On Thursday, October 8th, 2020, I arrived for my caregiving shift for my Alzheimer’s client, an elder of 93 years, at 7:00 pm. Her daughter, my employer, was in distress, explaining that her mother had refused to take her medication for a 24 hour period. She was also concerned because her mother’s eye was swollen and red. She thought she had “pink-eye.” She told me that she had made an appointment for blood work and a urine sample. It was arranged for Friday, October 9th. She asked me to clean her eye. She had tried, but of no avail, as her mother did not want to be touched. Her daughter left me tired. She was full of stress and anxiety. She said, do the best you can.
After her daughter left, my client and I started to listen to music; I danced in a circle as my client called out in Italian, “giro, giro…, giro!” She likes it when I turn to music. I turn for a few songs and then sit next to her and conversate. Finally, at 9:00 pm, I explained to her, “hai un’infezione agli occhi.” I asked her if I could put a cloth with “acqua pura” on her eye. She agreed. Saying words in Italian always helps to connect with her. (She was born in Sicily in 1927 and was a part of World War II.)
I started to dab the infected eye with cool water. I wore gloves. As soon as I cleansed her eye, I would take my gloves off, wash my hands, and don new gloves. We went through this pattern of me turning to the music, her sitting in her chair watching me and listening to the music, then conversing, then cleansing her eye, followed by my sanitizing of my hands, until midnight. By midnight I had used nine clean wash-clothes and had worked with cleaning her eye of puss and little dried crystals of puss. The last three times, she was saying, “Grazie,” and I was replying, “prego.” She was feeling better; also, at 10 pm, she agreed to take her evening medications. The music, the turning, the conversating, the eye dousing, and the medication all added to her feeling better.
I left her at 7:00 am the next morning. She slept soundly through the night and did not wake up during the shift change. I knew then she was engaged in a deep healing process. I looked at her eye before I left. There was barely any redness left. Compared to the night before, it was literally the difference between night and day!
I called later the following day Friday the 9th, 2020 and asked her daughter about the blood work and urine sample. She said that her daughter was with her grandmother, and it was happening as we spoke.
When I arrived for work on Thursday the 15th, 2020, at 7:00 pm her daughter thanked me for cleaning her mother’s eye one week later. During the shift change, there were no directions for the administering of antibiotics. Her eye looked normal. Her daughter was happy that her mother’s eye was better. I was happy too!
April Cares 