Melissa derived the following information through many calls today:
I talked to Janet Zettle who is a private caregiver. She is super nice and sounds like she has a lot of good references. She is 70 but very independent. Her son is the assistant chief of police for Plano. She is going to be in CA for a week starting April 21st. Her cost is $12/hour with a 4 hr minimum. The agencies I contacted in Dallas are between $16-$20 hour with a 4 hour minimum. She can help with meals, laundry and she could be taught the tube feeding. I told her that we still are up in the air about what is going to happen but I would call her either way.
FYI, there are many types of medicaid. If you dad qualifies for straight medicaid then that will become his supplemental. If he qualifies for QMB medicaid then that means that they only pay his monthly premium for
medicare part B which is $96.00. If he only qualifies for QMB then he would still keep his secondary insurance and have to pay the monthly fees on that. It is all very confusing but the main thing is that you got it done and we can turn it in and see what happens.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Thursday
I arrived this am at 0830am....Dad was still asleep and complained of a very sore throat. I went back downstairs and handled some work business. When I came back at 0930 he was up and feeling better.
Here is what we got accomplished today:
1. Found the Medicaid application and got it 99% completed after 1 hours work.
2. Got Dad to agree to let us re-route his mail to Arkansas. This with a lot of
Bobbie. The plan is to streamline what is coming in and mail back to him
what is important.
3. I have built a list for Dad to call all vendors he does business with and
get me added as someone who can talk directly with them. This is huge.
4. Inspected his apartment. Electricity is back on.
5. Met with the home health care advocate at Evergreen about Dad and the
services they offer. This is in the lobby of his apartment building.
6. Found out what Dad had being paid automatically...its everything but his
electricity, rent, and cable.
7. Discovered that Dad's supplemental insurance is going up 8% in August
unless he changed to Plan F with USAA or Medicaid becomes his
supplemental.
8. Cleaned out all the clutter in Dad's car, minus the trunk.
9. Took his dry cleaning in to the chinese guys that Dad loves so much.
10. Bobbie is taking care of his laundry.
All in all.....very tiring day.
Here is what we got accomplished today:
1. Found the Medicaid application and got it 99% completed after 1 hours work.
2. Got Dad to agree to let us re-route his mail to Arkansas. This with a lot of
Bobbie. The plan is to streamline what is coming in and mail back to him
what is important.
3. I have built a list for Dad to call all vendors he does business with and
get me added as someone who can talk directly with them. This is huge.
4. Inspected his apartment. Electricity is back on.
5. Met with the home health care advocate at Evergreen about Dad and the
services they offer. This is in the lobby of his apartment building.
6. Found out what Dad had being paid automatically...its everything but his
electricity, rent, and cable.
7. Discovered that Dad's supplemental insurance is going up 8% in August
unless he changed to Plan F with USAA or Medicaid becomes his
supplemental.
8. Cleaned out all the clutter in Dad's car, minus the trunk.
9. Took his dry cleaning in to the chinese guys that Dad loves so much.
10. Bobbie is taking care of his laundry.
All in all.....very tiring day.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia
Well....the trip to the apartment yielded some suprising results. In two words-no electricity! Dad was involved in some type of squabble with the provider over $75....this resulted in me having to get the service turned back on to the tune of $300. Not good. Of course, all the food items in Dad's fridge were ruined. Three bags of stuff got lugged down to the dumpsters.
While at the apartment I gathered all of his bills and tried to straighten the place up. He is a horder.....a habit we must try to break.
When I returned to the hospital it was feeding tube time.....the first can of Ensure was delivered to Mr Stomach via the careful hand of Paula. She is using the syringe method to gravity feed the liquid into Dad. He is going to need to do this 4 times a day. Everything worked as planned and it was a resounding success.
Bobbie arrived later in the afternoon and brought clean clothes. She is a saint.
More tomorrow-----Steve
While at the apartment I gathered all of his bills and tried to straighten the place up. He is a horder.....a habit we must try to break.
When I returned to the hospital it was feeding tube time.....the first can of Ensure was delivered to Mr Stomach via the careful hand of Paula. She is using the syringe method to gravity feed the liquid into Dad. He is going to need to do this 4 times a day. Everything worked as planned and it was a resounding success.
Bobbie arrived later in the afternoon and brought clean clothes. She is a saint.
More tomorrow-----Steve
Medical City visit Tuesday April 7th
Today was a good day to visit Dad. When I arrived this morning they were transporting Dad to conduct his radiation treatment. They literally wheel him out of the room to an ambulance so he can be transported 1 mile down the road. The personnel there told him he had 5 more visits for radiology.
Dad had his feeding tube operation yesterday and all seems well. The nutrionist has not visited yet. This will be a crucial session since the failure to keep down proper nutrition put him in Medical City in the first place.
I talked to Paula, his nurse. She said his platelet count is currently 145, much better than the count of 34 last week.
I am off this afternoon to check his apartment for food items that need to be disposed of as well as collection his drycleaning.
More as we go forward this week.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Good Evening,
I visited with Dad today and it was a great visit. He walked the halls with me and was moving well. He weighed himself today..189.5 with his shoes and sweatsuit on. I told him that women never weigh themselves with their shoes on! haha
I had a lengthy conversation with Dr. Kirby on Friday. Presuming that Dad's numbers are still projected at 100,000 this Monday, they will "assess" him for a feeding tube before they operate. I told Dad that he needed to make sure that I was called (if I was not there) before ANY surgery was to take place. If he is "tube" ready, they will do the surgery on Monday. He will have a 3 day recovery(estimate) followed by a visit with a dietician. Dr. Kirby also mentioned a nurse checking in with him at home, too.
Dr. Kirby is very concerned with the "slow shrinkage" of Dad's cancer. He wants Dad to resume his chemo/radiation as soon as possible. This is where we can be big encouragers to Dad. Dr. Kirby also stated that it had to get worse before it gets better. Hopefully with the feeding tube we will overcome this set-back and move forward.
I will be with Dad tomorrow and so will Bobbie!
Night Night~
Tracy
I visited with Dad today and it was a great visit. He walked the halls with me and was moving well. He weighed himself today..189.5 with his shoes and sweatsuit on. I told him that women never weigh themselves with their shoes on! haha
I had a lengthy conversation with Dr. Kirby on Friday. Presuming that Dad's numbers are still projected at 100,000 this Monday, they will "assess" him for a feeding tube before they operate. I told Dad that he needed to make sure that I was called (if I was not there) before ANY surgery was to take place. If he is "tube" ready, they will do the surgery on Monday. He will have a 3 day recovery(estimate) followed by a visit with a dietician. Dr. Kirby also mentioned a nurse checking in with him at home, too.
Dr. Kirby is very concerned with the "slow shrinkage" of Dad's cancer. He wants Dad to resume his chemo/radiation as soon as possible. This is where we can be big encouragers to Dad. Dr. Kirby also stated that it had to get worse before it gets better. Hopefully with the feeding tube we will overcome this set-back and move forward.
I will be with Dad tomorrow and so will Bobbie!
Night Night~
Tracy
Saturday, April 4, 2009
The Latest....
Talked to Dad last night. He was in good spirits. Throat is still on fire. He believes that they might insert the feeding tube on Monday or Tuesday. We touched base with the nurses station and verified that the room could receive flowers. We sent him a spring arrangement and that seemed to perk him up.
The nurse said he was doing much better and is off restrictions. His immune system is in much better shape versus when he entered the facility.
Phone calls and e-mails are good right now....it seems like he is very bored and longs for conversations.
I will be checking on his apartment on Tuesday. Mission one will be to see if anything in the refrigerator is spoiled. Will play it by ear from there.
Steve and Melissa
The nurse said he was doing much better and is off restrictions. His immune system is in much better shape versus when he entered the facility.
Phone calls and e-mails are good right now....it seems like he is very bored and longs for conversations.
I will be checking on his apartment on Tuesday. Mission one will be to see if anything in the refrigerator is spoiled. Will play it by ear from there.
Steve and Melissa
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Tracy's email
This is Tracy's email since she is having problems posting!
Sorry for not posting to the blog.........issue with sign-in continue
Dr. Kirby called me today per my requests. He stated that Dad is on a "day to day" regimen until he is able to have surgery when his platelet count gets higher. He ordered IV nutrition for today beginning this evening. Hopefully, that will boost his energy, too.
Dr. Kirby is concerned that Dad is not "ready" for any kind of surgery particularly with his strength levels. It is my understanding that when the platelets counts go up (with the help of the shots and nutrition) he will access whether or not Dad is able to sustain a surgery right away or whether Dad will need to wait a few more days until his strength comes back and he can withstand a feeding tube surgery. I also mentioned to Dr. Kirby that it was our desire to have Dad operating the feeding tube BEFORE we leave the hospital. He agreed with me.
All in all, Dad is in good spirits when I visited with him today. He's understands that it's a "waiting" game at this point. Although we have stopped all treatment( chemo, radiation), Dad is still positive that he can pick up where he left off. According to Dr. Kirby, we still have a big fight ahead of us with beating this cancer since we have stopped treatment for a 2nd time. Meaning, we have to backtrack making the length of chemo treatments now even longer than we thought. Please don't reiterate that to Dad because he might feel defeated at this point.
Bobbie is visiting Dad everyday. Please keep in touch with him as much as you can. His immune system is NILL so visitors are restricted (meaning my kids won't be seeing him) no plants, flowers, etc. ....big sign on the door with a lists of many NO's! Pray he doesn't get anything while he's boosting his platelets!!
Goodnight~
Tracy
Sorry for not posting to the blog.........issue with sign-in continue
Dr. Kirby called me today per my requests. He stated that Dad is on a "day to day" regimen until he is able to have surgery when his platelet count gets higher. He ordered IV nutrition for today beginning this evening. Hopefully, that will boost his energy, too.
Dr. Kirby is concerned that Dad is not "ready" for any kind of surgery particularly with his strength levels. It is my understanding that when the platelets counts go up (with the help of the shots and nutrition) he will access whether or not Dad is able to sustain a surgery right away or whether Dad will need to wait a few more days until his strength comes back and he can withstand a feeding tube surgery. I also mentioned to Dr. Kirby that it was our desire to have Dad operating the feeding tube BEFORE we leave the hospital. He agreed with me.
All in all, Dad is in good spirits when I visited with him today. He's understands that it's a "waiting" game at this point. Although we have stopped all treatment( chemo, radiation), Dad is still positive that he can pick up where he left off. According to Dr. Kirby, we still have a big fight ahead of us with beating this cancer since we have stopped treatment for a 2nd time. Meaning, we have to backtrack making the length of chemo treatments now even longer than we thought. Please don't reiterate that to Dad because he might feel defeated at this point.
Bobbie is visiting Dad everyday. Please keep in touch with him as much as you can. His immune system is NILL so visitors are restricted (meaning my kids won't be seeing him) no plants, flowers, etc. ....big sign on the door with a lists of many NO's! Pray he doesn't get anything while he's boosting his platelets!!
Goodnight~
Tracy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
