care facility transition

My firstmorning after surgery coincided to the day with Patti’s admittance to a care facilityyears earlier.

Howafter 22 years of spouse caregiving had I missed this extraordinary ‘coincidence’?

Whatwould happen to Patti should anything happen to me as her spouse caregiver? –was among our concerns as the dawn of the care facility era approached after 15years of homecare.

Knowingwhat we know now and because of the care facility era, the answer is … Pattiwas worry free, stress free, safe and seamlessly cared for throughout mydiagnosis, surgery, and recovery.

Thisblog was originally created to share that transitional year for Patti’s family,friends, and anyone that may one day journey down the same path.

Backthen as one entry shares an Internet search found only 3 caregiving journalsand 3 Multiple Sclerosis blogs. Cyberspace is a different universe these days.

Anywayblogs remain difficult to read in retrospect because you have to read thembackwards. So as I found myself rereading that transitional year whilerecovering, I reorganized the entries in chronological order.

Forconvenience, I have posted them as a permanent page with the tab ‘care facility transition’ at the top of this journal.

Thoseentries remain a real diary of one family’s transitional year to the carefacility era after 15 years of homecare for Multiple Sclerosis. 

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

videos: www.youtube.com/daddyleer

Long-Term Care Insurance Reform

“I wannabe on the cover of Forbes magazine

Smilingnext to Oprah and the Queen”

‘Billionaire’by Travie McCoy

WhenForbes Magazine turns its capitalist focused eye on Long Term Care reform it isworth noting.

Make Long-Term Care Insurance Part Of Health Care

“Why notmake insurance for long-term care services and supports part of health carecoverage?
It is aradical idea that turns the current model—which often treats long-term careinsurance as an element of retirement planning—entirely on its head…”

“We have to try something new” concludes the article.

It’s been thousands of years of mythology plus thousands of yearsof knowledge since ol’ Oedipus solved the Riddle of the Sphinx, ‘What walks onfour legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs at night?’ Yet howmany of us deny daily our own aging and eventual need for care.

Only a third of all adults say they have even talked with family ora friend about providing care to them in the future or had purchased disabilityincome insurance or looked into independent or assisted living arrangements orpurchased long-term care insurance.

Only 4 in 10 adults have set aside funds to cover additionalexpenses or signed a living will or healthcare power of attorney.

How many can even afford such options?

As a result … family caregivers provide about 80 percent of alllong-term care services in the U.S; an estimated 120 million adult Americans(57 percent) are either providing unpaid care to an adult family member orfriend or have provided this care in the past.

When the baby boomer generation starts walking on three legs, howlong before this house of cards comes crashing down?

Yes! We need to try something new!

when more than homecare is needed Multiple Sclerosis

From Multiple Sclerosis Foundation’s MS Focus Magazine, Winter 2012(pages 43-45):

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pg 44

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pg 45

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

videos: www.youtube.com/daddyleer

care facility cabin fever

“loneliness, helplessness and boredom are the three plagues oflong-term care”  Eden Alternative

“Don seemed to me to begoing downhill, and a couple of the staff also suggested that he wasdeteriorating. …Then the head nurse came up with a different theory and adifferent solution … Don’s got cabin fever, that’s all. … Here’s the thing. …  It only took a day or two, and Don was back tohimself again.”  Multiple Sclerosis Carer: Stir Crazy

Recently I found myself in a similar situation with Patti anddinner. She was ‘reportedly’ finishing less of her meals and just wanted to goto bed. I began moving up my arrival time to be there to help with dinner. 

One such meal stands out. Arriving I saw Patti had finished her entreand overheard her yucking the aide’s offer of her fruit cup or potato soup andthat she ‘just wanted to go to bed’.

Noticing the fruit cup was diced pears and peaches, two of Patti’sfavorites – I rephrased the question ‘would you like some cut up pears andpeaches’ with a totally different response. Of course, how could the aide knowPatti’s favorites?

Soup is a function of temperature more than taste to Patti. Hot isnot appealing. Hey we’re talking about cream of potato soup here. The cooler itgets, the more pretentious it becomes. Rolling out my best bad French accent, Pattienjoyed her ‘vichyssoise’ assisted by zee crazy french waiter.

Instead of another unfinished meal, there was not a crumb left nor did Patti 'just want to go to bed'.

“… increased family involvement is positive and leads to quality oflife and quality of care for residents…” National Institutes of Health Family Involvement in Residential Long-Term Care

If the testimonials of two Multiple Sclerosis spouse caregivers, a long term carenon-profit, and NIH is not enough - then consider that even circling sharks pauseto stress the importance of family involvement. Boston nursing home abuseattorney Bernard J. Hamill, “ensuring safe care is continued familyinvolvement. There is really no substitute for this.”

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

videos: www.youtube.com/daddyleer