Tonight's picture was taken in January of 2006. Mattie came home that day from preschool with the two gingerbread houses I baked and assembled for his school. That morning all four preschool classes took their turns decorating the houses with royal icing and candies that I brought in. The kids had a ball and as you can see Mattie was all smiles that day as he loved the idea that he got to take the school's creations home!
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 73,938,786
- Number of people who died from the virus: 881,924
Just when I think today will be a better day, something happens and I realize...... get used to it...... this is what life is like right now. I woke up this morning, showered and dressed, then made breakfast for everyone. Before I went to wake my dad up, I called his health care company which is providing physical, occupational, and speech therapy for my dad. I called in a complaint on Tuesday and I was supposed to get a call back from the clinical director on Wednesday. Given that today is Friday, I was NOT happy. Mainly because my dad's health care company in Los Angeles was STELLAR. I knew all the clinical directors and they were very family oriented and worked closely with me. This company in Northern Virginia is NOTHING like the California company.
When I spoke to the representative today, it was clear that my filed complaint on Tuesday went NO where. Clearly I was a handful for the representative on the phone, so she quickly put me through to the clinical director. Most likely because I told her that they are billing for services that are NOT adequately being delivered.
The clinical director was lack luster too and did not apologize when I said my Tuesday message did not get through to her. The only message she received was that I was requesting a new physical therapist for my dad. Something got lost in translation because the problem was much bigger than needing a new therapist. I explained to her that the current therapist comes at 4 or 5pm, when my dad is sleepy and out of it. Therefore he can't possibly benefit from therapy at that hour. I have told his therapist that this time doesn't work, but nothing changes, he continues to come at the same time! So I have made it clear I want my dad re-evaluated and given new sessions with a therapist that works with my dad in the morning.
After this call, I got my dad up and to the shower. He needs help in and out of the shower, but can shower himself. So while he was showering (and I have to time him, otherwise, he will spend 45 minutes in there), I changed my parents bed. That alone is an exercise routine, given the numerous pillows, sheets, and blankets. My dad alone uses TEN pillows. Once my dad got out of the shower, I had to dry him off, and then we have a whole hygiene routine that I follow. But he no longer can dress himself, or knows the sequence to follow to dress himself.
I got my dad downstairs, we all had breakfast, and then I worked with him on his cognitive and occupational therapy exercises. In the midst of all of this, I was balancing doing four loads of laundry. After I got him settled in his chair, I decided to walk Sunny for two miles. When I got back to the house, I was greeted by chaos. My dad has irritable bowel syndrome and apparently did not make it to the bathroom in time. So poop was all over him and everywhere. It was a big big clean up which I managed.
Later today my mom was talking to my dad about giving me breaks. Because since I arrived in LA on November 18th, I haven't had ONE day or HOUR off. My dad did not want to hear this and has no perspective about the challenges I balance. He was clear he doesn't want any sort of respite care. All I can say is I take it one day and minute at a time. I learned this technique when Mattie was ill. I don't look at the big picture or even focus on what will happen next week. I only focus on each day at a time. It is the only way I know how to survive.
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