Candace the Therapy Dog and A Bit of Good Fortune

My house looked like this December, a year ago in 2017.  This fairly rare snowfall lasted all day long.  Here in Baton Rouge we have snow about every 6 or 8 years.

The Basset Boyz were totally amazed at the white stuff.








Today the beaver was in my next door neighbor's yard munching down on some acorns.  The tree there is a huge oak.  I odd to have a beaver rambling around here.  We are used to opossums and rabbits and armadillos.





At the hospice today, Rodney's son Chad brought Candace Marie, his Certified Therapy Dog.  Chad and Candy work with Autistic kids.  She is able to calm them.


He brought her here to visit his dad, who is struggling to breathe since he is in what they call Transition.  I didn't read the book they gave Diane, but I imagine they mean between life and death.








I did have about an hour or so this morning to work on The Good Fortune Mystery quilt.  I chose the oranges, and then stripped them.

I made about half of the needed pieces.  Since Bonnie requested about 3 times the amount of orange I used, I am thinking that there will be another use for the color.  

I will spend some time tomorrow at Hospice with Diane and Rodney again.  I am hoping for peace and calm.  We spoke today of letting go.  That is the tough part.

Better Today

Yesterday was such an emotional day for me.  I was exhausted.

Mom in 2007

I called my brother about the hospice thing, and checked in on his family.  They have their own thing going on and are in another city, and you know.  I rarely hear from them.  But we had a nice conversation and we are both on the same page, and it is OK.

I dealt with the health insurance crisis.  In January they changed the details of the reimbursement stuff and we no longer have a co-pay or deductible.  But no doctor's office or pharmacy understands this.  We are constantly overcharged and it is difficult to get your money back from the pharmacies and doctors who ARGUE with you when you show them the policy wording even!  It took me a week of calls to the benefits office at Frank's home office in Houston just to get a call back.  And when she did, she told me her child was sick and I should be more understanding!

And all the intake nurse and social work visits are being done through the Hospice and everyone calls me to discuss my mother.  Yesterday I explained to two pastors about our religious views and why we were comfortable with them.  I ended up just saying, go visit her, she has no idea you are even there.  Say what you want to her!  Make yourself feel better.

And on top of all that, I have 4 books on tape from the library and my Bose unit decides never to play CDs again.  I called Bose and they are willing to replace the guts of the machine for $99 plus shipping.  Frank won the unit at a Sales Meeting in 2008 so that is actually a good deal.  It will get shipped off today!

Chloe

And after listening to me for a while, all Frank said last night was:  do you think we can go get some more Klondike bars - I ate the last one last night?

And you wonder why I have dogs??????????

Isn't it funny how things work out?



At Trey Yeun
about 6 years ago



When we were growing up, it was obvious that my mother favored my brother, who is 5 years younger than I.  it stemmed, I think, from the fact that I was not a girly-girl who wanted to be in laces and frills and dresses and do girl things.  My mother named me after the Good Witch in the Wizard of Oz because she envisioned a pink, blonde head with heaps and heaps of curls, and lots of sweet smiles. I turned out very Italian, dark straight thin hair and totally a tom boy.  She would tell me how disappointed she was that I was not like Glenda on the movie screen or the kids in the Leave It To Beaver sit-com.

When I was 16 I was not allowed to take driving lessons at school like my friends.  It was my cousin Terry who taught me to drive in his beautiful little 240Z.  We had one TV because they didn't want TVs in the bedrooms.  The same with the phone,  I was not allowed to do more than call my girlfriends to confirm a time to meet or something about school.   When Kenny turned 16 they bought him a car, he had a TV and a phone in his room.

When I was 17 and a Junior in high school and all my friends were making plans to attend some sort of college or training program, I was told that girls didn't go to school and that they were saving their money because Kenny needed to go to college.  Funny, now I have two post graduate degrees and was Valedictorian at Southeastern Louisiana University after finishing a 4 year undergraduate degree in 2 1/2 years even. 

When my father died, my mother gave Kenny his car.  I got his cuff links. 



about 10 years ago



Now that my mother is in the nursing home and hospice, I am the one making the decisions, paying the bills, and watching her slowly die.  My brother has told me not to expect money to care for mom from him.  Go figure.  All that college education they gave him didn't teach him about humanity.

I am not even sure that he or his family has been up here to see her since she moved to the nursing home last year.  But who knows.

I made my peace with myself a few years ago, it still upsets me though.  To think I now have charge of the one who wanted the other.  But I stepped up to take the job. 



moving into Assisted Living 3 years ago



So yesterday I made the decision to remove the medication that was supposed to increase her appetite and stop the weight loss.  We knew from the beginning two weeks that it really wasn't working anyway.

Isn't it funny like that, by all rights and priveleges, Kenny should have made that decision.

glen:  or at least pay attention

What a day! Everything was totally weird!

I was on the road most of the day.  Back and forth, forth and back.



Mom about 3 years ago



I had a meeting with the Hospice at 10 AM based upon a letter they sent me inviting me to an Interdisciplinary Council for Family Members Meeting.  But when I got there at 10 they were, like, really surprised to see me.  Almost as if they never get family to the meetings they set up for us. 

Hmmmm.  Weird.

So they asked me to come back at 11:30 AM.  So I left, went home, let dogs out, came back.  Met for 40 minutes with the ICFM meeting people.  One guy looked really familiar and I had worked with him in Hammond.  He was their Bereavement Counselor and I had been specializing in Death and Dying at Mental Health.  That was a blast from the past!  Good ole Elizabeth Kubler Ross!

Then  I went home again to let dogs out.

I headed out to lunch at our favorite Thai Chili restaurant.  I ordered Coconut Chicken Soup and an Egg Roll.  She brought me Egg Drop Soup.  It didn't occur to me there was a problem until I realized about half way through the soup that I never got the egg rolls. 

Hmmmm.  Weird.  But my bill was $3.22!

On to the bank and to get my toes done.  While getting my toes done I was trying to zone out and the foreign conversation got really animated.  I opened my eyes and my girl says, Oh, we were talking about boobs!  Seems one of her customers was bitten by a snake on her boob and it burst her silicon implant.  The implant drained inside her chest and later the snake died from silicon poisoning.  

Hmmmm. Weird!

Then I went home to grab my computer and head out to the CPA.  I still need to do the financial input for  for CAAWS so we can file the 2010 taxes.  Frank is bound and determined that we will file the 2011 taxes on time this year, something we have never done.  We don't ever have to pay anything since we are a 501(c)3 organization and aren't that large, but still, we really should be filing on time.

So I sat with Brittany and we created the system in the new program.  It looks easy enough.  And Jenny and I can work separately and still have all the information be coordinated in one file.  Nice!  Really a weird concept for me though.  I still can't imagine it happening perfectly. 

Hmmmm.  Weird!  If it does, amazing!

Then on for a bike ride up to Tigerbait for a gyros .  I lost my water bottle somewhere in the construction zone.  Frank went back to look for it, but didn't immediately see it so we decided to eat and then all 4 of us would look on the way back.  I had ridden in the crane tracks rather on the busy street area and it must have fallen out.  Frank paid after we ate and went out to get the bikes unlocked and ready to ride while Amber finished up her dinner.  She was talking and thus eating waaay too slow for some of us......but I digress.

He went ahead to look for the water bottle.  When we went out, Dan says, isn't that your water bottle?  It was in the cup holder on the bike.  Now how had it gotten there.  Frank swore he did not put there because he really was out on the construction site looking for it.  And it was NOT there and EVERYONE had looked for it.......

Hmmmm.  Weird.