Hey y’all.
I’m here in East Jesus, TX working. The company I’m working for ran short-staffed, so here I is, ministering to the copious mental health needs of old peeps.
I’ve learned the following things over the last several months of working extensively with oldsters:
1. maintain good relationships w/other humans so you have decent company after getting placed in a nursing home
2. brush your teeth regularly, maybe even floss
3. keep walking and doing activities that keep you flexible and strong as long as you can in life
4. don’t decide you’re going to wear a diaper all the time “just for the hell of it”–this is not a good strategy
5. keep your brain challenged, stimulated, active
6. use lots of skin-softening and moisturizing lotion
7. eat lots of choline-rich foods
8. develop hobbies and interests you can pursue well into old age
9. if it burns when you pee, tell somebody!
Oh, there’s lots more. This is just my first run-down of stuff I’ve figured out. I’ve actually started taking more vitamins/supplements and eating more veggies since I starting treating this population. It’s just scary as hell to have your brain blink out long before your body is ready to.
Tomorrow I return home, back to the land of soy lattes, Thai food, and my beloved beyonce Dave. And Queenie, our delightfully mentally retarded and very hairy doghter! I will miss the Cajun cuisine this part of the world offers, but I come back next week so I’ll meet my crawfish etouffe quota then. Toodles, y’all!
