Monday October 9th 2023

[Joe NightingMale, MSN, RN]

Stars that is good that your and your dh remain on the same page.  Probably good to consult an attorney, if his daughter is trying to involve herself in ways she isn't allowed to

Tweety I've had LTC insurance for a while, though I've had 2 huge increases in premiums, one I agreed to and the other I declined, and reduced the benefit instead.  I'm not sure if it's worth it TBH

NJ22 that sounds like nice weather, better than the cooler cloudier weather we've been having

Dianah it was an interesting exhibit although it was sobering

Drive back yesterday was fine, and not as dull or as tiring as I thought it would be.  Which is good, means that if I decide to visit my alma matter at some point the even longer drive shouldn't be too bad

After I came home I baked chocolate chip cookies for the potluck next Saturday, then stopped at the library and did some grocery shopping.  Also finally found some beer from that brewery we visited in Milwaukee, their stuff is awfully hard to find for some reason

Have today off, plan to ride my bike on the prairie path this morning if the cold doesn't prove too much.  If it does I  could go for a hike instead.  Will also do the cooking for the week, going to be making a fish dish

Will be cooler today, in the mid to upper 50s

 

[No Stars In My Eyes]

Good Morning~

Upper 60's, low 70's and sunny.

I have a problem! Most of my 'tops' are kinda too big for me, so I will have to go to my couture shoppe, WalMart, to try on some to find out what my size is now, and pick up a few jerseys/blouses/whatever. I pretty much hate to shop for clothes (shoes/bras/etc) and so I am what you'd call a decisive shopper: go in, look at stuff, and If I can't find anything suitable, I'm outta there. 

Haven't heard anything from the hospital or any of the doctors, Certainly haven't heard from hubby's dgt.!  I have managed to cool my jets some about her, this is just the way she is, and I might have remembered it if I hadn't had my mind in other places. A zebra can't change it's stripes. And so it goes.

I am drinking coffee and try to get a bit more awake. Momo has had her breakfast and used her underpad/bathroom to do her business, so she is curled up beside me with her face mooshed into my hip. I'm not ready to get Nannie up yet; I am enjoying the quiet for now.

Not sure what the day will unfold, so .... to be continued.....

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Good morning!

Joe, enjoy your day off.

Stars, given your history with your step-daughter it doesn't surprise me that she's going to be an issue.   I hope problems with her are kept to a minimum as you focus on what's best for Mr. Stars.  Hopefully as the days progress his withdrawal symptoms ease and a clearer picture becomes available.  

Got an answer from my employer that it's okay to delay medicare but I have to notify them.  It's confusing because I can't figure out how to do that and one source says you just do nothing.  I guess I'll give them a call as the time get near.  I just can't imagine calling a 1-800 number for such a humongous program.  I'm going to restart my HSA contributions in January as I stopped them for now.  

I'm still on the fence out long-term health insurance.  It's so expensive and most older people live at home and I might not ever use it.  

I had insomnia at 4AM and by 4:45 got up and went back to bed around 7 after having some tea and reading.  Bleh......

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I braved the Medicare number and talked to an actual person after talking to AI first.  I was on the phone a total of 23 minutes including the wait time for a person.  She was able to answer my question.

[No Stars In My Eyes]

Called the hospital and spoke with hubby's nurse; she said the NP said he is doing much better. They cancelled the MRI (I don't think that's such a good idea, but oh well.) He 'passed' the swallowing test, so they are going to start slowly adding liquids and a soft diet to see how he does. He is still restless, and still has to wear his 'mittens' to keep from pulling out his IV lines; he is still on antibiotics and maybe a few other things. I mentioned to the nurse that while his daughter is allowed to have any info on her dad's condition, she is not allowed to make any of his healthcare decisions. She said "Oooh, I didn't know that. I will make a note on the nurse's chart so that it will be documented."  Then I phoned the Dr's office and apparently he is on duty at the hospital today; I left a message for him to call me when he can. I want to make sure the docs and all know the dgt doesn't get to make any 'run-around-me' decisions. 

[nursej22, MSN, RN]

Good morning. Our pleasant weather has ended, it is starting to rain, which we need, I did enjoy the few warm days we had. Youngest ds and I got 16 more feet of fence reinforced. It was slowing, because we had to work around 2 espaliered pear trees growing along the fence. They are trained on a trellis and I had to crawl under and around it. Dd and her boys came over to meet the pups and have dinner. The oldest grandson is 14 and I am in awe of how much food he can eat. I guess my boys did at this age, but it is still a sight to see. I am glad that my dtr has always provided healthy foods, very few processed foods and water is their preferred drink. 

I went for a nice jog this morning. It's weird how one day I feel terrible, with achy feet and knees and legs that feel like concrete. And then another day I feel like I could jog 4 miles instead of 2. My lens fell out of my glasses yesterday and I seem to be missing a screw. I have an appointment this afternoon for repair. It really irks me that I need an appointment for that, but I'm going to that office in case this is a warranty issue. 

Stars, you have every reason to be angry, but I hope it doesn't tie you up in knots. Don't be surprised if your requests about care decisions doesn't get carried on shift to shift. There is so much info to pass on, things get missed. And some staff care more about the size of an IV cannula that family directives. Sad, but true. Hurray for passing the swallow test! Much less chance of infection with oral versus IV nutrition. And if the MRI won't change his care, why put him through that? And he seems to be slowly improving? 

Joe, yummy! Cookies! They are my kryptonite. That, and Lays potato chips. I try to keep both out of the house. 

Tweety, my brief encounters with Medicare and Social Security have been pleasant and efficient, once I can get to a real person. I have longterm insurance, because dh and I both have chronic conditions that may require care. But that works for us. 

 

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I'm a little surprised that they would have to told as the spouse you make the decisions and not her.  That's chain of power of attorney 101, it's always the spouse.  When we were dealing with a patient deteriorating the other day,  the spouse said he needed to talk with his son, but ultimately he and we all knew he was to make the final call.  

J22, that is annoying as you should be able to walk in for a repair.  I've always gotten such things done on the spot and at no charge.   

[No Stars In My Eyes]

Okay, spoke with our PCP. He said the MRI has only been postponed, due to hubby's still extreme physical activity in bed....he cannot be still enough for an MRI to be useful right now.

Doc did tell me that in this state, the spouse gets to make the health-care decisions. Phew! Good to know that. He also said that he will put in a request for palliative care, but that if I mentioned it to the floor nurse, the referral might happen a little faster if the family requests the referral. So I called her back and mentioned it to her, and she will pass the request along to the Palliative Team.

[No Stars In My Eyes]

w00t!

I just rec'd a call from Palliative Care (an NP, I think). Talk about hearing from them 'faster' if the family requests it ! She and the team will be following him. Told me options for after hospital care, but said he wouldn't be ready for any talk about discharge yet, maybe in 4-5 days. And the good news is that our PCP will still be the attending physician. (and naturally, if he gets transferred to Hospice at any point, they are the ones who take over his care.)

I sent his dgt a text, saying that if she hasn't already done so, she needs to go on line and look at several different sites about Hepatic Encephelopathy and also about  Palliative Care. That might keep her little mind busy for a while.

I told the NP that I would aim for going to the hospital tomorrow and she said to let the floor nurse know to contact her so we can talk face-to-face.

[Ado Annie, ASN, RN]

Yesterday was Darby-dogs 15th birthday. At least thats what her papers from the shelter said. She and Binx are the only ones we have specific dates for and for all I know they both might be just guesses. But we go along with Oct 8 being Darby's birthday. 

Oh -- from Gma's conversations with herself: "I have large toes... Oh, those are my shoes" 

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Happy birthday to Darby!

We had to guess at my Waffle's age as she was found as a stray without record.  The rescue said she was 12 but my vet shaved two years off of that.  Slowbro turned 14 in October.

Stars, glad that palliative was able to get on board.  It makes sense that while he might not be in the process of dying that he also has serious issues that are going to stay with him and not be fixed.   All the best.  Again, hoping his daughter doesn't become a major obstacle.  

We suffered a huge defeat at bowling last night.  Lost them all.  The other team was real good and we had two bowlers off, one was sick and another on a cruise.  It was fun though and I actually had a good night, the one team mate that also showed up not so much.