Houston---we have liftoff!

Dad has secured a new residence. His new address is:

600 Plano Parkway #2219
Plano, TX 75075

He has also located a transportation provider for treatments:

American Cancer Society Transportation at 800-227-2345

Dad has made some great strides here. Lets keep encouraging him as his road gets more difficult!

Goals for the next month

Per our conversation:

1) Dad needs to find/call for a moving company from McKinnney to Plano
2) Plan for a back up in case Evergreen does not work out.
3) Trip to Tracy's house to look at furniture and pick out what he wants.
(how to move that furniture)
4) Suzanne to help clean out clutter in his vehicle during visit.
5) Find out amount of deposit and checklist to get the money returned.
(arrange walk-through)
6) Update Will

Conference Call

Tuesday January 20th
7:00pm CST

This should allow Suzanne to get out of class, Tracy is available both days, and Stuart is confirmed.

The number is 800-651-1252

Conference Call Ideas

We are at another crossroads:

I would like to set up a conference call tomorrow night at 7pm CST. If that won't work, how about Tuesday night at 7pm CST?
We have several items to discuss...ie....The move to Evergreen Apartments, January 30th visit by Suzanne and Brooke, start date for radiation, Dad's current apartment, and the two e-mails I sent you tonight.

Please check your e-mails asap. Also, either reply by blog or work e-mail Steve_Rogers@jbhunt.com. The 800 # is 800-651-1252.

This Weekends Plan

I am now in Dallas at 5pm on Friday night.
Melissa is still in Oklahoma and will be arriving tonight.

The start time for tomorrow is 9am. I thought Stuart was going to meet us in McKinney after his seminar. To answer your questions....Tracy and Andy time was going to be after Grant's game.......that way we would have a moment to get information together and have the scene fairly straightened up.

Call me on my cell if you need me tonight.

Schedules and Plans for the Upcoming Weekend

I would like to find out what the expectations are for the upcoming weekend. I know that Steven and Melissa arrive on Friday. What are your plans for that evening? Meredith is swimming in Frisco and will be done at 6:30. We haven't made any definite plans after that.

As far as Saturday, Grant has basketball pictures and a game at 1:00 p.m. I know that Stuart is to arrive at Dad's apt. in the afternoon on Saturday. Is that still correct?

What would you like for Andy and I to accomplish on Saturday after Grant's game? Are there any plans for Saturday evening? I know that at some point on Saturday, Dad will need to work on his paperwork for the application for the apt.

On Sunday, Andy and I teach Sunday school. We could get together around lunchtime for any loose ends if needed. What are your plans for leaving Steven and Melissa?

I hope you don't think I am wanting "control" over your visit; however, the weekend tends to get busy and I don't want anyone expecting us to do something that we didn't know needed attention, beforehand.

It's all GOOD!

Well, the ARCH angel answered my call last night and bumped someone "gently" off the list of residents at EVERGREEN and now DAD is set and ready!!!

The manager, Sandy, called me this morning and said she had a 2nd floor apt. ready for DAD to move into! Prayers are answered!!

So, I spoke with Dad today extensively about the financial application and all the details he needed. I made him make a list of businesses and such to get a hold of for information. Unfortunately, we couldn't print off his bank statements at my house, so he is calling the bank to have them sent to him via mail. All these efforts in getting the application completed and approved are IMPORTANT! You must all encourage him to keep up with this "job" of getting the information while he is sitting idle in the hospital!

I am mailing a check for the deposit TODAY! He will move in on Friday, Jan. 30th which works out perfect for Suzanne to be able to assist with all of that! He's got a corner apt. so he only has one neighbor and is close to the elevator. That's conveneint!

Medical City of Plano is right down the road and he will have his radiation there in a month or more! Bobbie is a stone throw away! He can at least have Bobbie come over and have some coffee at the coffee bar occasionally!

I am thrilled! : )

Suzanne to Dallas

I did not get a chance to call the apartments today to see if Dad can go month to month...after I spoke with Tracy, I left for school and did not get home until now. (8pm my time) I will make it a priority to call first thing tomorrow. My understanding would be if the apartment is not leased to someone else this should not be an issue.

I will be coming to Dallas on Friday, Jan. 30th and stay through Feb. 4th. I am bringing Brooke with me. I hope to help Dad as much as possible during my visit.

Just a quick suggestion..since we are all such good bloggers now, will you please inital or sign at the bottem of your post. This way we can keep track of who is posting what information.
Thanks,

Suzanne

Life changes on a dime..............

Last Friday I thought Dad would be going to a skilled nursing facility. By noon that day after speaking with his doctor at Gulf States, he was going to be discharged to go home on Friday 1/16. I began the apt. search that afternoon calling Diane at Evergreen apts. I decided to go on Monday, so that I could see an existing apt.

I called Diane at 9:00 a.m. this morning to make an appt. at 1:00 p.m. today.

The apt. is no longer available after I made a 1:00 p.m. appt. with Diane and drove to look at it. She had rented it to someone who had brought back the paperwork and wrote a $150 deposit an hour before I got there. You can imagine my disappointment.

So, Diane showed me around the facility and gave me a long list of paperwork and financial documents that are needed along with a $150 deposit to secure a unit.

Diane then called another lady who had put down a deposit on a one bedroom apt. that she doesn't need until the end of February. She asked her if she would be willing to surrender her apt. for another one? Diane told said lady that we were in need of an apt. a.s.a.p. Diane told her that Evergreen apts. would call her back and discuss her options. She was willing to surrender the apt. within the perimeters that Diane stated IF SHE could GUARANTEE she would have another one for her at the end of February.

The apt. manager, Sandy, got involved when I had the "panic distress sign" and said she would call all the people who have put down deposits but had not completed the paperwork and turned it in. She would find out where these "renters" were on their move dates, seriousness in renting, etc.

All in all, Evergreen knows we can move Dad a.s.a.p.! I will be in constant touch with them to find out if any progress has been made. I did tour a 1 bedroom apt. that was occupied by two sisters who share a room with twin beds!

The paperwork is extensive. Dad will need to provide lots of financial info to support that he doesn't make too much income to live at Evergreen. I am not sure how fast Dad can get the info needed........Steven, if you could help me disiffer what you know and what Dad knows financially be helpful!

I have not called Dad to discuss any of this with him yet. I am only going to tell him about the complex and the apt. features at this point.

Suzanne is finding out if Dad could go month to month in his existing apt. if necessary? This would buy us more time, perhaps

Where one door closes.......another one opens! Pray for this facility to find an apt. for Dad a.s.a.p.

The list goes on...........

To clarify some of your questions........

1. Dad's car is at Bobbie's. When I pick him up to go home on Friday, I will most likely take him to Bobbie's to get his car so that he can drive it to his McKinney apt. If that doesn't work out, he can get it at another time.

2. I did not have his mail re-routed since he's going home on Friday. Some loopholes prevented me from doing it this week without his presence. I will make sure he has the mail that is being held, delivered on Friday of this week. Andy is interested in going over bills/interest pymts with you, Steven.

3. I will attempt to schedule his radiation apt. and chemo doc. appt. for next week after he is home. Chemo (Dr. Perkins) is at Medical City. Radiation (Dr. Greenberg) is located in Plano off 15th street and we haven't had any visits with Dr. Greenberg's office yet.

4. In regards to packing Dad's apt., he has a kitchen full of items as well as odds-n-ends that are his. The furniture is staying with the apt. Boxes are going to be needed for all the above. We are all going to have to come up with a plan for furniture and such to furnish his new apt. (This is something we can discuss in our conf. call)

5. As Melissa previously stated, I will be checking out the Evergreen apts. tomorrow if all goes as planned. I will also touch base with Bobbie to get an update on her surgery progress.

Night, Night
Tracy

Dad's Sunday phone call.

Dad called this evening. He is worried about where he is going at the end of the week. I told him that Steven and Melissa are coming down to help with his move. Overall he is in good spirits. He is eating solid food. he bragged that he had shrimp alfredo the other day. He has an Internet connection, and finished the Lance Armstrong book that Suzanne sent.

He is just confused about how to make up for the shortfall in income vs. expenses. I told him not to worry that it would be taken care of.

Steven could you give me a ring this week to discuss. I can help you out on Saturday. I have a expo to attend for part of Saturday. But I won't make any appointments.

Dad leaves Gulf States Friday 1/16, will head back to apartment

The plan now is for dad to leave Gulf States this Friday 1/16/09.On a good note dad has healed up well and is doing much better. The doctor feels like he will be able to return home to his apartment.He will not need to go to a skilled rehab afterall.

Tracy is going to look at the senior apt.(Evergreen Plano) Monday(1/12).From what we know that apartment won't be available until January 26th.She is going to see if there is any possibility that it can be available this weekend.Then we would be able to pack up the McKinney apt and move him directly into the Plano apt.If it isn't available until the 26th, we will pack up everything but the bare essentials so it will be easier once he is able to move.

Dad won't start radiation for another few weeks.He will have an appointment with his radiologist sometime next week.At that point we will have more details about what his treatments will be like.

We need to have a conference call early this week.What day is best for everyone, Monday,Tuesday, or Wednesday?Also let Steven know what time would work best to have the call.This will allow us to work out any details before the weekend.

The theme of next Saturday .......say goodbye to McKinney!

Gang,

We need a call to action this week. We need to address the following:

*Can someone in Dallas (hint-Stuart) purchase wardrobe boxes (4 at the least) for this weekend.
*Do we need to jump on the Evergreen choice in Plano, Texas? It was first choice when Dad had us take him from facility to facility. Tracy, did you go to the site Friday?
*Stuart....did you ever get the Medicaid packet filled out and completed? We need to meet up Saturday/Sunday and get this in Melissa's hands.
*I have the Durable Power of Attorney packet.....its confusing. One portion is signed, the other not signed. It has been notarized. We also have all his insurance policys and living will residing in our security box at the bank.
*Where is Dad's car? Has someone started in the past 3 weeks...if not we need to make sure it is still charged.
*Where to next as far as care facilities?
*What do we know about the mail situation? Are we getting insight to credit/debt issues? What about bills that are popping up from this care or other suprises?

I fly in Friday afternoon from Buffalo. Melissa gets the lucky task of driving from Arkansas on Friday afternoon in the white beast. We have no agenda other than getting the McKinney apartment packed and completed. The clothes are 80% of the job. The other 20% includes food, cleaning products, pictures, and records/papers. Should not be too difficult. Its all part of the process, right? Look forward to seeing all.......

Wanted to throw this out to everyone and hear your thoughts. Diane from the Senior apt that dad looked at in December called to say that two, 1 bedroom apartments have opened up. They will be available the end of January. He is third on the list and she has contacted the other people before him to let them know about this. Right now it is really the first couple of people that put down a deposit of $150 will get the apartment. If he is serious then we need to decide if we need to move on this. Rent is $686/month with a one year lease. He would be responsible to pay the electric. Diane can be reached at 1-866-408-5758 if anyone has questions. This is a basic apartment not an assisted living. If we get on the medicaid application that Stuart has dad may qualify for help like a housekeeper etc. based on his income and disability. This would then give him some added support in the apartment.

Today I called the American Cancer Society to see if there was any resources we could use for Dad. I need to know more information in order to get transportation and other things he might need. I hope that this is something we can use in the future...meals, cleaning, and rides to his appointments will be helpful I think.

So, when we know more about his status, I will call them back and see what all they can offer.

Big Bad Rash

Dad has a big bad rash possibly due to an allergic reaction to his antibiotics. He is taking benadryl for itching but says it still itches! Grant had the same thing happen to him when he was hooked up to IV antibiotics over a period of time.

I spoke with Dr. Perkins today and he's recommended skipping the last 2 chemo treatments and head straight to radiation. Dad and I will go and visit Dr. Greenberg in Plano on Friday for a consultation. We will "unhook" him from his IV's and hook him back up when we return. As for now, we are sticking with Dr. Perkins for chemo at Medical Citye.

On a good note: Bobbie did well in her surgery and will be at the hospital for 2 nights.

Don't Forget!!

Bobbie has surgery today! Take a minute and send her a card if you can. She has weeks of recovery ahead of her.

Bobbie Harris
3429 Brookshire Drive
Plano, Texas
75075

Keeping you posted!

We spent time with Dad on Sunday and he looked great! Grant took him on a walk while Meredith snapped pictures along the way. We brought movies for him, too. Unfortunatley, we missed the doctor who visited right after we left. The wound is healing and liquids are on the horizon for dad according to the doctor.

I was able to get dad to agree to have his mail re-routed to our home for a short period of time. This will also help him get his mail when he moves out of his apt. and doesn't have a forwarding address right away. He is also making me a list of items in his apt. that we need to move. He does own the majority of kitchen items in addition to some accessories here and there. He is going to let me know what can go to Goodwill and what he wants to go to storage.

I finally spoke to Amy who is the case worker for Dad at Gulf States. She is going to drop off a book to dad's room of skilled nursing facilities in the metroplex. She stated that we could find 3 choices and she would help us narrow them down. Most importantly, we have to find a Cancer Center that is close to one of these facilities. A point that Amy made was that some skilled nursing facilities DO NOT reimburse for transportation to Cancer Centers but will be reimbursed for patients going to hospitals, such as Medical City. I will hopefully find out more about Cancer Centers (especially in the Plano area) today from Dr. Perkins office. Once I find out the Cancer Centers location, I will contact Amy and have her do some ground work for me.

Dad is open to finding a "temporary" facility to stay at through his cancer treatments. He is mostly interested in finding a Cancer Center closer to his network of friends. I reminded him that he would be going to a Cancer Center long after his treatments are over, so it needs to be convenient to where he lives temporarily and permanently.

Dr. Kim (internal medicine doctor)who is overseeing Dad at Gulf States, will be meeting with Amy at some point today to discuss Dad's discharge date and progress. I expect to hear something from her late today.

Here are some pictures that Meredith sent to me. These mean so much to me since I am so far away. I think he looks pretty good!

Holidays are over!

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays. It seems as though Dad is doing better. I think his Dr. said that he "might" be able to have liquids in a week? Sounds like progress to me. He has a great attitude and I think that is so important at every stage of his treatment.

Visit Postponed

With the news that Dad's rent is paid til January 31st, Melissa and I have decided to postpone our trip for several weeks. We have been on the road the last several weekends and spent a full week with her parents in Michigan....to put it bluntly, we are too tired to give it our best effort.

We have purchased plastic containers for storage purposes and will make a plan for hanging boxes later. Our projected travel date looks to be Jan 17-18.

Dallas Bound

It appears we are heading to Dallas this weekend to get the apartment settled. We will more than likely pack everything up and get it completely organized so we can store Dad's stuff in a storage unit or the next apartment?

More to come as we get closer to Saturday.

mail

Happy New Year!

I had a very brief discussion with Pops today and was inquiring about his mail...hinting that someone needed to access his mail so his bills could get paid. He told me he was not concerned with this as he pays most of his bills online and he seems to think he is current.
I had to go deal with the kids so I cut the conversation short ......I will try to approach him again on this hopefully with better results.
If anyone has any better ideas..please pass them along.

Thanks
Suz