Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2007. Peter snapped this photo of us at Sea World. We knew the strategy of getting seats to see the shows, by arriving 30 minutes before each show. The sun was strong and Mattie burned easily, so I always traveled with sun screen and host of other things. Mattie loved Sea World and especially enjoyed seeing the animals and learning about how they communicated and interacted with humans.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- number of people diagnosed with the virus: 2,418,570
- number of people who died from the virus: 124,355
Peter was up by 5am and I got up at 6am. I literally wake up, make the bed and head to shower and get dressed. I do this because if I don't, it won't happen! Since my dad was having back to back physical therapy and occupational therapy today, I had to get him up at 7:30am to shower, dress, and give him breakfast. It was another whirlwind of a day.
My parents live on a flag lot, and the lot has a gate. How anyone has lived with this dysfunction all these years I have no idea. There is NO door bell outside the gate and NO intercom to converse with someone outside the gate. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is a huge problem. As the gate is about 400 feet from my parents front door. Keep in mind that my dad is ambulatory, but only under supervision. So if Peter and I were not here managing this gate and letting people in and out, I have NO IDEA how my mom would manage. Peter is researching wireless doorbells and entry systems! But shouldn't the owner of the house have thought of this years ago? I can't understand how other tenants dealt with this issue! As I would have lost it living here. To me this is a major safety issue.
The first visitor today was the occupational therapist. The first therapist they assigned us, I asked NOT to return. Same with the visiting nurse. I thought both of them were incompetent. I now have a reputation with the in-home health company. So now they are only assigning us professionals. As both my dad's PT and OT have doctorate degrees and the visiting nurse is a RN. The OT did an evaluation today and he had very good suggestions on ways to help my dad regain some independence and to stimulate his cognition. I honestly believe that between physical illness and lock down from COVID, the social and mental stimulation my dad typically receives by interacting with the world disappeared and this void had enormously negative consequences for him.
After the OT visit, my dad's PT visited. I love the PT. He actually looks like Mattie's kindergarten teacher, so I fully admit that I have transference issues. As I am fond of the therapist, because I was fond of Mattie's teacher. In any case, the PT observed that my dad is not progressing but rather regressing since his hospitalization last week. So he called the in home health agency and was able to restart the therapy sessions. Instead of it being session four, it became session one again today. He felt that my dad's decline merited MORE sessions.
In addition to all these visits, we were balancing phone calls and a conference call with my dad's long term health insurer and the in-home health agency. I am getting quite the education but one piece of advice is I strongly recommend people consider purchasing long term care insurance. This is vital because when dealing with a health crisis, health insurance and Medicare does NOT cover day to day caregiving. All the assistance families typically need which include bathing, feeding, cleaning, household chores, and transportation to appointments.
There are many many beautiful hibiscus in the backyard too! Being outside and taking a small break from chaos is very therapeutic. My dad loves being outside and he especially loves watching golfers on the golf course! On any given day, golfers chat with us through the fence and we exchange pleasantries.
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