This "clean freak" resident

I'm always been a clean freak. At the age of five, on the night before my first day of elementary school, I was able to do my own bath and not have to have my mom or dad check if I was clean.

When I moved to a nursing home over twenty-one years ago (at 47) I wondered how clean the facility would allow me to be. It's really hard to depend on a nursing home aide to do my showers and wash ups. They also had to get rid of my "older lady chin hairs" with my epilator, shave my legs, and maybe even trim my eyebrows.

I hated the idea of having strangers doing my showers and wash ups. When I was told I would get two showers a week, I wondered how I'd survive. It's not as though I've never gone without showering. For five years, in the 70s, when my mom was ill with advanced breast cancer, I went without showering. Back then, I stood at the sink and washed everywhere except my left arm, back, and my legs below the knees. A caregiver did the rest.

When I moved to a nursing home I had to abide by their policies, because I needed their aides to assist me to be clean. The aides washed me and one particular nurse showered me for a period of time. But, she was the only one who ever did that.

Some aides didn't do my washup as thoroughly as I wanted. The aides who reminded me that being clean helps to prevent skin infections and breakdowns, always washed me thoroughly. But a few aides shortcut my washup. On those days I felt sticky and grungy, and that discomfort stayed with me the rest of the day.

After several two showers a week, weeks and in between wash ups, I got reddened, itchy areas on my skin. I was moved to an everyday shower, and those areas cleared up.

Getting a shower relaxed my muscles, and made me ache less. Showers also relieved my anxiety. Now I realize that bathing was something I did to calm myself.

There have always been some aides who said I was the cleanest resident. A few said I was cleaner than they were. But I also had other aides who identified with my cleanliness, and who said they would feel awful if they could not be cleaned up the way they wanted.

Thank heavens for the shower aides who did thorough showers. I'm sure some thought an enjoyable shower allowed residents to have a better day.