Until my last breath...

NICE TO MEET YOU LITTLE MISS

 I looked at the clock and It was almost time to takethe miss for her daily walk outside, I saw her and tony talking. She has asmile on her face which make me happy. I have been working as a nurse for over10 years, I have seen families have come to dump their loved ones in these welloff homes and leave them here to rot without a single visit. Alzheimer's is ahorrible disease to get, it kills the family to see their loved one graduallyforget them and become very dependable as they are unable to do things on theirown. I have watched patients die alone because their family doesn't want to seethem after they begin to live here. In all my years working here I have neverseen a man so in love with a woman that he would torture himself emotionallyjust to stay by her side. I met Aurora when she was 20, she was recentlydiagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She had come with her parents; they wereboth sad to come into the hospital so I thought that one of the parents werebeing admitted here until Aurora had said to her parents that this was herchoice. It shocked me to see someone so young in a place like this with so manyolder people but when she was about to fill in the forms her hands shook I knewit was true that she was getting bad it seemed like she didn't know how to holda pen and write, it frustrated her so much she cried. Her father had taken thepen from her and filled in the forms while her mother hugged her as to comforther. I walked up to them and handed Rora a tissue and told her that it wasgoing to be okay, she had wiped her tears and gave me a small smile and noddedher head. I introduced myself and had personally asked if I could be this youngmiss's nurse, they were shocked and asked me why. I replied that she remindedme of my younger sister and I would take care of her well, they had agreed andI had become Rora's nurse that day. Rora's day began at 9 o clock, she wouldwake up and then I would help her get ready for the day. The first year she didmost of the stuff by herself but after a year of her being here I noticed sheslowly began to show symptoms of declining so I stepped in where I could andhelped her. I noticed from the first day she would write in her diary abouteverything that went on her mind, her favorite thing was to go sit in thegarden as she loved being surrounded by the flowers. We would sit for hours andshe would tell me about a boy named Tony that she will forever love, she lefthim because she could not bear for him to see her like this. It hurt her thatshe could not see him or talk to him but she never forgot him, it was sad tosee her like this. It was even worse that her family was not with her duringthese hard times, every year her parents would only come once on her birthdayto see her. it was hard for them to see her suffering so they never stayed longenough for her to enjoy her birthday. the days became harder for miss Rora asher condition became worse really fast, in all my years I have never seensomeone so young deteriorate so fast. It broke my heart to see her this way,there weren't many violent incidents but when she did get violent it was bad.Rora would wake up and start screaming saying that she didn't know where shewas and that she wanted to go home, she would claw at her skin till she bled asif there was something on her which she couldn't take off. This only happenedtwice and when one of the nurses tried to get her to calm down, she wouldscratch them this made people fear her when she was like this but I never gaveup on her. I was always there helping her even when she got bad, I would try mybest to calm her then we would sedate her so she didn't hurt herself anymore.She would get sick often because she was weak, it would get so bad that therewere days where she wouldn't be able to get out of bed and I worried for her alot but she would always have a smile on her face to comfort me even though Iwas the one who was supposed to comfort her. I was the only constant person inher life for many years until one day, a handsome young gentleman walkedthrough those dull doors and didn't leave her side. It was an early Septembermorning and Rora seemed to be having a good day as she was smiling and lookingout the window. He didn't seem like he knew where he was as he asked to seeAurora Summers, I walked over and introduced myself and asked if he was sure hewanted to see the little miss. He looked determined and it made me sad becausehe was heading for a painful awakening. I led him to her room and told him tobe gentle as she was fragile at the moment. I left them to talk but made sure Iwas near enough if she needed me but he didn't seem to notice much as he spokeabout all the years that have passed. The young gentleman left the hospitalwith a smile on his face which I knew wouldn't last long. The next day had comeway too soon and Rora was in her moods which meant today wasn't going to be agood day, the young man came again and this time I told him that Rora wasn'twell. He didn't listen and went straight to her room, all of a sudden I hearscreaming and run to her room. I had to get one of the nurses to sedate Rora soshe wouldn't hurt herself or anyone else. I had taken Tony by his hand and ledhim to the garden and sat down on one of the benches. I had told him exactlywhat was wrong with Rora and I watched as his heart broke into a millionpieces. He didn't say anything for a while then stood up and left. Days went byand I didn't see him again, I had thought he wouldn't come again until the weekwent by and there he stood at the door with a smile on his face and yellowroses in his hand. That's when I knew this man would never leave her side untilthe end.