Two Steps Forward, Fall Back One
Thu., August 18, 09:11 AM
I swear, there’s payback for everything. I’m feeling a lot better, however, so that I won’t be filling up a page with depression. (No reason to keep discouraging myself.)
Bit by bit, my strained hip is healing. It means thinking twice about every movement, because I’ve always been fortunate enough to be able to run up and down the stairs, not to mention being what my sister calls “rubbery.” What she means is limber, I guess; usually I can bend and twist quite easily. But it was twisting too soon, I think, that caused this last ouchie.
So I’ve been pampering my right side, walking slowly, reaching carefully, asking for help lifting. Between the under-par hip and the ultra-hot weather, I pretty much stayed home for about a week. (Bosslawyer is on vacation, so I can choose when I visit the office.) And the hip improved.
But you win some, you lose some. I do need exercise – not like some of champion athletic friends, but at least a walk two or three times a week. The monitor is my blood sugar. When I’ve walked, my sugar is well within normal parameters, regardless of what I’ve eaten. When I don’t walk, I see the numbers slowly climbing upward. However, the last time I shopped for groceries (about a week ago) was followed by a day of discomfort.
Feeling pretty well on Tuesday, I went over to Sam’s Club. I didn’t walk the whole store, just went to pick up the things I knew I needed. I took some Tylenol as soon as I got home. I was a little sore on Wednesday, but not as bad as before. So I guess I’m getting there.
So it’s time I got my head out of my navel and looked at how lucky I am compared to some others.
Miss Neighbor-Next-Door has been in a local nursing home for nearly six weeks. Consider this serious, as Medicare normally allows three weeks. The hospital would not let her come back to her house because she had not been taking good care of herself, including eating properly. She talks to U.D. on the phone – does not want visitors – and has considered asking the post office to forward her mail so that U.D. would not have to bring it. Here she is again, caught between “I need help” and “don’t bother me.”
I telephoned my friend Gloria a few days ago. She was breathless when she answered, and I apologized for making her run to the phone. “I wasn’t running,” she said, “I’m lying here in bed.” Well, it was hot and humid. She also is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Warm weather eases her arthritis, but makes her emphysema worse. In the winter she breathes better, but she can’t move.
Nursing home? She won’t consider it. Says she can’t afford it. Well, then, there must be State aid of some sort. “No,” she says, “this isn’t Connecticut, you know.” I’m beginning to suspect she has a little more money than she lets on; otherwise I’m sure she’d be eligible for some assistance.
I’m too far away to assess her needs, and I’m glad I told her that years ago. There’s no way I could get to her by myself. U.D. has offered to visit (when she’s in the vicinity anyhow), and she always makes some excuse not to have visitors. What if I took that trip (a minimum of four hourse) and then she decided she was too – sick, tired, whatever – to see me. I think that’s more stress than I can take. I still have the fun and joy of Husband.
What’s encouraging is often a matter of perspective. AARP published an article about a woman with “low vision.” She is, in fact, legally blind, and there is no cure. She uses extra bright lighting in her home so that she can see more than just shadows and explains to her guests that they’ll have to endure the glare.
She uses strong magnifiers – two of them at her computer, which is of course set to “view LARGE.” She misses having her own car, but she gets subsidized handicapped transportation. She is very upbeat. And as a matter of fact, it made me feel better. My eyes are not that bad, and even if they get worse, I know there are things I can do about it.
On the other hand, another article – same magazine – left me feeling sad. The writer’s father has severe Alzheimer’s Disorder. He doesn’t even recognize her as his daughter, although he knows that she’s a woman who comes to visit him regularly. She says she has a better relationship with him now than she did when she was young. That’s partly because he doesn’t know who she is. I felt so bad for her, even as I’m glad we don’t have that problem here.
Husband may be difficult, often adversarial, usually lazy. But he still knows what’s going on. One of the “kids from the Home” passed away this week, and we will take Husband to visit the family. And even though he’s ill, I believe he will make the extra effort to behave.
Illogic? Medicare again. After sending us long financial questionnaires about the new prescription plan – from which we learn on the first page that we are not eligible – they sent us three letters to tell us that we’re not eligible. Tell me, are we out of the ordinary, or do they really have to deal with people who are too stupid to read NO the first time?
