A week of it

We have had a busy week with visitors. It really came to a head Thursday afternoon. We ended up having a sort of summit conference here. We had already arranged for our doctor to be here, but then the Palliative Care team from Waikato Hospital Phoned & said they were coming about the time the doc was due, so I figured we may as well get our caregiver & the district nurse here as well, so that everybody is working off the same page. As well as all that, our Hospice Waikato field worker turned up for a visit as well.

It was a very productive session. We will be getting a set of crisis management sheets, so that if something goes wrong I will know what to do, instead of going by guess & by God & feeling like my ass is hanging in the breeze somewhat, I will now have a very definite set of guide lines to go by. So for that matter will anyone else that I entrust with Jude's care, such as Christopher. All sorts of new meds for pain management have been prescribed as well. Friday saw the arrival of the rep that markets the patient hoists. The one we had wasn't particularly satisfactory, with Jude tending to slip through it. We now have a different one that is much easier to manage. It is making my life a lot easier now that I don't have to bodily lift Jude around so much. It certainly makes getting her into bed a lot easier & we have sorted out her nightly commode visits so they are easier for both of us.

The weekend sorta slid by, as wet weekends do. Saturday night Lorna from next door came over for tea. It was great to cook for someone else & to be able to sit down & chat over a meal. I miss that dreadfully with Jude. We used to chat a lot at meal times. We also got Troy from next door number 2 to come over & give us a quote to redo the little bathroom as a wet area. It was a good quote, so we accepted it. I was intending at the least, to take up the old vinyl, but as usual, once I got started, I am ending up doing a lot more. It will save us money in the long run& I am happy puddling around doing it. It is a little frustrating having to work around Jude's sleep time, but I'm making good progress, so will plod on & should have quite a bit done ready for when Troy starts in earnest on Thursday.

Wel, thats about it. We get to meet our new MND Field Worker, Graeme, on Friday. The poor bugger has been lumbered with not only all his own clients in Tauranga, but all the Waikato ones as well, theoretically accomplishing all this in 20 hours a week. Optimism is a wonderfu; thing isn't it ?