Ups and Downs

Tuesday, December 29, 2009 - 11:10 AM   I am trying to get back into the routine of making a daily journal entry here. During the holidays, I somehow managed to get sidetracked with a number of things and that prevented me from writing in my journal as much as I would have liked.   The Christmas holidays went much better than I thought they would. I spent Christmas Eve at my sister's along with her children and grandchildren. Although we were supposed to play the secret Santa way of giving gifts to one another, my sister managed to cheat just as I suspected she would. In addition to giving gifts to the person whose name she had drawn, my sister also gave small gifts to both of her children and me. I expected something like that would happen, so I did not say anything to her, but her daughter quickly let it be known that my sister was not supposed to have done that. Other than that, everything went fine.   I returned to my sister's on Christmas day, and spent about four hours there with her, and two of her friends. There was plenty of food, candies, and cookies the two days that I spent with my sister. I kept saying that I was going to have to go on a diet after that, but I may have exaggerated the situation somewhat.   Throughout the Christmas holidays, I went through a number of ups and downs. My depression went into a nosedive, but that was not entirely unexpected. My increased anxiety finally leveled out when I began taking the proper amount of medication. The anxiety attacks lessened as the days wore on, but I am still feeling jittery and nervous most of the time.   Due to heavy snow and subzero temperatures, I had to cancel appointments with both Dr. Martin and Dale. If the weather does not change too much, I am going to see Dr. Martin this Wednesday afternoon and Dale next Monday morning. I am also going to see my primary care physician on Friday, January 8. I need to keep each of those appointments.   Just as I was telling people that I pretty much had a perfect home healthcare team, things started falling apart one by one. The morning CNA who has been with me for nearly two years, has begun failing to show up on time in the mornings, and sometimes she does not even show up at all. She has also become very moody. The other CNA's have told me that this could be due to the fact that she is pregnant and going to have a baby in March. One of them told me this morning that it would be better if the CNA just quit working until after the baby arrived.   My personal care provider (PCP) had trouble getting here during the extreme subzero temperatures and snow. He does not drive, but has to ride a bike more than eight miles to get here. Because of that, he had been asking two of his friends to take turn bringing him to work. That seemed to be working out well until the Wednesday before Christmas. As he and his friend were going home, they were struck by a large pickup truck less than one-half a mile from here. Although no one was seriously injured, his friend cared more about her car then she did about my PCP. She said that if it had not been for him asking her for a ride to my apartment, then the accident would not have happened. She also told him that she no longer wanted to be around him very much because he was bad luck. I suspect their friendship has ended.   He is now taking the bus to and from work until the weather clears. That will probably not be for several months. In addition to his problems with the weather, a major part of his bike is broken. I do not have any idea what he is going to do about that.   One of my nighttime CNA's, who lives north of Denver, failed to come to work whenever it started snowing. It did not have to be a lot of snow, but even a few flakes would stop her. This did not go over well with the other CNA who worked with her. I believe she made a complaint about the other CNA with the home healthcare agency, and a new man began working for me this past Wednesday. Actually, he did not start until Thursday because on his way here the night before he got lost and could not find his way to my apartment.   The new CNA and I did not hit it off right from the start. He was from another country and had a very thick accent, which made it almost impossible for me to understand whatever he said. He was an older man who worked for a nursing home 13 years. When he began working for me, not only was he negative sounding about almost everything he said, but he hardly knew how to do anything that I required. The other CNA tried to teach him how to do the work, but even she seemed to run into a dead end.   Yesterday I called the agency and requested a new person. The agency had made a change in staffing directors during the holidays, so this was my first request to the new person who I had never met, but had talked with by phone when she held the position of a receptionist.   I liked her from the moment I first spoke with her. I explained the situation to her, and said that I wanted a replacement for the man who was working with me. She said that she would get on it right away. I said that even if they could not find someone immediately, I would appreciate it if they could at least give me a substitute person for the time being. She said that they were very shorthanded, but she would do what she could. I received a phone call from her within three hours, informing me that she had arranged for another CNA to begin working with me that night. That woman was extremely nice. She had just become a CNA and I was her first person to work with. I am cautiously optimistic about her.   My back pain has increased somewhat, so I have begun taking more pain medication to help alleviate it. If it continues to worsen, I do not know what I will do. Maybe I will talk with my doctor about this when I see him next week.