Monday, February 18, 2013

Hamster in a Wheel

Good Morning Everyone,

Well, I sit here this morning, having a very welcome cup of coffee, though I have had to really cut back the consumption of coffee as I have had a lot since last Wednesday and Thursday and back home. I was starting to get the jitters, and the caffeine was affecting my heart rate. I am not really to have too much coffee, as I do not have a thyroid anyway, and my heart rate gets a little jumpy anyway.

Well, first, my dad is doing pretty well, considering he did have a stroke and an embolism.  They did a large amount of tests, and could not pinpoint the embolism.  His left arm, and side and leg are affected and I am very upset that I do have to put him in a care facility here for rehab and occupational therapy.  Our hope is he will progress and then I can get him home and have home health come in and give me a hand with both of my parents.  My mother is ok but is very confused and emotional at times.  She is doing about as best as I can do at this moment. 

Me, I am trying to keep my strength up.  I am absolutely exhausted.  When my head hits the pillow at night, my brain, body and emotions are at their point of no return.  But if I can sleep well, I am able to hit the day running.

Wednesday, D and I went to the Kearney hospital and seen my dad, then we went on to Council Bluffs Iowa, where D had his work comp mediation hearing on Thursday morning.  That was also a very stressful, and somewhat emotional event also.  It took from 9am to 2pm to settle this case.  D won his case, if you could call it that,  and it is settled.  My downside is he is disabled, and the company will not cover his medical that he needs.  We could not go any further with this company. D was  awarded a  monetary amount, which we will invest, and I am looking into medical accounts for medical treatments. But this monetary amount is small, and  will never bring back D's health status like he was before. I feel blessed that he got what he did and we will work with what has been awarded, but again, D will never be the same.   They denied that they even did anything out of the ordinary, even with four doctors on D's side confirming his disability.  They did not see anything wrong with not having work comp or even worry about their workers.  So my word to the wise is:  If you work for someone, please carry your own work comp insurance or a disability policy as you are not protected at any job anymore.  I know because we have been through this and if you have someone in the family who works, they are NOT protected by company work comp.  I do not care what they tell you.  DO NOT believe any company anymore or anyone telling you that you will be ok, as you won't. Enough said about this. The attorney D had on this case was phenomenal, and was one of the best attorneys I have seen work for his client. This was the third attorney we had on this case from the beginning four years ago. We are all glad its over and we can now get back to living a somewhat normal life.

I just wanted to stop to check blogs from everyone, and then I am off this morning to pick my dad up from the hospital in Kearney and bring him home to the care facility for his rehab.  It is about 100 miles one way, and I have a stiff wind blowing from the northwest.  We have a storm brewing from the west or southwest for Thursday, so I need to get him home safe, and then I am hoping I can stop and rest a little and maybe do some quilting. ( I am trying Morning Minion).  I am going to stop this morning in Kearney at a quilt shop to pick up a few tools that I need that I cannot find here in my town.  I am going to peek at a little fabric also.  Not much as I cannot afford much but I have a quilt in mind, Morning Minion sent me a pattern and that is my base to start this quilt.  I am hoping this will save my sanity while I have all of this going on in my life.

So other than this going on.  I have been  holding fast.  I want to stop and thank all of you for your blessings, prayers, thoughts, and kindness.  It is through all of you that I find strength and hope.  I hope that all of you realize how much I love and value all of your readership and contact.  This is what will get me through this very tough time in my life.

I will try to blog more at the end of the week or weekend.  I will see how everything goes.
Until then, love and hugs to all.

8 comments:

  1. Dear Denim ~ You have such a full plate right now, you are in my thoughts and prayers. I'm glad the comp hearing is behind you and that you did get some monetary compensation.

    Love and hugs as you take care of your folks, your home and yourselves.

    FlowerLady

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  2. Not sure what to say ...things are hard for you but although you are the one that is relatively well ...take care ...when things begin to settle is the time that the exhaustion catches up with you. ...you and your family are in my thoughts. xx

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  3. Hang in there... I'm so glad to hear that the case is settled, but geez... when it rains it pours, right? Please know that I'm pullin' for you!

    xoxoxo,
    Cat

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  4. Oh, I'm so sorry that I have been lax in checking your blog, I didn't know about your dad till just now. It sounds like he has a really good chance for full recovery. I know several people who've had strokes and they do their therapy and come out of it almost as good as new and many years of living left. I know how stressful it must be for you but you really stepped up to the plate when you were desperately needed and made a big difference for your dad. I'm so proud of you. You be proud, too.

    And D. Can you now apply for Social Security Disability? Look into it please. Hubs ruined his knees on the job and got Work Comp. His employers were wonderful and helped all they could but the Work Comp people were A-holes, tricked him into signing for some braces they had made for him and that released them of any further responsibility. The dirty dogs. But, he wore those braces to his Social Security Disabllity hearing and they awarded it to him first rattle out of the box. It took a year for Medicare to kick in. I was grateful because that meant I could stop carrying medical insurance for him at work, which was taking $600 a month out of my paycheck. But then I found out Medicare does not help ANY with prescriptions and he was taking $500 worth every month. Out of the frying pan, into the fire. If it hadn't been for his brother telling him about the VA, he was enlisted during Viet Nam and that qualified him to get his drugs thru them. It saved our bacon. Now he's had total knee replacement and he gets around like normal. Still takes lots of meds but that's life I guess.

    Here is my advice for when overload happens. Just take it one step at a time. Deal with one issue as far as you can get it or time allows, then put it aside, deal with something else. Don't look at the big picture. That's God's job. Bless your heart. Hang in there and keep on keepin' on. Hugs XOXOXOXO

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  5. Sounds like you've really got a lot on your plate to deal with. I hope you get cut some slack somewhere -- anywhere -- even just a little, but then if wishes were horses, we'd be knee deep in you know what! Will be thinking about you prayerfully and hope things ease up on you soon. My dad will turn 91 this year. He is very frail, nearly deaf, and practically blind, but he still manages to get around with a walker. My mom is in good health and has all her marbles, and then some, but I go over from time to time to give her a break and let her go off and do things -- like yesterday she went to a basketball game with some "girlfriends." It's so hard to watch a loved one dwindle away like he's doing. You almost wish he'd just go -- bang! -- all at once -- have a heart attack, or a fatal stroke, or just not wake up some morning, because it would be so much easier on everybody, including him. He has some dementia caused by having a bunch of tiny little strokes kind of like his brain has been shot with bird shot, although he's so hard of hearing it's hard to talk to him to find out how bad it is. I take it from what you've said in your blog is that your dad was an important caregiver for your mom. I hope everything works out and your dad can get back up on his feet.

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  6. You have your hands full! Maybe now with at least one thing settled, life can adjust down a bit. I didn't realize you have such a long trip to take care of your Dad.
    It will be good to have him closer now.

    I think the quilt project will be very good for you. I hope you can find and get the materials you need.

    Blessing on you.....your parents and D are very lucky to have you.

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  7. I am so sorry I have not been able to offer you support through all this, but now we finally have our line restored, at least I can keep in touch again. It sounds like you have had such a stressful time of things. Take some time off for yourself if you can, and I am sure that the quilt pattern that MM sent you will help you relax a little.

    I hope that you can get your dad back home and in a familiar environment so that he can heal. What a worry for you though.

    Biggest hugs.

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  8. I hope it gets better much sooner than later.

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