Thought I would update you on my son John's progress. He is still in congestive heart failure, but they can't operate until the lesions in his brain heal and his body is cleared of the infection. AHCCCS insisted he be sent home while waiting for this. It's dangerous, his heart could stop anytime since only one third of his heart is working.
Each day means he is that much closer to having the problem fixed. He enjoys being home with his kids and wife. He says he rests better, but he does have bad days and good days. Days when it seems to take more energy then he has to breathe. The pain of the fluid in his lungs will sometimes keep him awake and the pain medication only works for so long.
A nurse comes in daily to check on him and he makes visits to the doctor's offices, labs and etc.
John is shocked to how weak he is and how just a few steps leaves him breathless. Wendy, his wife pushes him around in a wheel chair. The heart doctor doesn't want John putting more exertion on the heart then he has too.
Please continue praying for John to have a full recovery.
Now to what I have learned in the last few months.
As a baby boomer, I had always thought the systems we had put into place to take care of people who have wound up in financial difficulties would be there if I ever needed them.
WRONG! It has been a shock to find out all these systems have been cut back due to the recession. For people without children at home, no longer is there any help for them.
You can't really blame the states for the cut backs. I mean if the money isn't there, it isn't there.
But that leaves a sour taste in our mouth when we think of all the taxes we have paid through the years and expecting there would be help when we need it.
I had been wondering why when the news covered the people in the hospital after the shooting in Colorado, they always made it a point to mention the patient didn't have insurance. In my blind Pollyanna mode, I thought they could go on state assistance and their bill would be covered. That no longer happens.
AHCCCS and welfare are no longer available for people without children at home. If the family of three bring in over $400 a month, they are not eligible for well fare. Now think about how much it would cost to feed and house. I mean there is all the essentials that are needed and in this day and age, that money will not go far.
I wonder sometimes if this is what the Mayans were talking about. Their calender ends this December and they spoke of major upheaval. Well isn't this a major upheaval, that all the systems we had in place to help are gone?
I apply at least to two jobs a day and yet I haven't received any calls. It is like being here all alone. Remember the old movies where after the atomic bomb, a couple come out of their shelters and find out they are the only ones left for miles around? Yeah, it feels like that.
No longer is job hunting a one on one bases. It is all on the computer and very impersonal. Half the time you only know the city where the job is located and in this part of Arizona, it could be a long drive.
Did that, have the tee shirt and I don't want to do it again. My last job I had to drive an hour both ways. Ugh!! But I would once again take a job like that. It is desperate times and we always do what we say we want do when we are desperate.
The future doesn't look that great for us or our kids. The world has really become a harsh, hard place to live.
Families living in cars and us baby boomers trying to hold on with tooth and nails only to have a foot on a banana peel.
So maybe as neighbor's, friends and family we need to realize it is up to us to take care of each other. We have gone back into time when this was a necessity and norm and believe it or not we are there again. This could be the beginning of more then once generation living under the same roof as they did years ago.
I know we parents do not want to be a burden to our children and we are prepared to walk away and live on the streets if we have too.
But hopefully we all have a few more cards we can play before we fold our hands.
Sorry this is such a sad tale, but I am depressed and I needed to get this off my chest. I am trying not to stress, Lord have mercy I don't need a heart attach right now. I definitely couldn't afford it. LOL, as you can see the Pollyanna streak goes deep.
See you around the block.
