Quarterly Posts Ending June 30, 2015.
Options
Replies
-
Jean...That's excellent! You haven't been able to walk much while you were doing the medical tests. Doing that many steps after having to take a break is impressive.0
-
DH had a lot of polyps which they removed. The doctor doesn't think they are cancerous but we'll know in 10 days.
Just got an email that two of our cats that went out on "a trial" are now permanent. We've never had one on a trial come back but it's always a nail biter until the "they are ours!" email comes.
So we're finally down to four for adoption. Much more like our usual number. Three of these four have medical issues so it will take awhile. But now we can concentrate on them since the healthy ones have homes.0 -
Helene--That is the norm for steps when I'm working and it involves me having to walk around the building for various reasons. I don't know many who sit behind the desk at work but who are always on the move. I just hadn't used a pedometer for some time to track. I'm a couch potato in comparison when I'm not working.
Maryanne--Good news on the adoption of the cats. Also, I do hope that DH's results come back negative. It is hard to wait but thinking positively is good especially with the doctor's input.
It is so cold here today that I'm tempted to turn on the heat to take out the chill. In the meantime, I'm wrapped up.
I'm having a Lean Cuisine Panini for dinner. It is about time this 1200 calories a day starts paying off in some weight loss.0 -
Good morning, everyone! It is a chilly morning, but I will be off to the city. My niece has been hospitalized with chest pains. It is two weeks until my "fun" experience.0
-
I'm sorry to hear about your niece. I hope she'll be okay.
Just gave Lola her last eye drops and brought her upstairs. I figured she'd immediately go into hiding but she didn't. She's pretty much in her normal "spots".
I went over to the storage unit to start loading my van for the cat show this weekend.0 -
What happens to someone who can no longer care for themselves?
A friend of a friend has MS and cancer and walks with two canes. She lives in a house with many steps so already had some issues. Then she broke her arm. She's been in rehab as she can basically do nothing on her own. Now insurance is terminating rehab.
In this case the person has the money to go to assisted living (if she'll do it; that's another story).
But what if she didn't have any money?
No friends with houses without stairs. No family at all.
Just started me wondering.0 -
Maryanne--Seeing what has transpired with other people, if you don't have family with the patience to take you in or a lot of money, you are in for a rough road. Those assisted living facilities sound great until you discover how much they cost per month. The ones in the city cost more per month than my retirement. Oh, I've been thinking about this for a long time.
They sent my niece home this evening with a follow up with the cardiologist in two weeks. Supposedly, the tests are negative so far.0 -
I'm thinking that maybe they get shipped to whatever nursing home takes medicaid.0
-
Yes, but if your income is over that of the Medicaid qualification, then Medicaid won't pay for it. Nursing homes then become private pay. People were trying to get around this by putting things in the kids names, etc. but they now stipulate the amount of time that must have passed before an individual can qualify after putting things in the kids name. For most nursing homes, there is a waiting list, especially if it is a good nursing home. Ask me how I know all this!!0
-
I remember when a friend's dad was going through the medicaid approval process. Her mom had to give up much of his pension. I'd not thought about that in this context but I guess it's all part and parcel of the same thing.
0 -
Your friend might be able to pay for aides to come in to help with bathing, laundry and meals. And perhaps she could have herself set up on the first floor. Having someone for a few hours a day is probably,y a lot less cost that a private pay nursing home. Is she still doing physical therapy? My friend arranged her's through the Visiting Nurses and the therapist came to the house. Good luck to her.0
-
Jean ~ Thank you! I do believe it is essential to log what you eat for maintenance, but I tend to stop after a time and the inflation begins! I am really going to try hard to stick with it this time because I know how important it is. I pretty much eat the same things regularly, so its easy to log.
Great stepping at work yesterday wow you must not have a desk job?
0 -
Breakfast down. Cat on lap and sunshine make for a great start to the day. No subbing today as of now but will tomorrow.0
-
Your friend might be able to pay for aides to come in to help with bathing, laundry and meals. And perhaps she could have herself set up on the first floor. Having someone for a few hours a day is probably,y a lot less cost that a private pay nursing home. Is she still doing physical therapy? My friend arranged her's through the Visiting Nurses and the therapist came to the house. Good luck to her.
I don't completely understand this but as I understand it she can't even put a meal in the microwave or take herself to the bathroom. Even renting an efficiency apartment on the first floor somewhere is apparently more than she can handle. I assume once she is kicked out of rehab the physical therapy will end. There are three sets of stairs just to get in the front door of her house and the kitchen and bathroom are on separate floors so going home is right now out of the question.
Her former housemate is going in every day to feed the cats and scoop litter boxes but the cats are getting very lonely and needy apparently, which is to be expected.
Sounds like short term, she needs to be moved over to assisted living. And long term she needs to sell the house and buy something more realistic. As someone said, checking out new houses right now might be good as if she can't get into the house now it's not the right house for her.
Anyway, it's scary to think about.
On a lighter note, Lola is finished with her meds and back up here with the rest of the family. I really expected her to hide for days but she isn't. She's all over me looking for attention - in Lola-like fashion of course. She darts over, wants pets, darts away, repeat over and over. Lounging close to me or heaven forbid in my lap is not Lola.0 -
Maryanne--You are correct about what needs to be done. Helene's suggestion is good but these resources that come into the home are very limited in our area. Usually, people end up hiring a caretaker since the agencies, few in number, can't provide them. The people need someone who can come in and be with them more than an hour a day and if they come in, do more than just chat.0
-
We're doing a scaled down flea market presence this weekend and a small cat show. My van is loaded for the cat show and I bought food to take along tomorrow and Sunday. There's a decent Chinese food restaurant in the strip where this cat show is and I've been hungry for Chinese for months so I might pick up some dinner there before I leave tomorrow.0
-
Maryanne..Your friend has my sympathies. She sounds like she's between a rock and a hard place. Does the rehab have a social worker she can talk to? It sounds like she needs some guidance as to what her options are. You're in a larger metropolitan area so there are probably more options than Jean's area which sounds pretty rural. When my friend came home from rehab, the visiting nurses came by M/F to check on her medical needs. And the physical therapist came to the house to continue the therapy she had at rehab. I think that's where the social worker could help explain what services she's entitled to. My friend also lived alone and couldn't do much for herself. Her daughter would drive down on weekends to do laundry, shopping and leaving meals in the freezer. She was able to manage a microwave. Some Assisted Living places have short term placements. I wonder too if she can appeal the insurance decision to send her home while she's so helpless.0
-
I'm getting this third hand as she's a friend of a friend. Certainly she has more people and more money than many people might have in her situation. Other than stubbornness, she has options many other people wouldn't have. The rehab place and her social worker did appeal the insurance company decision apparently. The only thing that surprises me is that her sister in TX isn't coming up to deal with all this. Hopefully by now she's signed up for a month in assisted living. And hopefully by the end of that month her arm will have healed and she'll be able to do more for herself. But everyone has known for a long time she just has to move.0
-
Sorry I've been MIA this week. Not a lot going on, although today I was very busy. Yesterday I baked cookies to take to the new community for abused women who are starting over. I had planned to deliver them on my way to the library for mynvolunteer shift as it is right on my way to the library. However, for the past two weeks I've had a very sore spot just under my jaw. Since it wasn't getting better I called my doctor and got an appointment for this morning at 11:00. Of course it ran late and I had to get a prescription filled, so that meant I was running late to get to the library. I called and told the coordinator that I would be late but was coming and she was very understanding about it. So I inhaled a sandwich very quickly, grabbed the cookies and ran out the door. When I got to the drop off point for the cookies, I found the door locked so I was stumped as to what to do with them. I didn't want to leave them in the car while I was at the library because they were chocolate and would have melted. As I was going back to my car someone came out of the building and offered to take the cookies for me, so I was able to go on to the library. I was 30 minutes late, but fortunately, they weren't too busy during the time they were without a volunteer before I got there.
The sore spot under my jaw seems to be an infected lymph gland, which should clear up with a course of antibiotics. I was surprised to learn that it had been three years since the last time I had seen my family practice doctor. It seems like I've had a lot of doctor appointments for the past couple of years, but I guess they were all specialists of one type or another dealing with my mouth and orthopedic issues. I see a gynecologist for my Pap smears and mammograms and typically only see this doctor for general illnesses. I guess I've been pretty healthy for the past three years, if you don't count the falls and resulting orthopedic issues.
Maryanne, it sounds like your friend is really in a difficult position. The rehab facility should have a discharge planner (who is usually a social worker) that will help connect her with resources in the community that can help her until she's back on her feet. At least she has financial resources which should give her more options.
0 -
I'm off to work today after not sleeping that much last night. Hopefully, the kiddos will be kind.
I received an interesting and also flattering comment from a parent. Basically, the parent said, "It's subs like you that the kids enjoy...I hope they have you to sub for many more years." I only know that I try my best and that I enjoy the kids most of the time. There are times it is a challenge with some classes. Even in those classes, the students have some good points about them even if they try to make it difficult to find.
Pam--I do hope the antibiotics work to clear up the infection in the lymph gland. I completely understand seeing so many specialists that you forget the last family practice doctor. You are a very busy person.
Yes, I've had the usual Quaker Weight Control oatmeal for breakfast. A sneak peak at the scales seems to indicate some progress in the right direction.
0
