Pee

I suppose I should call this post "Pee". Cuz that’s what one of the rooms at Overlander smelled like today while we were doing our orientation for practicum.
 
That place is sad.  For some reason, I was really expecting it to be like my last practicum, with cool seniors who are able to hold real conversations and are still active, interesting people. But at Overlander, a lot of the people have severe problems. I just saw so many people sitting by themselves in their little wheelchairs, some drooling, some staring off into space, some so frail you think that if they sneeze they’ll break a bone. It made me sad.
 
Places like that make me realize that I have a lot to be thankful for in my life. I can walk, talk, eat, sleep, breathe…all on my own. I don’t have some severe disability that requires I lay in bed or shuffle about with a cane all day. I don’t need people to care for me. I don’t have accidents and sit in my excrement until someone comes to check on me. I don’t have dementia and wander around all day. And I don’t scream for help all day long like one of the ladies in the dementia ward. She scared me. Hearing the same shreik ‘help!’ all day long would drive me crazy too. 
 
I was only at Overlander for 7 hours and I still wanted to put my head through the wall. Sometimes I think I’m too sensitive for a place like that. Maybe even too sensitive for nursing altogether. What sucks is that sometimes I don’t feel anything at all. I’m like a piece of stone. And then other times, just the look on someones face as they drool obliviously makes me want to run away and makes me get that lump in my throat.
 
This is gonna suck.