A rabbi, a social worker and a minister walk into a house….. Mercy Hospice and other VNAs provide a lot of extra services besides skilled nursing. Annie, our nurse told me that the hospice chaplain and social worker would be paying us a visit. Medicare requires them to make a visit to see if there is anything we need. I asked if it was a… Read more →
Tag: fear
H is for hospice (and hump day)
CAREGIVING: The roller-coaster of care-giving continues on its merry way. I put off posting because Kathy was going to start getting hospice services a week or two ago. At least I thought so. I want Kathy to be comfortable. Apparently, they need to have a prognosis of six months before you start hospice. My guess is that it has something to do with money: insurance or MediCare. If you… Read more →
Thanksgiving and other news
LIFE: Happy Black Friday. Saturday and Sunday! We survived the overhyped snowstorm on Wednesday and Thanksgiving was a fairly normal day. Betsy, our daytime aide, had the holiday off, but Pat came and got Kathy ready for bed. I shovelled as much as I could without killing myself. I need to keep the little parking area as clear as I can… Read more →
Sunday: More updates
CAREGIVING: I am starting this late Sunday night. Kathy had a less than perfect weekend. There were enough coughing spells and suctioning episodes, that I didn’t feel comfortable being too far away. I also assumed that the leaves aren’t going anywhere. They can wait. On Saturday, Kathy was actually coughing hard enough for some blood to come up. The first time… Read more →
The Stairlift has left the building
CAREGIVING: This is a story about how you think you have a plan, but a much simpler one is “stairing” you in the face. I have been paranoid about the combination of caregiving and winter in this house. Now that Kathy is bed-bound with Huntington’s Disease, keeping her warm and safe is another thing to worry about. Just as a refresher, our house… Read more →
Breathing
HOSPITAL / May 28th: Wednesday and Thursday were whirlwind days at Baystate. Because it was cool out I brought Marty with me. I parked in garages both days so he was safe and I could go out and we would go for sniff and pee walks. Well I drank a coffee. Marty did his thing. I contacted our dog sitter Joanne and… Read more →
Visit to the Huntington’s clinic
CAREGIVING: Wednesday I took Kathy down to the UConn Health Center for her six month checkup at the Huntington’s Clinic. (This is the same clinic I donate all of my proceeds from music downloads hint/hint/hint). Originally our appointment was to be at 2 pm but I got them to move it to noon. I figured we could avoid some of… Read more →