The Married Life

Okay. So I know it has been two days of being married. But here is what is on my mind. We have been married for two days, and it has not hit me yet that we are married. I mean nothing feels different. Except I sport around a new ring, wedding stress is gone, and Brant is not so sad about his family. But I feel no different.

In other news.

Brant and I have new jobs. At Siverado. We fill out paper wok on the 27th. Hopefully Brant will sart sooner than me, but I will have to wait until the Jan. 2nd. He might wait until the first of the year so he doesn't have to file taxes for 3 days of work.

I really love this facility. Since I started working at the Special Care Unit (SCU) at St. Joseph's, I have fallen in love with dementia patients. I love it. I love them. Sometimes Long Term Care (LTC) is frusterating, but I am rarely frusteredated in SCU. And when I am it is at staff or something in my personal life. I just have nothing but love for my resident's. Even the more aggitated ones. I know what they are going through, even if they do not realize it. And I cannot help but love them. Well Siverado is all Alztimer's/Dementia patients. And they are a really clean and nice facitity. The staff all seem nice. They try to keep the place home like and keep the medical more in the back ground. They have pet therapy. They have activites from 8 in the morning to 8 at night. Their philosophy is something like the more they engage resident's in activites the happier they are, the less aggressive they are, the less likely their condition will worsen, the less pyschotropic drugs (psychotropic drugs are drugs that an altering effect on perception, emotion, or behavior) will be needed. And you know what. It works. They have the lowest rate of any other facitlity in the state for the use of psychotropic drugs. They have had residents come in on hospice and in the later stages of dementia who have after a few months come off of hospice and a few more months actually end up showing less sign os dementia. You can tell they put thought into the residents' lives. They made the facility into a circle so that their residents would never run into a dead end. They encourage their resident's to go outside, instead of sitting and watching TV.

After getting to know my residents in SCU where I am now, after growing close to them and loving them, Silverado is what I would want for them. I know it is massively expensive, and not everyone can afford it. But I would prefer it. For the record, I think St. Joseph Villa is a wonderful facility, and a great place for anyone. But if it is my grandma or my parents that needed an assisted living community and suffered dementia, Silverado is where I would want to bing them.

Also since my love of SCU and dementia patients grew, I have been placed less in SCU and more in LTC. And it is really sad. So the entire Silverado facillity is a giant SCU. I like that no matter where the place me to work, I have a strong feeling I will love it.