After writing my post this morning, I got a phone call from mom’s old friend Helga Hassey. I think we talked for about a half hour. I love that woman. At the end of the call, she said, can I call you just to talk sometimes? Yes you can! Rick went off to one of his four days of work per month and left me alone in the house for a few hours. Heaven! And probably the last time I will have that for a very long time……..

We saw Dr. Miller, mom’s inpatient physician, before heading to CNS. She asked about the plan once home and how we would handle her care. I mentioned that we would hire overnight caregivers and I would do it during the day as long as she needed it. She pointed out that she would need 24/7 care indefinitely. Yikes.

I called one of the services that provides in-home care, and honestly, it is staggering. If we can do the private route, it would obviously be more affordable. Assisted living is a bargain compared to in-home care. I think we will try to do this for the first few months and see how it goes. If it does look like a permanent 24/7 situation, we will have to seriously think about how this will work long term. We may have to go in a completely different direction. In the long run it may be cheaper to put a guest house in at our house than to have care-givers help out overnight for years, and it has been pointed out, I should have at least a one day break. Mom is unhappy about losing her independence and I’m not thrilled about losing mine either. Hanging in there, but barely, and it hasn’t even really begun. It is daunting.