blind, deaf, mute

so, the other morning, i wanted to teach my one of my patients about oral care. i grabbed a translator and headed over to his bed. can you please tell kombate that i want to teach him about oral care. ok, now i want him to take the green mouth swab and dip it into the liquid . patient interrupts and points at his eyes. translator turns to me and says, "he cannot see. he is blind." okay, a bit of a problem but explains why he has a caregiver. (and wishing i had heard this in shift handover!). so, let's call the caregiver over and have her help him. the translator introduces himself and me to kombate's caregiver. she gestures to her ears. and the translator turns to me and says, she can't hear. i am simply stunned. we admitted a BLIND patient with a DEAF caregiver?!?!?!??! how does that help? ok, well we've got to carry on with the teaching and i'll just have to help guide kombate's hands. as the translator is speaking my words to kombate, the ridiculousness of the situation causes me to giggle and by the end, i am outright laughing so hard that tears are running down my face. the only thing that would have made this more comical is if i (the nurse) had been MUTE. (but we all know i have no problem with words).

turns out later, the caregiver is not actually deaf. she can hear. but she speaks a dialect no one else speaks so for all intents and purposes she is deaf to us. i still have to teach her by hang guestures and no words.

i will miss this place.