It has been a very “Oy Vey” week. So, apparently the social worker at the Meeker hospital was supposed to contact the Washington county social workers to set up an assessment because my mom was going to be moving to that county. This assessment would allow my mom to start with the Elderly Wavier upon moving.
Well, that didn’t happen. [insert sarcastic voice for that statement]
What did happen was that I did not know about any of this and the paperwork that went along with it. We moved mom and thought that we were good.
Luckily the people at White Pine are very helpful and figured this out and worked to get things fixed. Ann contacted Mille Lacs County and found out that the assessment needed to happen before any of the benefits that they told me my mother would get could start.
After a multitude of calls, left messages, and stress, I finally got ahold of the Washington County office. The lady was very nice and understanding. She did say that the Elderly Waiver could not be backdated so it would start the day of the assessment. She also said that the schedule for assessments was out anywhere between 4-6 weeks.
I think the woman knew that I was struggling against tears at this point. She said she would try to expedite but to start the process to figure out how to pay for her stay.
For the next five hours at work I was trying to figure out where to get the money to pay for moms care. I didn’t want to have to put her into a hospital again or a nursing home. To say the least, my brain was mush and I was freaking out.
Luckily, Sue called. Sue is the Washington County social worker and was given my mom’s case. She let me know that the last person I talked with had explained the situation and she was working me into the schedule. Sue is coming out on Wednesday of this week (10/2) at 9:30AM. I need to be there so I have “kind of” cleared my calendar and am very grateful to have a boss like Amy that understands life. Sue did let me know that the Elderly Waiver will start on the 2nd.
I let Ann at White Pine know and she was so relieved that we only had to figure out 7 days of pay. I gave her some information on mom’s finances. She is going to talk with the main office on Monday to see if they can give us a discount due to the situation. With that then she said if it is more than I have now that she will work out a payment plan. Whew.
Quick Update – Mom is doing okay. The meds and Alzheimer’s do have her pretty confused but she is eating, taking her meds and not fighting care. Since the county was not giving any financial help I did have to pick her up some more supplies that typically they would handle. They also needed more clothes for mom. I did not get all of the items back that I had purchased for Litchfield and what my sister brought was just not enough. So as Jim was getting ready for us to leave for a couple days, I was at the store buying more supplies, clothes, socks and sleep clothes. Ugh. So far the two moves are starting to eat into my own funds a fair amount.
Unfortunately, the stress of this week, the stress of my job (that is way more recently) and the stress of just trying to be a mom, spouse, daughter, sister and friend, has really impacted my own health and frame of mind. It also impacted the weekend. Even though the weather was beautiful on Saturday it simply wasn’t the relaxation that my body needs.
I wanted to take a moment and mention the silent killer, stress. I know it is bad and would love to be able to remove it from my life. Even though Jim has been working on my shoulders and neck, they are still rock solid with the stress of my life. I noticed that as we were walking the hunting trails that my mind was constantly going through all of the things on my plate. Walking through all the things that I may be forgetting for both work, mom and life. Someday, I hope to be able to have a quiet weekend where I can actually turn off my brain.
On a good note, we saw a swan family on the way out of the forest today. 🙂 Very cool and something that is not seen everyday.
Cody Updates by Mom 
Leave a comment