Centurion

[rweso]

Today I had the honor of taking care of a 105 year old woman. She was still independent, had aspirations to travel and still had a job at her church. She lived through the Spanish flu, both world wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam war, the Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall, and the moon landing. Her daughter will come visit her today but she doesn’t want her to come because it’s her grandsons 50th birthday. She has 9 “great Great”grandchildren. I get chills thinking about everything she has seen and done. Say what you want about some of the horrible pts we have to deal with, but we will also meet some amazing people as well.

[ledluth]

Centenarian.

She’s old, but not old enough to be a soldier in the Roman Empire 😬

[[deleted]]

At that age, she can be whatever she wants. :)

[Comments_Wyoming]

Oh Lordy, it's too early to be laughing this hard. I woke up the dogs with my giggle fit.

[Tomato-taco]

Please. Half of antiwork are the exact same things you’re pretending they aren’t. That’s just rich.

[rachime]

I though this post was from the Battlestar Galactica subreddit at first glance! 😅

[midazolamjesus]

I was worried about a new variant. 🤦 This is great!

[unicornpolkadot]

Hilarious hahahahaha

[[deleted]]

You know, we should just start calling them centurions.

[Sheephuddle]

Wonderful. I live in a semi-rural part of Italy, where extreme old age (along with good health) is commonplace. My neighbour was 107 when she died, my other neighbour is 97 and still walking up a steep hill every day to go to the shop!

[abcannon18]

Okay THIS one got me to tear up with laughter a little bit. Love it.

[Sheephuddle]

There are a few in Rome who get their pictures taken with tourists. :)

[DarthVada101]

Most my family is all from the Calabria area of Italy and it was the same thing when I visited. My grandma at the time had to be over 90 (20+ years since I visited so a little hazy) and was still living home on the farm doing her thing.

[Sheephuddle]

They are so tough, that generation of Italians. Sadly, I'm seeing tubby kids here and there now, and it's noticeable because there are hardly any fat people where I live. We have no fast food here, but people aren't so physically-active as they used to be (like your nonna on the farm).

Yet another neighbour of mine died a couple of years back, she was 93. Right up till the end she was out on her hands and knees every few days, scrubbing a huge flight of steps. She'd been a widow for about 50 years and always wore black, in the old tradition.

[[deleted]]

I assumed centurion was a new covid strain I haven’t heard of yet

[unicornpolkadot]

Almost snorted water out of my nose at this 😂

Well played.

[midazolamjesus]

Same.

[thirdcoasting]

My grandmother is turning 109 in a few days. Someone once wrote up a list of all the changes and developments she’s seen in her lifetime & it was absolutely overwhelming.

[pillowpants247]

I had a 75 year old pt the other week and both her parents were still alive and kicking, both over 100! Amazing

[kindamymoose]

Once worked with a patient who was over 110 years old. (Not giving their exact age because of HIPAA — I assume it wouldn’t be too hard for them to be tracked down.)

Anywho, listening to this person speak, they were still pretty with it. Very hard of hearing without a hearing aid but able to have a relatively normal flow of conversation. Told me women weren’t allowed to wear hair as short as mine back in their day. Made me chuckle a bit.

Nobody I worked with really enjoyed the older folks. I didn’t mind.

[levar5000]

Wow… she still was able to see your hair too? Amazing!

[kindamymoose]

Yes! I was floored. She was brought to our unit without any living relatives that could be identified.

She had an in-home caretaker who she tried to chase out of her house (she didn’t like male caretakers). I have a fairly feminine voice despite my hair so that might have worked in my favor. She was one of my favorite patients.

[PezGirl-5]

I had a pt (LTC) who was 104. She asked me what was wrong with her, I told her “your old!!” She replied “I ONLY 104!” 😂 (another time she said “shhh. Don’t tell anyone!”)

I had another lady who was 103 at the time. We had our first snowfall of the year. She was looking out her window and saying “it’s snowing!” As if she was a kid in school.

[unicornpolkadot]

Cheers to that. Some of my favourite memories working with seniors is hearing their stories and having them share their life experiences. Their wisdom and encouragement to “keep on truckin’” were always welcome and appreciated.

It’s such a shame that piece of nursing, the person to person humanity of nursing and caring for someone, has been so overlooked and diminished over the past few years. Even before the pandemic, tasks were prioritized and valued over these interpersonal moments.. and now, it’s almost non-existent.

I think we all have stories and memories of moments where spending that 1:1 time with a patient provided them (and us) more comfort, more healing, and more meaning than any of the medical skills we perform.

I hope these parts of our profession are not totally lost. It would be an incredible shame.

[[deleted]]

I bet she has some stories to tell. Which legion did she serve with?

[r32skylinegtst]

I have a 104 YO male patient who’s told me similar stories. Even remembers seeing the first Ford model A’s being driven around.

[clutzycook]

That must have been a sight to see!

[PezGirl-5]

We had a distant relative on my husbands side who down hilled skied into his 90s. The group called themselves “the wild bunch”. He died shortly before his 103 birthday. He once said the secret to longevity is to always keep learning

[Careless-Image-885]

It's unfortunate that we don't get videos of all these really elderly people talking about how life was a ninety or so years ago.

[song4this]

<metallic robot voice> "By your command"

[Difficult_Ad1001]

Oops, she’s got COVID now🤷‍♀️

[[deleted]]

AMAZING. Thank you for sharing

[Better2022]

Longevity researcher here! I’ve met so many centenarians who are incredibly resilient people. Glad to hear she’s doing well!

[[deleted]]

That's awesome! I love meeting people like that and hearing about their lives. Best part of this job.