Grumpy Old Woman

I (Ellen) am currently at a nursing home for a speech pathology internship. I had a memorable experience this week.

A lady was brought to me to begin speech therapy. Instantly, I could tell she was in a bad mood, and trust me, when an elderly woman is in a bad mood the last thing she wants to do is speech therapy. Upon arriving to my table she screams, "Take me back to bed! I'm about to DIE!" I am far from an expert in working with the elderly, but I know that many of the people are not too far from death. This lady in particular didn't look to good. I couldn't figure out if she was being serious or if she was just mad. As I sat there stunned and scared, she yells to me again, "Take me back to bed. I'm about to DIE!"

Thankfully, the physical therapist came over and bluntly responded, "Honey, you're gonna have to hang on for at least 30 more minutes 'cause that's how long Ellen needs to see you." She responded, "I'm about to DIE! Get me back to bed."

I distracted her with some apple juice (very strange, but it worked!). I was able to get in my 30 minutes, but it was tedious. About every 3 minutes she would drop her head on the table and scream, "I'm about to die. Take me back to bed!"

I was back at the nursing home today and she was alive, participating well in therapy. Morale of the story: if possible, stay away from old women in bad moods, they really exaggerate.