Meet Esther Hayman, a 96-year old woman who had been very healthy and quite independent until she had an unfortunate accident in April 2011. One day, she experienced increased weakness, fatigue, and shortness of breath, leading her to fall at home, leaving her with a traumatic fracture to the left knee. She still had severe pain when Nightingale admitted her under our care.
Several months later, just as Esther was starting to recover from her initial fall with the help of Florie, LVN and Julia and Kathy, PTs, she had another accident in her home, which has set back her progress.
In Esther’s own words, “My walker fell on top of me. It was very sore and very painful. It happened on Memorial Day and I am still not quite sure how it happened. I ended up with a terrible gash. My leg started to break out. It was purple. Then I went to my dermatologist, the wound care center, and the hospital before being sent back to you [Nightingale Home Care]. Florie, LVN came the very next day and she has been treating me ever since.
I couldn’t live without you. My feet were swollen and Florie, LVN has been wonderful at taking care of me these past few months. Absolutely wonderful. I feel free to ask her what she thinks. She is very knowledgeable so I feel like I can ask her questions and she has the answers. She is very caring and I really feel comfortable around her. I will certainly recommend her. I had never heard of Nightingale Home Care before my accident, but I’m glad I was referred to your services.
Nowadays, the only time I feel good is when I lie down on my bed. Florie, LVN came to check on me this morning. She comes three times a week and Kathy, PT comes twice a week. Kathy is teaching me how to walk with a cane. I’m learning to walk again and I’m so glad that I am under your care for another 60 days. I don’t know where I would go otherwise. I love them both. They’re wonderful. Florie is like my daughter, or granddaughter [Esther chuckles].
A couple of people have asked me about the nurses and therapists from Nightingale Home Care and I always recommend your services to them. I couldn’t ask for anyone better.”
Say hello to Doris Sutton, a photographer’s model and published poet and her husband, Paul Sutton, physicist and songwriter. Doris had been writing poetry since the age of seven, until she suffered two strokes in the same week earlier this year. She sustained injury and paralysis to the right side of her body, causing her to be hospitalized. When she went back home, she still had difficulty swallowing, chewing and speaking clearly. She was not sure if she would be able to resume simple functions like walking, speaking, and moving her arms, let alone write poetry.
In her own words, “Life has been very good to us speaking of her and her family. I never had an operation. Then, all of a sudden, I am completely knocked out. When I returned home from the hospital, I wasn’t oriented. Everyone thought I was not going to make it and some even recommended that I go to hospice care.
Now, I’ve gotten to write an anthology. In other words, I am working again. Things like this keep you alive. I have come a long way from being the way I was. Paul and I are going to be celebrating our 65th wedding anniversary this November. My daughters suggested that we renew our vows [Doris flashes a smile at Paul and pats his hand]. Before I had this stroke, we would walk a mile to the top of the hill to the park. We did not walk the whole way, but we would walk most of the way. Now, I’m starting to walk again. It’s getting better and more controllable.
I have much more use in my hand now,” Doris said, when asked about her recovery process. “I am a right-handed person and it always feels as if it is burning up. I never knew that it hurt to recover the use of your limbs. Although my hand is still painful to move, I can direct it now. I could not direct it at all when I first came home. It would be hanging down beside me and I wouldn’t realize it because I had very little sensation there.
These wonderful people from Nightingale Home Care who came to visit us gave me a vision of what I could do. I didn’t have a vision or much of anything. I was living behind some kind of cloud. I could not remember much. Now I can remember things much better.
Your services were superb. We felt a lot less alone. It was alarming to find yourself totally helpless. Once I came back home, these angels came and made it more livable for me.
It’s all in your head too, of course. I am very blessed because I have family and friends and I have been surrounded by help, love, kindness, and generosity. Through the last few months, I have come to realize that there are a lot of good people in this world and I think your agency, Nightingale Home Care, is the very proof of how positive the world is. Thank you.”
To read poetry and other works by D.N. Sutton, visit her website www.soulsite.com.
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