Blog Birthday

This blog is a little more than a year old.  I started it at the suggestion of John Dickerson of ARC as a way to present my own case for having a home of my own.  This may or may not have helped, though I'm told it did.

Anyway, it's been quite a year for me, and if anyone has benefited from reading this blog, that's all to the better.

Late Winter Blues

Most people around these parts are beginning to grouse about winter.  It's been a long, cold, dreary season, with just enough nice days thrown in to tease us, and people are getting sick of it.  The fact that this is roughly how most winters in Indiana play out doesn't really help much.

Me-- I keep my eye on baseball.  Spring training is in full swing, and the regular seaon opens next month.  Then, all will be well-- except for possible tornadoes, thunderstorms, floods....

The Birds

I have a lot of birds visit my balcony.  Maybe they like being this high up.  There were as many as five at a time this morning in the rain.  I couldn't see any markings; they were all dark, but I don't think they were starlings.  I have seen robins already this year, though.

I've thought about getting a bird feeder for out there, but the people below me might not be too thrilled with that.

Neurogenic Bladder

I had another tough time last night.  I was on the pot two hours trying to pee and in pain before I finally went.  The good news is that I've been able to go as usual since.

I emailed Nurse Danielle about it-- she works for one of the companies that supplies my aides-- and she said that is not uncommon for people who have CP.  It even has a name-- neurogenic bladder.  It seems all the tiny muscles involved in urination don't coordinate properly to allow me to go.  That, in fact, is how it feels-- as if I've forgotten how to go.  If that's correct, the problem would be unrelated to my bladder cancer.  She still wants me to get a prostate exam, though.

As I told me brother Joe a couple weeks ago, it's hell getting old.

Maybe More Liquids

Yesterday, I had another difficult time urinating.  My dinner shift aide, Johnice, who is very good, asked me if I'd had much to drink that day.  That hadn't occurred to me, but in fact, I hadn't.

So, I asked Johnice to give me a glass of juice on top of the Ensure I drank with supper, which she did.  I got through last night and this morning on my regular bathroom schedule, so maybe I still need to pay attention to how much liquid I drink every day.

Neck Hugging

Since moving here, I've hugged more female necks than I ever have.  I do it to help my aides lift me.  It seems to work well.

I also have two male aides, and one of  them doesn't seem to want me to put my arm around his neck, so I've stopped trying.  A couple of the women have been like that, too, which is fine.  I don't do it with Yodit, either.  We never did it that way at the nursing home, and she's from a different, more traditional culture, so I don't know how she would respond to it.  Anyway, she doesn't need the help.  A couple days before she had her baby she was still handling me just fine.

Windy Home

Since I've been living here, I've really noticed the wind.  Of course, we've had some good storms in that time, but whenever there's been any wind, I've heard it howling.

I've always lived on the ground level, so maybe living on the fourth floor gets more wind noise.  Or maybe the wind swirls around the courtyard my apartment faces.  It's four stories deep, maybe that's enough for wind to dive into and roar out.  Anyway, it's interesting to hear the weather people on television predict storms and wind, and then hear the wind reply.

Singing Aides

I have an aide who hums through the shift.  I don't recognize the tune-- I wouldn't, because I'm not big on music-- but the aide hums it steadily along.

Yodit sometimes sings softly in her native language as she shaves or showers me, too.  From her, I take it as a sign of something like contentment in her work, and it relaxes me.  I hope the other aide's humming is similarly an indication of satisfaction.

Presidents' Day

Presidents' Day, as far as I know, exists because Congress wanted to create a three-day weekend in the dead of winter.  While it seems to honor all presidents, the holiday is most closely identified with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, if only because it generally or always falls between their birthdays.

Lincoln is undoubtedly the president most closely associated with maximizing personal independence because he freed roughly four million slaves and led the effort to constitutionally abolish slavery in this nation forever.  But he also signed the 1862 Homestead Act, which helped open the West to ordinary people who wanted to try to build a better life for themselves and their families.  He also signed the law creating land grant colleges, which was designed to give ordinary people a chance at a college education.  Lincoln started life in a log cabin on the Kentucky frontier and worked his way up to becoming a prosperous lawyer, and eventually, president.  A main thrust of his political career was that other people should have the opportunity to better their lot in society just as he had.

The system dealing with helping the elderly and the otherwise challenged should always keep those bits about personal ability, opportunity, and maximum independence firmly in the forefront of what they do.

Sequestering

President Obama and the Congress-- the Democratically controlled Senate and the Republican controlled House-- have adopted a strange approach to governing.  Roughly eighteen months ago, they passed a law calling for indiscriminate, large budget cuts after the presidential election unless Congress enacted a more reasoned plan before then.  The idea was that the cuts in the so-called sequester approach were so tough that Congress would never let them go through, thus forcing everyone to the bargaining table.

It was, and remains, a silly way to govern a great nation.  More, it hasn't worked.  The two parties are not noticeably closer on a budget, and now there looks to be a reasonable chance that the cuts designed to scare everybody into cooperating may in fact become law, at least temporarily.

The American people deserve better, but we must elect better.  I'm 58, so, according to the politicians running things in Washington, my benefits should be safe.  The performance of those politicians, however, does not inspire confidence.

Love Is In The Air

Under the new schedule, my dinner shift is 6-9.  Tonight, however, it will be 5-8.  My aide Johnice, who is a really nice young woman, asked to move it up an hour because she has a date after.

Of course, I agreed.  Far be it from me to get in the way of Valentine's Day doings.

Dogs

I took a break from college basketball the past two nights to watch the Westminster Dog Show, as I do every year.  I love dogs, and I enjoy seeing all the different breeds.

The last time I checked the website of my apartment complex, the dog policy limits us to dogs forty pounds or less.  That would rule out service dog breeds like Labs, goldens, and German shepherds, for example.  I'd be fine with a smaller companion dog, though-- a dog who'd be happy just to be my buddy.

Mom

Yesterday was Mom's 79th birthday.  I tease her that she was born the day before Abraham Lincoln.  She is a typical Hoosier-- generally easy going, friendly, funny, kind.  As far as I can tell, everybody who knows her loves her.

She is also a strong woman who devoted her life to her family.  I'm the eldest of five kids-- including twin sons five years behind me.  Mom got me in high school by going to the principal of her old high school and asking him to let me go there, even though we didn't live in that district.  The high school I should have gone to didn't want to take me-- something that wouldn't fly today.  So, I went to Mom and Dad's old school.  Mom took me to school every day except for my senior year when she was pregnant with her fifth child.  Then she took me to college classes for four years, bringing young Jon along when necessary.  Mom and Dad were married nearly fifty years, and during the last few years of his life, Mom was helping both Dad and me.

She is remarkable.

Gracie

Friday night, my brother Jon's family lost a member.  Gracie, their 11-year-old Rottweiler, had to be put down.  Gracie was a great dog, completely devoted to my niece, Renee.  Gracie will be terribly missed.

I know Rottweilers have a bad reputation in some circles, but Gracie was a sweet, gentle, playful dog who never hurt anyone and never would have-- except in defense of Renee or other members of her family.  Though not huge for a Rottie, she had the classic Rottie look, so nobody in their right mind would've challenged her.  The family knew, though, that Gracie always saw herself as a lap dog.

New Case Manager

I seem to be getting a new case manager from the state.  From my experience so far, a case manager comes around every three months and spends a few minutes making sure the rules of the state are being followed.  As far as I know they are, so I don't expect changes with this new person.

I am pleased with the quality of my aides here.  At the nursing home, the quality was uneven-- some were very good, others weren't.  At TenderCare and Insights, however, I do have favorites, because we're all human and humans are like that, but all of them I've had over the past several weeks have been good.

A Year And Counting

When I first moved to the nursing home, I had trouble having regular bowel movements because I wasn't comfortable there, and I wasn't comfortable with the aides yet.  In fact, I regularly needed chemical help to go.

Today marks the first anniversary of the last instance of such help.  I was able to adjust to being there with those aides, and even with the move to my own place with a new set of aides, I've been able to stay on track.

Aren't you all glad I shared that? 

Bedtime Stories

Different aides have different ways of helping me into bed.  Most pull the spread and sheet down towards the foot of the bed, which I take to be usual.  Some, though, pull the spread and sheet sideways, front to back.  Others still just open the spread.  One aide didn't do any of that.  When I said I was cold, that aide went and got a comforter to cover me.

All these work, but it's curious how such a simple, every night thing can be done in so many different ways.

First Big Goof

While practicing in my power chair this morning, I had my first really big problem.  After maneuvering through the area twice with no problem, I ran afoul of a table and chair and also knocked over a potted plant.  I'm still not sure what happened.

Anyway, it was the first time Janeka had to help me get out of a mess.  Hopefully, it will also be the last.

Tammy

Tammy was back as my overnight aide last night.  It was good to see her again.  We get along, plus she sometimes brings me food.  Last night, for example, she brought beef stroganoff, which I had for lunch, and a couple brownies.

Tammy will be back later this afternoon, too.  Today is the first day of my new aide schedule, and it seems to still have some bugs in it, so she is doing another long shift with me.

Super Bowl Pick

The Super Bowl has taken on a brotherly theme the past few years.  Both Manning brothers, Peyton and Eli, have quarterbacked their teams in two Super Bowls, though never against each other.  That still might happen, though.  This year, the brothers Harbaugh, John and Jim, have coached their teams into the Super Bowl and will go head to head.  Mathematicians could work out the odds of brothers becoming NFL head coaches at the same time and reaching the Super Bowl in the same year, but I'm betting those odds would be way long against such a thing happening.

My prediction:  49ers 21, Ravens 17.