{"id":1970,"date":"2016-01-29T02:54:13","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T09:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/?p=1970"},"modified":"2023-10-20T11:59:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T19:59:30","slug":"he-died-alone-in-a-nursing-home-nurses-thought-he-had-nothing-of-value-until-they-saw-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/he-died-alone-in-a-nursing-home-nurses-thought-he-had-nothing-of-value-until-they-saw-this\/","title":{"rendered":"He Died Alone In A Nursing Home. Nurses Thought He Had Nothing Of Value Until They Saw THIS!"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story really tugged at my emotions while I went through something similar with my father so I wanted to share with others.<\/p>\n

All credit due to: \u00a0https:\/\/herotips.org\/2016\/01\/he-died-alone-in-a-nursing-home-nurses-thought-he-had-nothing-of-value-until-they-saw-this\/<\/p>\n

***********<\/p>\n

Nursing homes contain an enormous amount of senior citizens who are all but anonymous.<\/p>\n

As their memory fades and their functionality diminishes, so do the relationships they have with family. What used to be a visit here or there, is now just a phone call to the facility asking how they are. On top of that, the staff at these facilities can become so busy with their daily duties that they really don\u2019t get a chance to get to know the seniors and establish any sort of deep relationships with them. It\u2019s a very sad situation.<\/p>\n

When Mak Filiser died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home, the nurses believed that he left nothing behind of any real value.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It came time to clean out Mak\u2019s room after he passed on. One of the nurses then noticed something. It was a poem that Mak had written. She proceeded to read it and was so floored by his words that she ended up making copies of it and sharing with every employee at the nursing home.<\/p>\n

The poem is entitled, \u201cCranky Old Man\u201d and it no doubt taught the staff some very valuable lessons and goes something like this\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cranky Old Man by Mak Filiser<\/p>\n

What do you see nurses? What do you see?
\nWhat are you thinking\u2026when you\u2019re looking at me?
\nA cranky old man\u2026not very wise,
\nUncertain of habit\u2026with faraway eyes?
\nWho dribbles his food\u2026and makes no reply.
\nWhen you say in a loud voice\u2026I do wish you\u2019d try!\u2019
\nWho seems not to notice\u2026the things that you do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\"3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And forever is losing\u2026A sock or shoe?
\nWho, resisting or not\u2026lets you do as you will,
\nWith bathing and feeding\u2026The long day to fill?
\nIs that what you\u2019re thinking? Is that what you see?
\nThen open your eyes, nurse\u2026you\u2019re not looking at me.
\nI\u2019ll tell you who I am . . . . .. As I sit here so still,<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I do at your bidding\u2026as I eat at your will.
\nI\u2019m a small child of Ten\u2026with a father and mother,
\nBrothers and sisters\u2026who love one another
\nA young boy of Sixteen\u2026with wings on his feet
\nDreaming that soon now\u2026a lover he\u2019ll meet.
\nA groom soon at Twenty\u2026my heart gives a leap.
\nRemembering, the vows\u2026that I promised to keep<\/strong><\/p>\n

At Twenty-Five, now\u2026I have young of my own.
\nWho need me to guide\u2026And a secure happy home.
\nA man of Thirty\u2026My young now grown fast,
\nBound to each other\u2026With ties that should last.
\nAt Forty, my young sons\u2026have grown and are gone,
\nBut my woman is beside me\u2026to see I don\u2019t mourn.
\nAt Fifty, once more\u2026Babies play \u2019round my knee,
\nAgain, we know children\u2026My loved one and me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dark days are upon me\u2026My wife is now dead.
\nI look at the future\u2026I shudder with dread.
\nFor my young are all rearing\u2026young of their own.
\nAnd I think of the years\u2026And the love that I\u2019ve known.
\nI\u2019m now an old man\u2026and nature is cruel.
\nIt\u2019s jest to make old age\u2026look like a fool.
\nThe body, it crumbles\u2026grace and vigor, depart.
\nThere is now a stone\u2026where I once had a heart.
\nBut inside this old carcass a young man still dwells,<\/strong><\/p>\n

And now and again\u2026my battered heart swells
\nI remember the joys\u2026I remember the pain.
\nAnd I\u2019m loving and living\u2026life over again.
\nI think of the years, all too few\u2026gone too fast.<\/p>\n

And accept the stark fact\u2026that nothing can last.
\nSo open your eyes, people\u2026open and see.
\nNot a cranky old man.
\nLook closer\u2026see\u2026ME!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"4\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nursing homes contain an enormous amount of senior citizens who are all but anonymous.<\/p>\n

As their memory fades and their functionality diminishes, so do the relationships they have with family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[501,502],"class_list":["post-1970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life_and_family","tag-dying","tag-hospice"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/1.jpg",634,334,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/1-300x158.jpg",300,158,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/1.jpg",634,334,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/1.jpg",634,334,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/1.jpg",634,334,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/1.jpg",634,334,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/1.jpg",210,111,false],"coral-dark-medium-large-2x":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/1.jpg",634,334,false],"coral-dark-large-2x":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/1.jpg",634,334,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Kevin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/author\/kneal\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Nursing homes contain an enormous amount of senior citizens who are all but anonymous. As their memory fades and their functionality diminishes, so do the relationships they have with family.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1970"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13427,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1970\/revisions\/13427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}