Day 105: on some more successful adulting

It's a very good thing I utilize the phone on my calendar, because it wasn't until after I had logged off yesterday that I realized the Queen Mother had her quarterly doctor's appointment today! These days I allow an hour for her to get dressed, get into her trusty "chariot," get her to the car, help her into the car, drive to the doctor's office, get her out of the car, get her back into her "chariot," and get her wheeled up to the office in time for her appointment. It's as elaborate and exhausting as it reads.

Good news: the Queen Mother has gained a little weight since her last visit. Possibly not so good news: her blood pressure went up a little more than I would have liked. The doctor wasn't concerned, but I will keep an eye on it. It's my intuition giving me a little nudge, you know? We paid a visit to Radiology afterwards, to get an X-ray of her middle back and see if she had any compression fractures that might be causing her pain. Fortunately, there weren't any. Aside from sticking with what we're doing, I will need to find a B-complex vitamin that isn't the size of a horse pill sometime next week, per the doctor's recommendation.

Meanwhile, in the Epic Medi-Cal Quest, I spoke with a nice and helpful lady in the Appeals department, who explained things in a way that made a whole lot of sense: the Federal Poverty line is reset each April, not January, so it was that reset that increased the amount the Queen Mother's income was over the line by tenfold, but no one informed us about this until October. So our appeal is to make sure we have the last year covered, to ensure the state doesn't start asking for their money back. I believe I will have the required supplemental insurance ready to present to the Medi-Cal folks early next week, so that should take care of this particular Quest. Then we will have to see what the guidelines become for this coming April...and I really hope we don't have to do this whole dog and pony show again. :p

The whole process has become this larger-than-life game where everyone I interact with gives me a piece of the puzzle, and my road map becomes clearer and better defined as I put the pieces together.

I kind of botched dinner this evening, as I didn't quite follow the directions on the bag of garlic pasta shells, and I didn't realize that the seasoning wasn't in its own little individual packet, to be added once the pasta was cooked. I managed to salvage it enough, as the shells were still edible, and the salad was good. After dinner, Himself and I went to our usual Friday night meetings, and mine was rather good. I can feel like total crap before I go, but when the meeting is over, I feel refreshed and reinvigorated. This too is a source of support, even if some of the connections aren't as tight as in some of my other groups.

Speaking of - tomorrow the Sunday group that Himself and I attend are gathering for our "annual" luncheon. I'm looking very much forward to good food eaten in good company. The rest of the day will be played by ear, but I'm sure we'll manage quite nicely. :)

Day 20: on caring for the queen mother

In between the moments of waxing (melo)dramatic and changing our plans, there have been a pair of key appointments for the Queen Mother to meet...

As I mentioned previously, I took her to the dentist on Monday. Her dentures had become a concern, so we had found a dentist (who she likes) on her dental plan. We had previously agreed to get her a brand new set of dentures, and paid $400 for the lab expenses; the rest was taken care of by her combination Medicare/Medi-Cal insurance. The problem was, she said the new dentures made her mouth hurt, and she wouldn't wear them. (Insert exasperated eyeroll here.)

On the last visit prior to this one, they put a soft liner in the dentures, which helped; then on this most recent visit, the dentist sculpted the dentures with her handy Dremel tool until they finally fit! Now mom is wearing her new dentures relatively happily. We're going back next Tuesday to see if any other adjustments need to be made.

As for the other adventure this week...a few months ago, the Queen Mother's regular glasses were accidentally run over (!) after one of her other appointments. We fixed her glasses for the short term, then made her an eye appointment to see if her prescription had changed before getting the new glasses. She has cataracts in both eyes, but they're not debilitating yet; nevertheless, there was a small change to her prescription. We picked out nice new frames, paid for them and the lenses, and picked up the new glasses today. Unlike the new dentures, she took to her new glasses right away. 

Getting her to and from her appointments is often a process with several moving parts: there's moving the car, supporting mom as she exits the house, having her wheelchair ready to go (for walking outdoors, even with the support of canes or a walker, is no longer feasible for her), getting her in the wheelchair, wheeling her over to the car, helping her get out of the wheelchair and into the car, folding up the wheelchair and stowing it in the trunk, getting her canes into the car, and finally belting her in the seat (then securing my seat belt) before we can hit the road. When we get to the appointment, it's a matter of helping her out of the car and into the wheelhair. I then push the chair - which she calls her "chariot" - to the appropriate doctor's office, while Himself finds a decent parking spot and settles in to wait for us. The entire process then gets reversed when we're done with the appointment.

I mention this because I try to schedule only one appointment per week for the Queen Mother, as it is a labor-intensive process...and the uneven roads jostle her back, no matter how carefully we drive, so she's complaining almost nonstop about being in pain. This week, however, we wound up having two appointments - but since one of them was to get her new glasses, something she was very eager to get, she didn't complain as much as she could have, which made the trip easier for me as well.

Now if only I could convince her to get fitted for hearing aids - !