Sometime after noon I was chatting with J. about coming over to help me per my post last night. I was still freaking out over trying to get much figured out, she was volunteering to help. But she had to be somewhere at 2:30 and I wasn’t comprehending how she would have any time to help me. It was somewhere around that point that she mentioned coming over tomorrow, Wednesday, that it all clicked.
What a freaking relief!
I went up to the U-District and had lunch at Rubies. Love that place. Read while I was eating. Bawled. Didn’t get too far while there. Then I headed over to Chocolati and read there. Teared up some, but I wasn’t completely overcome.
Came home around 5, and Lori Dyann stopped by and kept me company for a couple of hours. She played my Playstation 2 while I read. Still teary eyed, but having her here to chat and for me to occasionally watch one of her car races on the TV kept me going. I’ll actually complete a one-through of the book, though without having read the later chapters in depth, by tonight.
Tomorrow I’ll be re-reading some of the important organizing things. And I want to have some points in mind on pros and cons for a discussion with my mom.
While not rigid, it’s a structured plan. You have a group of at least 8 people, and group sizes in the 20s aren’t a bad thing necessarily. Their plan has everyone participating in an opening meeting. Over the course of the illness, the caregiving is suppose to be done in pairs or more except for the most innocuous of stuff. Each week is captained by two people who prepare a schedule of who is doing what over the week from the whole group. Then two different people captain another week. A lot of the other stuff isn’t novel for caregiving, but they organize all of this well. Step by step plans for doing most things, as well as general tips and warnings about anticipated problems. I’m really hoping my mom will go for this, cause I think all of us involved are headed for a burnout really quickly, and we’ve barely started doing anything.
Yeah, I suspected during the discussion in your original thread that you had lost a day in there. I’m glad you found it. Its always a relief.
I’m going to try to keep my day fairly contained tomorrow so I can be available to you in the evening. I imagine you have plenty of people offering evening time, though. I’ll be in touch tomorrow when i get a better grip on how my day will work out. I wish I could just quit my job and hang out with you all day. Sadly, I don’t think that’d really be doing anyone any favors.
Love you and will talk to you soon.
Glad I could help!