CAREGIVING: On Thursday Bob our new physical therapist came with a wheelchair expert named John to assess and hopefully get us a new chair for Kathy. The idea will be to convince Medicare, MassHealth (Medicaid) and probably Health New England (her Medicare Advantage plan) that it is a necessary piece of equipment due to her Huntington’s Disease. Best case is… Read more →
Tag: basset hound
Hope
CAREGIVING: One of our new aides, Hope came this morning. Monday was her first visit to give Kathy a shower and get her dressed. Today, she stayed for three hours of companion care and did some cleaning after getting Kathy ready. She sat with Kathy while I worked on a newsletter project in my actual office, upstairs. It was nice… Read more →
Spring is around the corner
LIFE: Marty keeps telling me Spring is around the corner but, like his Kong toy, we aren’t sure which corner. We have had little teasers of warmth and I believe there are some daffodils trying to poke through the leaves that I never got around to raking. Last spring even though Kathy could no longer help, I still managed to… Read more →
A Close Call
CAREGIVING: Tonight was about as rough as they’ve come. (So far.) Kathy is in bed with her clothes still on. But we are fortunate we got her there and didn’t need an ambulance or the police. Today we had our annual eye checkups at Pioneer Valley Eye Associates. We have been going to that office at Holyoke Medical Center for years.… Read more →
Shop til I drop
CAREGIVING: Trying to do grocery shopping on Sunday was hopeless. Kathy was a zombie for some reason. Some days are like that. (Hell, I’m like that some days.) It could have been the new meds which I was hoping would help with the shaking in her hands. (No improvement, so far.) But basically she woke up Sunday morning. I helped… Read more →
Sleeping in the Dining Room
LIFE & CAREGIVING: I’ve had some photos of how I adapted the dining room into a safe bedroom for Kathy and I thought I would share them. Once it was clear that Kathy had Huntington’s I knew that I would have to start making adaptations like more hand rails and things. As she started getting more and more unsteady on… Read more →
Bidin’ My Time
CAREGIVING / MUSIC: Hump day doesn’t mean a lot when you are doing what I’m doing. Part of you is fairly content. The week is going along. There’s a bit of paying work to do. But when things get frustrating you become impatient with the patient. Impatient with time in general. With not knowing what is going to happen next.… Read more →