Hosted by Erica Jolene with special guest Amelia Mohr, RN | Transcription HERE
If you have ever been faced with the decision to consider home health nursing for a loved one, this is the episode for you! In this episode, I cover all the hard stuff with my special guest Amelia, who just happens to also be our home health nurse. Amelia has been with our family since we first opened the door to the idea of home health nursing. We discuss everything from how to navigate making that decision, what to expect in your first meeting with a nurse, what to expect when the nurse is hired, and important conversations to have with yourself, your family, and your nurse. It is so fascinating to get Amelia's perspective of what it is like to be a home health nurse for families with medically complex children. As I say in this episode, I really wish I had something like this, well, anything really, to help prepare me for this chapter of our lives. I am hopeful that this will help others who may be considering home health nursing for their own family.
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Episode Transcription
Erica
Hello, and welcome to Atypical Truth. This is a podcast community for those impacted by disabilities and complex medical conditions. I am your host, Erica Jolene. Today's guest is Amelia, who has been our home health nurse since the very beginning. Okay, well, she was the first one to come into our home when we finally decided to have h home health nursing. I don't know about you, but the decision to have a nurse come into our home was not an easy one for our family. What with all the therapists and social workers, we had more people rotating through our home than we had ever had before. My husband and I, we are both introverts at heart who can play the role of extroverts when necessary. So the idea of someone being in our home, our private little sanctuary, it had us both feeling very nervous and on edge. So we put it off until we could put it off no longer, thanks to a second baby on the way. Thankfully, we got really lucky to meet Amelia and have her join our family. As you can hear in the episode, she is so calm, intelligent, caring, and just really easy to talk to. And to be honest, having someone in my house every other day, it was a huge and welcomed change in my life. Even if we were just talking about new crafts, video games, trashy TV shows, and true crime. Her presence helped me to feel less isolated and less lonely during a time when I was really struggling with those feelings. So without further adieu, I would like for you all to meet our friend, Amelia. Hi, Amelia!
Amelia
Hey, Erica!
Erica
Thank you for doing this with me.
Amelia
Not a problem. My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Erica
I'm excited for our listeners to meet you. I definitely want to share you with the world. I want everyone to know about the people in our circle that have helped us get where we are today. I'm excited for them to hear from you.
Amelia
I'm excited too!
Erica
I'm just going to ask you a few quick questions to get to know you better.
Amelia
Okay.
Erica
What is your favorite smell?
Amelia
Favorite smell would be that smell right before it rains. The smell right after it rains is also top tier and I love it. But the smell right before it starts raining, I think, is the superior smell. And that would be my favorite.
Erica
(Laughing) The superior smell. (both parties begin laughing) Amelia, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Amelia
So when I was really little, anytime an adult or anybody would ask me, "what do you want to be we grow up?" my answer every single time was that I wanted to be a brown-haired blue-eyed horse. That is when I learned at a really young age that adults are lying when they say that you can be whatever you want when you grow up. But it is always funny looking back on it now because I can just see everybody's face whenever I would respond with that. And I was so serious too when I answered that. That was what I wanted to do. I could just see on everybody's face, they didn't have the heart to tell me that I couldn't do that. (laughter from both)
Erica
Oh my goodness. I don't know if I would have been able to tell you that you couldn't do that either. I had a period where I wanted to be a mermaid so badly. I really identified with Ariel from Little Mermaid because of the whole no voice theme and yeah, anyway, that's a layered subject for a later episode. After seeing the movie "Splash" with Tom Hanks and Darrell Hannah, I think.
Amelia
Yeah!
Erica
I was fully convinced that they were real and if anyone asked me what I wanted to be, where I wanted to go, my response would be "Cape Cod where the mermaids are because I need to be a mermaid." (Laughter from both) And then, at a certain age, I realized my grandparents lived close to Cape Cod and I was, I think disappointed is an understatement, that my parents knew this and didn't take me there. This was a willful decision on their end when they knew mermaids were right there.
Amelia
Yeah, I would be. Yeah, I would be furious if I was in that position.
Erica
In hindsight, I don't remember a single adult correcting me and telling me that this was not real. I hold on to the beliefs of things like that for very long, maybe, maybe an unusually long time.
Amelia
That's okay. It just keeps the imagination alive. And that's a good thing I think.
Erica
Look at us now, right?
Amelia
Exactly.
Erica
I am a mermaid, you're a brown horse. We got what we wanted. Right?
Amelia
It's perfect.
Erica
Amelia, do you have any pets?
Amelia
Oh, yes. I have got a little rat terrier mix. His name is Leroy. He is eight years old and a handful. He is a bouncy boy.
Erica
(Laughing) A bouncy boy, I love that. (Both laughing)
Amelia
Yeah, he's bouncy and he's stubborn. (Laughing) But he's, he's super smart, though. I love him. And I've got four cats. I have Max and Bobby are my two older ones. My two newer ones are Lydia and Gregory, they're brother and sister from the same litter. They were strays outside and I brought them in. They are mine now. I claimed them.
Erica
Or did they claim you?
Amelia
A little of both. (laughter) I was putting food outside and they stuck around and now they're in my house.
Erica
If you feed them, they will come...
Amelia
Exactly.
Erica
Do you have a favorite meal?
Amelia
I'm a pasta person. But really anything with a lot of carbs and a lot of cheese. Like, if it is a meal that is super heavy and super-rich, I'm probably going to love it. So...(laughter)
Erica
What is your greatest fear?
Amelia
If we are going for more normal things, and we're not getting into like, existential topics, then I would say for sure, wasps. I have a phobia. It's pretty bad. But I've never been stung. That's always like the first question I get, "Well, have you ever been stung? No, I haven't because I run away." (both laughing)
Erica
...because I'm smart enough to stay away from those creatures that look like ants on steroids.
Amelia
Yeah, they're terrifying.