Hi friends.......I need to say thank you to Jackie, Jan, Lisa, Holly, Marilyn and Cheri......you truely are such great friends. I got your PM notes and they were very welcome. I just wasn't ready to respond yet.
It's a new month, whew! I made it through the one year anniversary of mom's passing and my uncle is out of ICU. It was rough there for a bit, but now it's over.
Another issue that I'm dealing with is increased weight which is also making my legs worse. Not good. So I started another diet food delivery service this week. I'm using birstromd instead of diettogo.....better food, same prices. I need to get my weight under control and my legs better.
My biggest dilemma has been the expense of keeping Ray at the private care facility down the road. He loves it there and it's convenient for us to remain a part of his life and to watch over his medical care. One year ago when this decision was made it was only going to cost me an additional couple of hundred out of my pocket and it was worth it. One year later after increased prices, moving Ray into a private room, prescription expenses, doctors appointments and medical testing expenses that his insurance does not cover, his additional expenses at Mrs. Bush's, it all totals to over $1500 each month. It's much more than I'm comfortable with to add to my budget every month. Ray has brain injuries from when he fell down the stairs four years ago. His illness does not do very well with change. My dilemma is how do I keep the promise that I made to my mom to always take care of him, I have a POA for him from her, and keep him happy and not flipping out of control and still not blow off mine and John's dreams. This additional expense is going to affect our plans to build and retire in Delaware in three years. And then the scary question of what to do with Ray in three years when we retire and want to move, but he's still alive and with us. Other than his brain injury, he's as healthy as an ox. His vitals read better than mine.
The other change in my life is that there's no one here anymore.....Sandi and mom are no longer in town. Me and John are on our own and we realized how much the grandkids did for us and helped us out. They were at our house all the time.
So life really has changed this past year and not for the best but now it's time to really take control and turn it around as best as I can. Some of it though, I still don't know what I'm going to do about yet.
I'm 50+ pages behind but I will read it all and catch up soon. I miss reading about all of your lives. Any comments or suggestions are always welcome if anybody has a clue how to deal with my Ray dilemma.
Now that it's Aug 1st I can say, next month I'll be in Mickey's world and everything will be alright again. That's why we love being with the mouse, it's always perfect and magical and fun.