General topics.

Gershun
Thanks for the new thread

You are welcome MsMadge. Bring all your friends.

I hope that this new thread will take off. Sometimes threads disappear for a while and then come back. If the old whine thread comes back that would be great, but if not I hope everyone feels free to post on this one.

I just buried my 34 yr old son. I paid all expenses, will I receive the 250.00 burial
Benifets? Or will his children? ( who are 11 and 8. ) do I h ave to prove I paid expenses?

The SSI burial benefit will go to his children if he is not legally married to their mother. That benefit is a payout to a spouse or dependent children if no spouse only.

Imtired, I'm so very sorry for your loss!

Thanks Gershun, for the new thread. You have always looked out for the forum members and the community here!

I have an elderly family member in the hospital, but cannot post out of respect for her and family's privacy. Limited to taking a few casseroles essentially. If it were not for this forum's members I would not have known what to do. I am not as worried, but just not feeling myself.

Thank you for a fresh start Gershun.

Yeah! A new day, a fresh start. Seize the day! Be back tomorrow!

Whine of the day... well, really about a year now.

My mother's doctor is driving me crazy. We have an electronic dashboard for requesting prescriptions. Sometimes she writes the prescription. Sometimes I have to call. Lately she has gotten so where she writes the wrong number or gives no refills, so I have to go through it again really soon. These are blood pressure medications and not narcotics. Good grief. I think her doctor has gone off the loony edge. It's like a wrestling match to try to manage the medications.

A bad or incompetent doctor is not a caregiver's friend. We have an appointment with a new doctor next month. I hope she'll be good so we can get rid of this person who doesn't need to have a license to practice.

I used to go through an excruciating game of telephoning the doctor's office, then the pharmacy, back to the doc again. I finally realized it was easier to make an appointment (just me, not mom) and have her fax the script while I was there. I guess she gets paid more that way.

Here's hoping this new "whine" thread stays clean and free of rancor and discord. We all have way too much going on in our lives to come here and deal with that. We come here to support each other and get things off our collective chests when need be. Let's try to keep it civil if we can.

And please note I'm not naming names or placing blame - but it would be great if we could keep it on a civil level and just come here to vent, talk and enjoy each other's company - and just scroll past any inflammatory comments. A fire can't burn without fuel, and if ignored long enough, the ones making them will stop.

Susan....I agree.There are so many problems at home and I sure don't need anymore and I'm sure no one else does either.When arguments and heated discussions come up,I stay away and just forget about what I wanted to post in the first place.I'm thankful that we can start over with a clean slate.Thanks again Gershun.

Hey everyone! Thx for posting on this thread! Welcome to Send, Lucky, Susan, Cwillie, MsMadge, JessieBelle and everyone else.

It has been a day today. Mom is so confused, but she won't see it. The drugstore called her today to ask if we'd be home for a delivery. Somehow she thought they'd asked her how she planned to pay. She came back and asked me, and I knew it didn't make any sense. I told her how it was going to be paid. She called them back, and they said they had just wanted to know if we'd be home. No problem. When we hung up, Mom went into the insurance not covering it and wouldn't drop it. I called the drugstore to make sure. No problem. I think she just didn't understand the words or I don't know what all.

So she got a telemarketer call telling her that they were Medicare, according to her, and that she could get all her medicines free. Sigh. I told her it was fraud -- that Medicare, the IRS, and Obama were not going to call her. So, what does she do? Called the drugstore to let them know!! Oh, lordie.

So later the drugstore delivered the medications that were ordered. And I discovered the doctor had again made things as hard as possible on the caregiver. (See the above) Sigh. What the heck is wrong with these doctors?? Don't they pay attention anymore?

I spent the day dealing with stuff, doing the laundry, taking pictures for my shop, getting things listed, and listening every few minutes to rehashing of the drugstore events of the morning. It bothers me a lot now that she sits in front of the TV in her pajamas all day and wants me to be her sole entertainment. The house repair people called and it's going to be $400 more than originally estimated to do some work. And my brother posted a picture on Facebook of him going on a hike 5 miles from here.

A day in the life of a caregiver. Grrrrarrrr.

Ha! I can top that! Rainman has the flu - bad. At one point I just stood him in the shower stall while um... stuff was coming out both ends. Then he turned very pale and started to wobble so I yanked him out - south end still working - and sat him on the toilet, which gave it a coating of...umm...stuff - in addition to the shower stall. Two showers, three pair of pjs and had to change the bedding twice - with all the accompanying laundry. BTW - this started a 4am and it's now 8:30pm - and I'm still going even though I'm pretty sure I'm getting sick too - had my flu shot so maybe I'll get off with a light case. Did I mention I have a new puppy? Two months and he refuses to be house trained. I've successfully trained five other puppies and got a clean bill of health from the vet - puppy is really a tiny demon. So - right now, my life is crap. Get it? Hahaha! Crap! Sooo not funny!

Rainmom, you won the caregiver of the day award, for sure! I don't know how you keep your wits about you with all you have going on.

Ms.Madge,
Want to answer you on this new thread about the bears.
When pulling off the road to camp and cook your bacon in a cast iron pan, if you do that in the desert there aren't any bears.

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Rainmom,
I second your nomination for caregiver of the day award

Send
Glad to hear it was the desert and not the high sierras !

Jessebelle,
May I ask, just what is the reward for that, because I think Rainmom should get the award too. The award for too too much poo?

So sorry your son is so very sick Rainmom. You may know this already, but something like pedialyte can help replace his electrolytes and prevent dehydration. Is this the new flu bug?

Hey Send..........my sinuses are okay these days. Knock on wood. I do sound like I have a cold all the time now though. I'm just pretending that it's sexy and throaty. Maybe I should get a job doing voiceovers for condom ads or something. LOL

Oh Rainmom, those are the times a wet room would be so handy, just hose down the room and everyone in it. I hope you don't get it too, there is nothing worse than cleaning up barf while you are barfing too :(

I have to say this likely isn't the Flu though and your Flu shot is no protection from it, influenza is a respiratory illness and rarely causes vomiting and diarrhea.

Well cwillie, isn't that cheery news! And thank you, thank you! I humbly accept my award on the behalf of the people at Chlorox. Rainmans fever broke over the night so I'm gonna attempt some dry toast and maybe a banana. Yesterday he wouldn't eat but he has been drinking diluted Gatorade. Personally - my head feels like I have a metal spike driven in from on temple to the other - but I will persevere! That's what we caregivers do, right?

cwillie, I was thinking the same thing about it not sounding like the flu. It sounds more like an intestinal virus with the stuff coming out both ends. I've had the flu once and it was like a super bad cold with high temperature and smell perversion. Strangely, the smell perversion hung on and bothered me so much, even though the temperature (105 one time) was the most dangerous. No vomiting or diarrhea at all.

I've never had much trouble with stomach related illnesses myself - can only remember having a fever once and have up-chucked less than six times in my 54 years so I guess I group anything that involved either vomit or diarrhea as either the Flu or food poisoning. In fact, I had nothing in the house beyond Tylenol that was appropriate to give Rainman and nothing good i.e. bland to feed him and nothing good to drink - that wouldn't have made things worse. Thankfully a young woman who takes Rainman out made a store run for me and stayed with him long enough for me to clean the bathroom properly. When it comes to colds - I am the queen of colds! Two every year without fail and my cupboards are loaded with remedies. Regardless- whatever Rainman has - I sure hope he's on the other side of it - and that I don't get it - or hubby, who's been missing all the fun by being at work.

Lucky husband! I was thinking that many people call intestinal viruses "intestinal flus," so I guess it's okay. Everyone knew what you were you were talking about. It's good to get the gatorade into him. Dehydration can be a problem with intestinal viruses. Fever is probably the biggest danger in the regular flu to most people. I'm sure those with COPD would say different.

Oh, my. I was trying to imagine a person with dementia having the flu. Aye-yae-yae. That would be terrible.

Rainman doesn't understand much about being sick as well. Diarrhea doesn't freak him out so much as it's somewhat similar to a body function he is familiar with. Vomiting is a real issue. He takes after me in that I can only recall it happening a few times with him - mainly when he had his perforated intestine, but when it does happen it totally freaks him out - poor baby.

Katie, Hoping you can find your way over here:
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