheimer's is stealing their minds.
The dining room can be loud in the mornings. The staff talking. Dishes clattering. Residents talking. A cacophony of sound.
All of the sounds I've described, positive and negative are just a part of life in a nursing home.
Hear that? The med cart is coming.
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