Assessment Update
Staying positive and persuasive seems to have played out in my and mom’s favor. The Care Director and GM have dropped points for mom’s behaviors, the cat, and fall risk propensity. The bottom line is a reduction in $275 per month verses an increase of $438 per month. That’s a huge swing, and a ginormous […]
New Assessment
I received a new price increase, I mean assessment, for mom today. I’m reeling over the financial impact and pissed at the way I feel both locked in, and that the business end of the community seems to make assumptions about one’s compliance… They are adding pet care. I expected this. Pet care cost 22 […]
Pain in the Butt
Well, actually the mid-left lower back, if that makes any sense. Yesterday I helped mom up from where she sat in the waiting room at the doctor’s office. I was wholly unprepared for the stress her lack of coordination and weight placed on me. In the moment all I felt was terribly unbalanced and startled, […]
Dilution vs. Concentration
Mom had her appointment today with the specialist regarding her knee. When I got to the community, she wasn’t in her apartment. I found her in the theater enjoying a weekly lecture by a local university professor. She had clearly forgotten our noon appointment. Getting rolling toward the doctor was painfully slow as mom needed […]
Happy Birthday!
Today is mom’s 84th birthday. Last week I told her we’d gather for dinner on her birthday, and called to remind her last night. She was excited but surprised when most of the local family members were in attendance. A sweet side-note is that the community took her and her buddies out for lunch today. […]
Taxes
I’ve navigated mom’s 2018 taxes to the 93% point. I confess to poor file keeping during 2018. All the data is present, but not necessarily cross-filed to where it needed to reside. This added about 3-hours to my task. Yes, not bad given a year’s worth of paper-wrangling, but far below my self-expectations. In case […]
Missing Pension Found
The culprit was a system upgrade… Tens of thousand of retirees did not receive their direct-deposit pension this morning, and the explanation was not forthcoming until after noon, via email. Being me, I waited on hold for almost 2-hours to find out what was going on. Funds will be deposited by 5PM. In other news, […]
Missing Pension
Today’s fun… Mom’s pension didn’t hit her account. Something told me there was going to be a problem… Like not seeing it ‘pending’ over the weekend. I’m on hold with her retirement support center. My huge fear is that she, possibly with help, has rerouted it (not in the Island accounts), but she was unable […]
Optometrist
Mom had her annual appointment with the lovely, gracious, and kind Dr. B, the optometrist, today. The highlights of our time together were: I knocked at mom’s apartment door three times, with each knock consisting of 6-taps, this morning, and waited a couple of minutes for her to answer. Nada. I returned to the concierge […]
6th Anniversary
While this will post on March 23rd, (I’m up late), March 22nd is the 6th anniversary of my father’s death. I am both sad and grateful that my mother does not remember this marker in our lives. She absolutely remembers losing my dad, but if you were to ask her, “How long has it been […]
Dementia Dance - Travels with Mom 