July chitchat

[Ikoiko]

There will probably be a social worker at the hospital or in his doctor's office who can answer these questions.

[Virginia]

Ikoiko, that is what I am thinking, but since he will be bedridden for awhile it is my thinking he needs to make any plans now based on what he already knows and not wait until he can't do anything. I wish I was healthy and could drive to where they live and help out.

[Ikoiko]

Call the surgeon's office.

[agate]

Don't most hospitals have a continuing care coordinator or patient services coordinator on the staff, and that person must set up a plan for insuring that the patient's continuing care can go on at home in the way it's supposed to do?

[Virginia]

I am going to try to look into this by calling his insurance company. He has the exact same insurance that I have. I know that a hundred percent of his hospital and Doctor bills will be paid. I am concerned about his care after he gets home. I don't know if he will be able to hang on to his business. He wants to, but we're not talking about just a month or six weeks. This is a long process. Thanks for helping me.

[agate]

I've known of situations where this didn't happen for some reason but I'm pretty sure that if the hospital is doing its job right, it's not supposed to let a patient go home until a plan is in place for the person to be able to manage at home. If a dressing has to be changed on a schedule, for instance, and the person needs help with that, how that will be done has to be set up and spelled out clearly. If the patient is unable to prepare food, arrangements have to be in place. Every aspect of that person's care at home has to be considered and arranged.

Of course that's the ideal situation, and not all hospitals get it right, but a good hospital should, as I understand it. The patient services coordinator (this person's job title varies from hospital to hospital) should set it all up, preferably involving the family members as well so that everyone is on the same page and understands what the arrangements are to be.

[Virginia]

Eric called this afternoon. He is his usual upbeat self. He had already thought of some of the things I have been thinking about. He is going to make another appointment with the surgeon and ask him how long it will be before he can just walk around the downstairs in his house. Maybe just go to the refrigerator and bathroom on his own. His wife is planning on taking off a week and their daughter will take off a week so she can keep the baby.

His wife will cook lots of food and freeze it. They have a big freezer in their garage and she will stock that one as well as the big refrigerator they have. Then if he can walk around the house he can just get something out of one of the freezers.

He has a lot of questions for the surgeon and I hope his wife will be able to go with him so they will not forget anything.

He still wants to get the second MRI that would tell the Pathologist what the mass is. He wants to get that done before the surgery and of course he still has to see the Cardiologist.

Some of their new furniture was delivered to their house today and I could tell he likes it. I think they are going to move on August 11th. So things are moving along.

Now if I don't have a nervous breakdown

[agate]

No, don't have a nervous breakdown, Virginia! Leave that for someone else!

It must be exciting for them to be getting their house back at last.

[Virginia]

Eric wants so bad to get back in his own house Agate. He wants to get things set up the way he wants them. I know his wife does too. I am sure it will be pretty with all new paint and mostly all new furniture.

[agate]

Hope they'll find some ways to come out of this experience with a far better house than before! The hassle and the waiting must have been difficult.

[Virginia]

I went out today. The first time since July 16th, my birthday. I went to Home Depot and then I went to the grocery store. I looked at some flooring for my kitchen and then I grocery shopped for a long time. It took me three trips to get everything in the house. All total it was over 3 hours. I am so beat tonight and I know I will pay tomorrow, but I just wanted to do these things.

Last night I was up late because some of my husband's relatives talked to me by messenger on Facebook. They sent me pictures of all 3 of them. Now I want to send them a picture but I don't know how. Anyway it was fun. These particular relatives I had not had contact with other than an occasional birthday greeting, but last night they reached out. It was almost 1AM before I got to bed.

[agate]

Wish I could help you on sending photos, Virginia. I'm still trying to figure it out myself and not getting very far.

It sounds as if you were glad to get out and get some things done even though it was tiring. Now you're set with provisions for a while.

It's been around 100' here the last few days but tomorrow it might go down to 89'. I hope so.

[Virginia]

Agate, it has been very hot here also. Yesterday was hot but not as bad as it had been all month. I stood on my feet quite awhile at Home Depot and walked all over Harris Teeter and then I stopped at Lowe's Foods to get a couple of items. Today I can hardly move. I am more tired than I even thought I would be.

I took a selfie with my iPad yesterday and tried to put it on Facebook. I was trying to put it on messenger where it would be private, but it didn't go there it went to my home page. Three people have responded to it today, but none of them are the ones I was trying to send it to so I don't think they have seen it. If one of my Nieces or Nephews would just show me how to do this then I wouldn't have this problem. One of these days I will catch them when we have time.

It has been thundering and raining today. So far we have had a lot of rain this summer. I really feel for the people in Arkansas. So many there are suffering and so many dead. Terrible distruction.

[agate]

Virginia, I looked at your Facebook page and don't see any recent selfie of you there. You may have selected the people you wanted to be able to see it without realizing that you did that. Or sometimes the people you selected drop off the list and others get added without your knowing it. Photo-sharing on Facebook seems like a slippery slope to me. I've found I have to be really careful when selecting a "custom" list of people I would like to share a photo with.

[Virginia]

Agate, I didn't mean to share it with anyone other than the 3 people I had been talking to on messenger. However, it was a Niece, a niece-in-law and a friend of my brother's family who spotted it. Last time I was on there it was up near my profile picture.

Here is the funny part. I was sitting in a chair with my house coat on this rainy afternoon. I had felt really bad today due to overdoing yesterday and looked like something the cat drug in. So, I was playing on my iPad and decided I was going to figure this thing out. I was on messenger and I hit a few buttons and then I hit one and I could hear a phone ringing on the other end. I didn't know how to turn it off and all of a sudden the friend of the family answered and she came up live in a little box so I knew I was live too. I told her I didn't mean to call her and didn't know how to turn it off. She told me to turn my iPad off and that would take care of it.

I wish it had been my niece or even my niece in law that I had accidentally plugged into. Now, she is going to tell my Nephew and my Niece who live here in Raleigh and they are going to tease me to death.