I'm tired of cooking/preparing 3 meals a day. It's just the two of us but boy oh boy can that woman eat!! She stays slimish, I get fattish. It's bad enough I do everything here much less start making her one thing and me the other. At times I feel guilty when I buy her fast food cuz of the nutritional value....not to mention I eat it too.
As for an in depth physical, what's that? I've never got much more than check lymph nodes, listen to chest and by the way, it's time for your pap test. I used to go to a clinic that trained resident doctors, so because I don't go often I never saw the same one more than twice. Since my Mom lost her eyesight at 75 I used to drive to her doctor appointments and I know she never even got that much, just treatment for the immediate problem and prescription renewal, never a physical exam. What about preventative medicine?
About six months ago I had called his office, left a message for him to cal me so we could discuss my dads dementia. I wanted him to be the bad guy when it came time to take the car keys. Never heard from him but in the meantime dad had a checkup and the doc told him I had called and was concerned about him. Dad comes home (I'm 600 miles away) goes off on mom about why was I calling his doc and telling him he was crazy, am I trying to get his money and on and on.it took all day for him to calm down. I never brought it up with him hoping he would forget all about It soon, which is exactly what happened. But good lord, this doc deals with all sorts of ederly patients. How could he not understand how to help me here instead of making a big friggin mess! When he finally called me we had quite a throw down. He did not see anything at all wrong with his action, just told me he would be remiss if he did not tell dad that I was concerned. What BS! Been a bad year for me and docs.........
I
Spoke to the accounting person at the NH today, and there's a program that allows me to keep some of mom's income to maintain the home if there's even a slim chance that she could come home in 6 months. This would allow us to buy some time and get the house and vehicle paid off, so that when the co-pay on the private room does kick in, I'd be in better shape to handle that.
Too many things to think about...sheeesh. Think my head is going to explode.
I have made myself a long overdue doctors appointment while Mama is in respite and my nurse has already told me I have several lumps on my lymph nodes...so we'll see where that goes....I wonder if that has anything to do with my severe headaches....
On a bad note, Mama may have c-diff...how many times have yall heard me say something about this??? so if she is confirmed..which they came this morning and got the samples they needed, but if she's confirmed I was told she can't go to resite until that is under control. My nurse is concerned though about me and said she would push to get her put in GIP under hospice care so I would at least get a small break while we aim for respite....so now we wait.........
I hope you at least get a complimentary mineral water for your money?
I also hope the C diff sample comes back negative. But either way you can polish your shiny halo and be proud of yourself for being a good citizen: as with head lice at schools, far too many people would rather cross their fingers than actually check. I'm glad you've got a good nurse watching your back.
But on a serious note, all he did was ask a few questions...and I asked for blood work. he wasn't even going to do it..but I did ask for it...and when the bill came that is what it was...now remember this was the place I have to go because I don't have insurance..because no doctors here will take me on because I don't have insurance, so I am stuck with this place, which, while not the health department, is like a public type assist where they charge you on a "sliding scale"...because I have no income, they give me a break....haha...I'd hate to know how much it'd be without the break...and my doctor is a nurse practitioner....which granted imo nurses know more than most doctors and I'd rather be seen by them because they care more...
but no, I don't have head lice...
Thankfully I like my Dr. She's in her 30's, straight forward, tell it like it is kinda girl. She listens and hands me tissues when I start bawling... made me schedule an apt with the therapist and wouldn't refill my Percocet prescription (hehe)
hope, you don't have insurance?? OMG! Obama is going to get you!! LOL!! He penalized my son for not having insurance on his taxes...really? If he can't afford insurance he sure couldn't afford to have some of his return taken from him. duh
Considering I usually go to the doctor once a year...twice at most, I can't see paying $4,800 for it....I know I'm rolling the dice...and the times I did have medical expenses, I set it up on a payment schedule and aid them off...but once I had to leave my job, the insurance went with it....just another fun note of caregiving
Got through the nurse and the bathaid.Mothers lungs are still half full.I am worried as usual.Missouri is hotter than you know whatWe have to stay inside.
CDiff is *very* contagious - it could have come from anywhere, really. The problem is that some of the staff that are caring for those that have it are woefully uneducated about it. I've seen levels of care for CDiff ranging from full gown/glove/mask precautions to simple gloves only - which I definitely wouldn't recommend. I've heard that you have to come in contact with the actual waste matter to be infected with it - which I believe to be completely false. Any contaminated surface is suspect for an infection risk. And that means the following scenario could happen: Resident in NH is infected with CDiff from a recent hospital stay, where they came in contact with it somehow. They have a BM in a bedpan, and the staff (most likely an overworked, rushed CNA) comes in to clean up. They remove the bedpan, clean up the resident, put them back into their Depends or whatever they're wearing, and back into bed. The bit of waste that dripped onto the bed sheet goes unnoticed by the staff member and the resident swipes their hand through it. Then the resident touches their phone, their bed railing, the tv remote, the call button and their bedside table. Company comes to visit the resident and is told no precautions are necessary. Company touches the resident's hand, the bedside table and the bedrail. Company is now contaminated. *Usually* CDiff only causes a problem for those with compromised immune systems (so the elderly are particularly at risk) and it is antibiotic resistant, so it's difficult to get rid of.
To say it's from faulty caregiving is a little hard to pin down. If the staff doesn't know someone has CDiff before it's diagnosed, it's hard to blame them for not taking the proper precautions. Go to the CDC dot gov website - search on C Diff - that gives more info. The main issue with defeating C Diff is the fact that it comes back after you think it's gone and it can live for a very long time on contaminated surfaces - so if proper cleaning is not done *every single time*, it's almost impossible to eradicate it.
That's not to say it *can't* be cured - it's just difficult. I hope your mom is able to overcome it and the staff is on top of their game in terms of treatment and procedures for cleaning.
I understand some families might be trying to dump their parents into nursing homes, memory care facilities but it sure is hard sometimes when you have your loved ones best interests in mind and the doctors make you feel like a bad person.
Its very hard to find a doctor here in Vancouver. I'm seeing someone in the interim until I find one I like. This guy has the personality of a brown sock. On a positive note I never have to wait for hours in the waiting room. But I always leave thinking I'd of liked more time.
Wish I could remember that, because after attending a lecture by an eldercare attorney, I could only remember "Always tell the nursing home you plan to return home". Thanks to Susan, we all know why. We all should be writing this down for future reference.
My Mom is getting pretty cagey. She's learned to call the docs office and tell them to send Dad home with written info. He won't let her go to the appointments either. So she calls the office the minute he leaves the house and let's them know to send the info home.
I understand that it's the dementia but good god, sometimes I want to break out my eldercare choke hold!
Others can show you better than I could. Just learning this myself (I had to have help too.)
Just remember to pretend to put wife ( you) back on phone. Lol
Going back to: " These are a few of my favorite things", get there by entering favorite things, spelled favorite, not favourite, but the latter is so much prettier, into the search bar above. Or, click CAREGIVER SUPPORT, then EMOTIONAL WELLBEING, then scroll down til you find what you are looking for.
Of course today's terminology says if you are "wicked", that is a good thing to be if you are cooking.