Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Tuesday, August 9

Last night was a new adventure.  About 1:30 Cowboy sat straight up in bed, yelled "NO!" and bounded out of bed.  I was trying to get my glasses on and find my shoes and I heard the front door.  He was in his undershorts and outside.  I go after him and get him back in the house.  When I asked him what he was doing he said he had to "check it out".  He came back into the bedroom and started taking off his shorts.  I then discovered he had soiled them.  I cleaned him up and got him back to bed.

He got up again around 3 and wandered around the house and finally went into the front room and lay down on the sofa and was soon asleep.  I went back to bed but couldn't rest.  Kept trying to be sure I heard him if he got up again.  This morning when I got up he was in the living room in his easy chair watching TV.

This morning he got a good bath and I slathered him in lotion and put medicine on his sores.  The rash is about gone but he has a lot of sores from scratching. 

I got some bad news from the VA last week.  They called the house this past Wednesday and Cowboy answered the telephone, which he rarely does.  It was a sixty day check on how things were going.  When asked if Marsha was helping him bathe, he responded "all she does is dry my back".  When asked what else she did he told them "not much of anything".  Marsha was hearing this conversation and reported it to me when I got home.  Marsha works constantly when she is here and does all kinds of things.  She was the one that found the pressure sore and believe me she did not find it by just drying his back.  I think all of his answers are a reflection of his need to feel competent and independent.

I called the VA and explained the situation and tried to tell her that the information given by Cowboy was not correct.  She said she would talk to her supervisor.  I learned on Friday that they were discontinuing the service.  I am in the process of escalating the issue but for the time being the service has been informed the VA will no longer pay them.  I am going to have here come in Wednesdays for 5 hours and pay for it myself while we try to straighten this out.  I just don't feel I can pay for her 3 times a week.  It is $17.50 an hour.  For now I will need to plan all my errands for Wednesdays.

Speaking on money, the stock market is in a dive and here I just spent some money doing things on the house.  I guess I should have waited but who knew ??  I am now feeling a bit uneasy.  I know it will turn around at some point but I am really trying to be smart and conservative with our money.  I kind of figured it is money we were normally spent for a trip or two and that isn't happening.  I just need to put it out of my mind and focus on other things.

One bit of good news.  When I got up this morning my ankle felt almost normal.  Maybe I am on the mend.  Now if I could just get down and get back up from the floor without something to hold onto.  I discovered this morning that when they moved the china cabinet, the stuff in the bottom behind closed doors had shifted around so needed to get down there and tidy it up.  Can only use my left knee to get down and back up.  I hate this !  I hate this !  I hate this !  I just wanted to be injury free and able to do whatever I need to do.


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