Nurse Aid relieves male patient in traction.
Tyronne was an athletically built young black man, about 22 years old. He was a university student who also worked as a tree trimmer. That’s how we met. No, not in a tree but in a hospital.
It seems Tyronne fell out of a tree head first and managed to land on his arms. Now he was stuck in bed with both arms strung-up in casts from his shoulders to his fingers. I was called in to do private duty since he was pretty much helpless.
Actually, it turned out to be a fairly cushy insurance job. Although Tyronne needed total care with eating, bathing and toileting, he could move his body easily, so there wasn’t a lot of lifting and turning to do. I arrived at supper time and got right to work setting up the tray and feeding him. He appreciated that we didn’t have to rush through the meal like the hospital aides did. No sooner had he finished eating than he had to have a bowel movement. He said he hadn’t gone in three days, it was so humiliating using a bedpan and having someone else in his shit and wiping his ass.