A Yogurt in Time…

I’m trying…I really am…I’m trying to make healthier food choices…one of those would be…eating…Greek yogurt…I know…the protein content is double…the regular kind…the carb count is less…it’s organic…but…I just don’t love it…

Now…I am giving it a fair try…adding fruit…hoping it will grow on me…that would be only fair…considering…how…ice cream…my real preference…has literally…grown…on me over the years…but…I digress…

Anyway…it got me to thinking…why is it…that many of the things…that I know are good for me…and…that I really want to do…aren’t that easy…and…why…is it…that so many of the things…that I know are bad for me…and…that I don’t want to do…are so hard not to do…

Hmmm…

Bertha…reminds me…I ate Greek yogurt today…I didn’t eat…ice cream…which is what I wanted…and…really today…this moment…is all I have…yesterday is past…tomorrow hasn’t come…I’ve done my best…

Of course…she’s right…I can only make choices in the moment…whether…it’s food…exercise…spending money…or…anything else…it doesn’t matter what I did or didn’t do yesterday…or…what I’m planning for tomorrow…what I’m doing now…in this moment…is all that matters…it’s all I can count on…

And…honestly…I may be one step closer…to liking Greek yogurt…I’ll see…tomorrow…

Jane

Lessons I Learned…

Many years have passed since I went to nursing school…where I was taught how to check a blood pressure…place a catheter…give a bed bath…and so many other tasks…that I have performed repeatedly over the years…

But…my most valuable lessons…were not presented in the classroom…the learning lab…or even with an instructor in the clinical setting…

My most valuable lessons were taught by a little lady who was my home visit patient…

UAB was a decidedly community oriented school…and when a friend of mine heard that I needed a home visit patient…she asked if I would see her grandmother…her husband had passed away…she was in her 80’s…she had sugar and high blood pressure…the family would love for someone to check in on her and keep a check on her pressure…

Let the learning begin…

I arrived with a twenty-something page assessment…I don’t remember what it was called…but…it was filled with questions regarding history…social…family…medical…spiritual...

Just to review the questions would take a while…

What I found was…I couldn’t keep her on task…I’d ask a question…and she’d give me a dissertation on something totally unrelated…she didn’t have dementia…she just wanted to visit…this was a social call for her…a grade for me…I tried in vain to make it through my list…she talked about knowing my fiancée’s grandparents when they all moved from Italy…after an hour or so…I gave up…I’d take the failing grade…I couldn’t interview her…

Interestingly…when I pulled the assessment out at my apartment…I could answer all the questions…she’d told me everything I needed to know…on her terms…

Lesson Learned…if you are willing to listen…people tell you what you need to know…

Subsequent visits ensued…I had teaching to complete…diet…limit carbohydrates…limit sugar…keep her blood sugar and blood pressure in control…I had it all laid out…diet sheets…sodium lists…

She looked me straight in the face…and uttered these words…so what if I die this year instead of next…I want to go with a little meat on my bones…I have to have my basta…and I want a little salt on it…

I looked her straight in the face…and with all the stern professionalism a 21 year-old could muster…replied…yes ma’am…

Lesson Learned…there’s a difference in quantity and quality of life…a patient…a person…has the right to choose…

Until graduation…I continued to visit her…and I use the term literally…I checked her blood pressure…talked to her about her blood sugars…but never did I try to take away her basta (pasta) or sueka (sauce) again…I listened…I learned…I enjoyed…

Lesson Learned…things go better when everyone has the same agenda…

After graduation…I passed her to a friend who was ready for a home visit patient…and she passed her to a friend when she graduated…and so on…

She lived to be in her ninety’s…and had a little meat on her bones when she went…she left behind a large adoring family…and several students…who became better nurses for having known her…

Jane

Listen to Your Heart...

Did you ever do something that you thought no one would understand…in fact…you felt like everyone would think you were crazy…and that you had done the exact opposite of what you should have done?

Well…I have…and no…I’m not gonna tell you what it was…you didn’t tell me…and yes…there have been many things…but this is about one in particular…geez…you interrupt more than Bertha…

Any way…it was one of those things that I just kept to myself…because I honestly didn’t think anyone would understand…I even thought they might be disappointed in me…or think me foolish…

So…it was with caution that I shared my action with a close friend…(yes…you…there in Mexico…drinking coffee)…and instead of being critical…even that criticism that we thinly disguise as concern…she said the most amazing thing…Jane…I trust your heart…I trust that you know what’s best for you…

You could have knocked me over with a flamingo feather…no one had ever told me that they trusted me to know what was best for me…well…Bertha says she’s been trying to tell me that for years…I was just too busy listening to other people to hear her…hmmm…

The few other people I told…were much more clipped in their responses…they did refrain from eye rolling and tongue wagging…at least in my presence…but I knew they were thinking…she made a mistake…I don’t know why she did that…I would never have done that…

And they probably wouldn’t have…but they weren’t me…and they didn’t have all my thoughts and feelings…hopes and dreams…and previous life experiences…that all played into my decision…

My friend’s response gave me much to think about…first…she was right…I had made the right decision…I did know what was best for me…I’m glad that I took the action…no regrets…

But it also reminded me of the times that I too have used my own narrow lens when viewing another’s actions/decisions…that I have thought…I would never have done that…instead of saying…Friend…I trust your heart…you know what’s best for you…and I am remorseful for that…

So in conclusion…I’d like to say…whatever you are dealing with…whatever timid actions you are taking…not knowing if you’ll have the support of your loved ones…listen carefully to your heart…and follow it…I trust your heart to know what’s best for you…and so should you…

Jane