Half Awake

I awoke this morning to a ringing phone. Is there anything that gets your adrenaline going faster than that? I didn't panic, though, because Steve is in Yosemite and he said he was going to call before they started up Half Dome. There wasn't anyone on the other end of the phone, but reception is unpredictable so I didn't worry.

I put my head down and the phone rang again. I picked it up and heard the nurse's voice. I glanced at the clock at the same moment and realized I forgot to turn on the alarm last night. It was after 7 and she needed to go home. Her ride was outside waiting for her. I leaped out of bed and was downstairs in a flash all apologies. This woman works with Maggie all night while I snooze upstairs. She shouldn't have to wake me to get to go home.

In the ten or twelve years we have had night nurses for Maggie I think this is the second time I've overslept.  (and it was only 7:10).  Even on days I forget to set the alarm, I wake up naturally. Seven days a week, 365 days a year I am up by 6:30. Sometimes earlier. Not sure why this didn't happen this morning. Perhaps because Steve isn't here. Make no mistake, he doesn't get up at 6:30, I do; but he is always here. My routine was altered because he is gone.

That's it. I'm blaming Steve.

He never did call this morning but they were scheduled to be on the Half Dome trail by 6:00AM. (He is with his Marie and Cliff, his sister and brother in law). It's a 17 mile hike with 4800 ft elevation change. They should finish around 4:00. As you're trudging through your Monday, think of that.

Here's a shot of Half Dome from the famous Ansel Adams collection (www.anseladams.com)

Update: Steve called me from the top a little before noon. They started at 6:45 AM.  It's all down hill from here!

Nursing woes

Maggie has nurses in the house 16 hours a day to do all the skilled care Maggie needs. This has been a wonderful service and has enabled us to keep Maggie at home with her family instead of living in some sort of institution. The state pays for the nurses through medi-cal the state insurance plan/fund. It is better for Maggie, better for us and cheaper for the state to do it this way so everyone wins. Now, after many many years of this we have been unceremoniously dropped by her nursing agency. The rate paid by the state is so low, the nursing agency is losing money by providing the care. (There are additional issues about this agency but we'll just stick with the straight business line.)

We are scrambling now because this is something we cannot do on our own. The Regional Center will provide the funding but I will have to find, hire and fire the nurses on my own and keep the paperwork as though I am the agency. In addition we will have to pay the nurses for the first month of nursing out of pocket and then get reimbursed from the Regional Center. that's a LOT of money. Basically I have to take on another 30-40 hours of week of paperwork and administration to get this in place. It seems, however, that we are choiceless. I am hopeful that once we are established, the workload will go down and just spike at certain points each month. It is overwhelming. Hopefully we will get this set up in the next week or so. Keep a good thought.