Catch Up From Nov. 24th to Almost Now

Okay, still behind. I'll just go by dates, and I'll probably skip around some. A lot has happened recently, but a lot has happened in the past few weeks as well. Some of this might be repeats…

Last week of November – Starting around the 24^th or so. Just some catch-up

I have to complain about insurance again. I think that because of her insurance, my mom was released her from the nursing and rehabilitation facility a bit too soon, but she is getting on okay. The insurance is good in some areas and crappy in others. Like the hospital stuff…it was amazing how much was covered. However, she should have up to 3 months in the facility, but her insurance company thought she was ready to go after a little over 3 weeks. I don't think they did enough for her there anyway, esp. in terms of physical therapy. And esp. after seeing what the therapists who came to her home were teaching her. Yeah, looking back, I did write about this. Oh well. I think she is depressed about not moving as fast as she wants to. She seems to have a really good physical therapist coming to the house though, and we have hired some home care assistants to come and help her. Unfortunately they are not covered under her insurance, but the physical therapists are. The home care workers come 4 hours a day, 4 days a week to help her with showering, dressing, breakfast, dressing, etc. I go over the other 3 days, and it has really helped give me a break. The physical therapists come out 3 days a week. All of this has really helped her though, so it's worth it. She had been wearing a leg brace since January or so, and is no longer wearing it.

I am SO GLAD we finally got rid of her shitty doctor once and for all. My mom had her first appointment with the new doctor on Dec. 4^th. I couldn't wait to see her (details to come later). I don't want to get my hopes up, but any of the techniques she mentioned are worth a try. I have no idea what was up with that SOB (her former doctor). I SO want to write him or someone about how awful he was. A friend of my mom told my mom that she knew someone that this jerk was treating for arthritis and it ended up that he was having heart problems and almost had a heart attack!

On the 27^th, the physical at-home therapist showed my mom some really good back exercises that I think are really helping her. They have stretching and strengthening her back, and she seems to feel better every time she does them. She said her pain is getting much better and she is able to do more in terms of waking around, dressing herself, lying on her sides, etc. She also sounds in better spirits. This makes me feel much better. By this time we also found a permanent care worker that we all really like, so things are going pretty well. That weird one worked again on the 24^th, but the one we liked started on the 27^th. I feel like I'm totally rambling. Anyway, this one keeps her good company along with working, and I think that's why she feels better emotionally.

The 28^th though the 3^rd was AWFUL for me because for me I suffered from migraines through all that time period. I had meds for a few days and then I ran out. Then I decided to do a med "detox" to see if maybe it was the meds that were causing some kind of "detox" or something. It was hell. And I felt so bad that I couldn't go over and take care of my mom during "my days." Even though I stayed home, I didn't really feel like I had days off because I was worrying about my mom and just felt frustrated and like I wasn't doing my "job," if that makes sense. I was just so worn out and in pain that I couldn't do much of anything. These migraines can be very debilitating. You have no idea unless you've been suffering from them for a long period of time. So my neurologist increased the dosage and hopefully I'll see some improvement.

Okay, this is pretty boring and I'm feeling like crap so I think I'm writing like crap. I'm sure there's other stuff that I forgot to write that is more interesting but like I said, it's been a while and I've had a hard time keeping and remembering because of the migraines, stomach bugs or whatever they were, stress, anxiety, depression, making phone calls, taking care of my mom, appts, etc. Even during the migraines, there were a few days that I had to go out and do stuff or go over to my mom's. It was difficult, but there's just some stuff you can't skip. I hope I didn't bore you all (or you two who read…you know who you are). And "days off." What are those? I'll try to catch up to "now" soon! Thanks for reading!