She heard the doorbell ring inside the house as her finger depressed the button to the left of the door. Birds chirped in the trees around the neighborhood and the air was fragrant with spring flowers. After a few moments the sound of footsteps could be heard from inside. The door opened and there stood a stern looking woman who appeared to be in her late 50's.
"Mrs. Anderson?"
"No, ma'am. I'm Mrs. Shaw, Mr. Anderson's housekeeper. You must be with home health?" Said the stern faced lady.
"Yes, ma'am. My name is Courtney Anderson."
"Very good, come inside." said Mrs. Shaw bluntly as she stepped aside for the younger lady to enter.
Closing the door behind them, Mrs. Shaw said, "You'll find Mr. Anderson in the bedroom at the end of the downstairs hallway."
Courtney's eyes followed the older woman's pointed finger and saw the hallway to the entry to the hallway under the stairs.
"Thank you, Mrs. Shaw." she said.
"Yes, of course." she replied curtly.
As Courtney made her way to the hallway she took in the house and was somewhat surprised by the immaculate state of the home. Everything was neat and orderly, and there was a pleasant herbal fragrance in the home, not one of the typical shut in's dwelling where the smell of sweat, piss and decay seemed to permeate every nook and cranny.
Photos and art hung neatly on the walls. The hallway had an ornate hand woven runner over the polished hardwood floor. Sunlight filtered in to the rooms along the hallway filling the house with a warmth also missing from most of her patients homes.
When she reached the door at the end she heard classical music playing softly emanating from the open doorway.
She knocked on the door face and spoke, "Mr. Anderson?"
"Yes?" came a male voice, cracked with disuse from the room.
Courtney stepped into the room and saw him laying prone in the bed with a book in his hand. The bed was much like ones found in any hospital room, but far nicer. It was raised up at the head allowing him to sit rather than lay flat. Candles burned on the dresser along the far wall, wafting their scent into the room.
He was a handsome man. His chart indicated his height at 6'3 and 190 pounds. The salt and pepper hair belied his 68 years and gave the impression of a much younger man.
"You must be the new nurse." Mr. Anderson stated with a slight slur to his words; very common with stroke victims.
"Actually, I'm a nursing assistant, Mr. Anderson. My name is Courtney Anderson and I'll be taking care of you for a while."
"Wonderful." he said with a broad smile that lit up his face. "It'll be great having someone new to talk with."
"Yes, sir." She said not wanting to contradict him.
Many home heath patients are so starved for human contact that they become very demanding on health staff and create situations where the health care workers dread these visits. Courtney hoped that Mr. Anderson would not be one of these.
"What happened to the other lady that was coming out?" he implored.
"She changed positions recently and is no longer doing house calls." She replied as she leafed through her paper work on Mr. Anderson.
"Just so I'm up to speed on your condition, Mr. Anderson, you have partial paralysis from a stroke. Is this correct?"
"Yes. I had a stroke two years ago. Doctors said I shouldn't have survived it, much less be able to talk and think a well as I do."
"That's good that you have recovered this well. " Courtney replied. "Can you tell me how old you are, Mr. Anderson?"
"68" he said
"Great. How often..."
"How old are you, Ms. Anderson?"
She smiled at his attempt to divert the conversation to something other than business.
"I'm old enough Mr Anderson." she said with a smile.
She continued getting various pieces of information from him as required to gauge his cognitive status. Then she took his wrist to get a pulse and respiration. He sat quietly smiling at her as she did so.
After jotting the information in his file, he spoke again. "May I ask what Andersons you are related to, Ms. Anderson?"
"I'm not related to any from here. My husband's parents moved here from across the country when he was a child. They're not related to anyone else here."
The mention of her marital status often quelled some male patient's flirting. She wasn't sure Mr. Anderson was flirting but it never hurts to through out a preemptive strike.
"Ok, that's great. I wouldn't admit to being related to any of these fools around here anyway." He said, and winked teasingly.
There came a knocking from the doorway and they both turned to see Mrs. Shaw standing in doorway.
"Mr. Anderson, I am leaving now. Do you need anything else before I go?"
"No, Mrs. Shaw. Thank you."
"Yes sir. Have a good day."
She turned and walked out. Her footfalls could be heard down the hall and then the front door closing. Mr. Anderson picked up a small remote control device from his bedside table and pressed one of the buttons.
Courtney looked curiously at the device.
"That is the controller for my home automation system. I can lock doors and turn on and off lights throughout the house with it. I just locked the front door after Mrs. Shaw."
"Oh, ok. That's pretty neat." , Courtney said.
He reached over and bumped a computer mouse sitting beside his bed and the monitor came to life. On it were several windows showing video feeds from the outside of the house. On one, Mrs. Shaw could be seen getting into her car. The brake lights came on followed by the reverse lights. Then she began rolling out of the drive. Once she was on the street driving out of the frame he spoke again.
"I'm glad she's gone."