A Day In The Slow Lane

I spent all day yesterday with my Grandmother. After I arrived, I spent my first 20-30 minutes waiting on her to use the bathroom. Every time she finished going, they would dress her back up and bring her into the room with me and then a few minutes later she would say she has to go again. This happened three times in a row! I told her that she better get it all out because there would be no bathroom in my car. Finally, she quit talking about having to go and we walked her out to the car. We spent a couple of hours just riding around my hometown... I ran some errands and she stayed in the car. I took her to visit her house. I helped her out of the car and helped her walk up and down the driveway a few times while she admired the yard and house. We visited our land and admired the horses at the neighboring farm. I got her back to her home just in time for lunch. We then left with the Caregiver to go to her doctors appointment in Lagrange. We made it to the doc's office and let's just say this was one eventful visit. First of all, the doc spotted us parading down the hallway on our way in to see him and he starting saying that we should really have a wheelchair on hand at all times- at home and away (this is based on his just watching us help her along I guess). And after walking thru all the events that have happened to her since our last visit- starting w/ the fall she had on Thanksgiving night, he pretty much stated that she is progressing downward. He is recommending two units of Ensure a day due to her weight loss (she is down to 85 lbs). He wants her to be sleeping in a "posey" (a restraint vest) at night to keep her from unconsiously climbing out of the bed in the middle of the night. After hearing about the details, he agreed with my theory that her "episode" on Saturday was more than likely another brain seizure- he wants to up her dosage of her seizure meds if she another significant one. If she continues to stay angry and combative on a daily basis, then we should be given the prescribed "calmative" med every day. The list goes on and on... and yet, he never came right out and just simply said "she is going downhill".... of course not! That would be WAY too easy! And with every question the Caregiver asked, my Grandmother would get angrier. By the time we left, she was fit to be tied! She did manage to lighten by the time we got to walmart... this trip to wally-world was quite different than any before- she did not recognize the store and she did not ramble on about needing "things" and "stuff"... she did not ask for ANY thing! We were in and out with no hold-ups... very strange... and her walking speed is drastically slower than the usual too. I am amazed at how hard it is to walk as slow as she does... makes my legs more than trying to run fast! We made it back to her home and I left her to head home by 5pm... and she was still happy-sounding when I talked to her this afternoon. Lord, I feel much better!

Another Day, Another Episode

I have been so busy lately between work, boot camp, karate, living with a traveling husband, etc. I have not been to visit my Grandmother in person in several weeks and I feel so darn guilty about it! I do not know why I carry this guilt so much… I mean I DO live an hour and half away… and the other members of our family only live 5-10 minutes away and they only go to see her once a week or every two or so. Our last trip down there did not offer a large enough window of time to go actually visit her since we spent all day moving her furniture and stuff out of her apartment and into her house. And we had to recruit a friend’s help since my brother was out of town on a hunting trip. Well, I keep telling her that I will down to visit her soon… but, she asks me EVERY…single… day… and it is driving me insane! Again, I feel so bad about it but, my work is keeping me super busy and with all of my other commitments, I just have not had a weekday or weekend day to go. And this weekend was nothing different- with Hubby’s birthday this coming week, we were doing birthday things both days with his family members. So when her Caregiver called to tell me that something was wrong with my Grandmother yesterday, I panicked. She had already called the On-Call Hospice Nurse. She explained to me what had transpired… I called my Mom and she agreed to go up there. I talked to the Nurse after she completed her evaluation of my Grandmother. She tried to tell me that her opinion is that my Grandmother had some sort of spell after a huge BM… huh? After listening to her list of symptoms and stuff and after already hearing the original list from the Caregiver, I put together my own theory. My Grandmother has had another slight brain seizure. I mean this seizure is nothing like the two huge seizures she had experienced last March, but all the characteristics are the same. Her temporary loss of memory of the entire day before is another trait also. Of course, the Nurse did not agree with me. And I chose not to agree with her. She wound up falling asleep almost immediately after the spell (same as before) and did not really wake up until early this morning. I talked with her this morning and she seemed like her normal self. However, considering yesterday’s events, I have decided to take a personal day on Tuesday and head on down to spend the day with her. She already has a doctor appointment that day that I really need to go anyway… so why not make a day of it? She will love it and hopefully my guilt will disappear…

Corporate Bank Update

So I wound up taking my lunch hour that Thursday to visit the corporate bank branch location closest to my office in hopes of taking care of business. I took all my important documents with me in order to close my Grandmother’s account during that visit. After a long 20-25 minute wait in the sitting area, I am explaining my wishes to a female banker to close the account as my Grandmother’s legal guardian/power of attorney. After the longest 30 minutes of my life spent explaining my case and defending my Power of Attorney to their Legal Dept. (who was on the phone since obviously not one employee at that bank had the power to make any banking decisions on their own). One thing I did discover was that this account is actually a CD and not a savings or investment account. And yet, they still insisted that because there was no “activity” in the CD in the past 14 years, they declared it “abandoned”. I always thought that CD’s were left alone to mature and make money and that the only time a CD had “activity” was when the mature date rolled around and you either closed it or left it. These whack jobs at this bank kept trying to convince me that a CD should have money deposited or withdrawn from it to keep it an active account. Not the last time I checked! I finally escaped that hell after telling him to forget it and that I would take care of it elsewhere. What a waste of my lunchtime! So now I am planning my next step closing the CD… more later!

Collections Sucketh Too

I was not very amused last night when I opened a letter/invoice from a collection agency regarding an unpaid debt. It was for radiology services from an appointment I had back in early December 2008 (last month mind you). First of all, I have Never received an invoice from the office where my scan was performed. Second of all, they claim that the invoice came back to them in mid-December marked as a "bad address". Yet, my phone number was listed in my file and they did not call me. I called the office where I had the appointment to inquire about the bill and why in the world they would forward it to a collection agency when I have insurance. (Please note that I have gone to the same place for other scans 2-3 times this past year). So sending the bill to my insurance should not be an issue here... right? The office directs to to call their billing office. I finally get someone on the phone and she spends 10 minutes or so "trying to figure why they sent this to them and not to my insurance". She read me my address that she claims came back to them as a "bad address"... same one the collection agency sent this letter to as well... everyone has all of my phone numbers on file too... "so where are we going with this", I ask her. She says she cannot access my insurance info and will have to investigate the whole issue internally and then contact the collection agency. And then I have to call back tomorrow to follow up... Of course! No problem, I love spending my time tracking down and following up on the neverending idiotic billing mistakes that seem to be happening more and more these days. And then, get this... about an hour later I noticed a "missed call" on my other cell phone. I check the voicemail and it is a recording of some sort from the collection agency claiming that this is their fourth and final attempt to get into touch with me regarding a "severely overdue" debt. Don't you just LOVE their overly-exerted power and persuasion to get me to call them? Seriously, I find all of this VERY amusing. I mean, is this how they really treat someone that did not pay a bill on time? Because I do not understand how a payment can be severely overdue if the appointment was last month and how is their fourth and final attempt to retrieve payment when I JUST got the letter last night and they have NEVER called me before today? Absolutely amazing! I did suck it up this afternoon and call the collection agency... they started this whole loud pushy spill about my lack of payment, yadda, yadda, yadda.... I simply came back even Louder in the middle of her spill and cut her off by telling her the problem was solved. And she said "oh okay, thank you"...and hung up. Now the real fun begins... finding out if they already dinged my credit report or not... And then having to fight to remove it... Yippee freakin' Skippy.

Corporate Banks Sucketh!

My Grandmother received a letter in our mailbox last week from a bank that she has an account with. I am not going to name the bank since it is not the original bank she opened the account with in 1995. It has been bought a few times since then... let's just say that is one of the bigger bank chains still around for now. I opened the letter and could not believe what I read! Now keep in mind that this letter is being issued to an 80 year old elderly woman... The letter starts reading and I quote:
"Dear _____ Customer: We value you as a customer at ______ and want to let you know that our records indicate your account appears inactive. Your account is considered inactive when there is no direct contact with you such as from non-automatic deposits and withdrawals or from utilizing online banking. If you would like to ensure your account remains active, please complete one of the following within 30 days of the date of this letter:

1) Log onto Online Banking and perform a transaction
2) Make any deposit or withdrawal on your account
3) Call Customer Service and speak to a rep

We apologize for any inconvenience they may cause. However, if we do not hear from you, your account could be considered abandoned by state law...... etc."

Are you kidding me? Do they honestly think that an 80 year old woman will just hop on her computer rig and log on to set up Online Banking? Or drive to the nearest branch location over 20 miles away to make a deposit or withdrawal? Abandoned account? What are they thinking? Most seniors in her position would probably attempt to read that letter and just throw it out. And then Mr. Greedy Big Bank will just say, "ok then, that money is mine!". Puh-leeze! What a crock! So now I have to go find to one of these bank branch locations and attempt to address the situation. As a matter of fact, I plan on closing the account all together. Mr. Big Bank can just kiss our grits! If we cannot have an account there and just leave the money to grow (or shrink in today's market) then forget them already! We can use the money for rent, bills, etc.
This just makes me wonder how many other elderly folks' accounts around the country are getting issued this same crappolla letter too and not addressing it due to age-influenced circumstances? Again, Mr. Greedy Big Bank- YOU SUCK!

Flying Fat

I traveled on my first work trip of the New Year last week. I left on Monday for El Paso for a 3-night trip. There were only 2 flights out of Atlanta that day- one early in morning and one late in the evening. Needless to say, I had to take the later flight because there were only middle seats left on the morning one (this is what happens when you do not book your flights until 1-3 weeks before you fly). After a full day and it being so late in the evening, I was seriously falling asleep while waiting at the gate. I made it to my window seat, settled in and then my seatmate arrived… all 400+ lbs of him. As the other folks loaded the plane, I came to realize just how obese we are as a society. The guy in the seat in front of us was massive too…. Every time he moved in his seat, the seat would hang back into the belly of my seatmate by a good 6 to 10 inches. My seatmate could hardly put his tray table down because of the lack of distance from his front to the back of the seat overextended into his space from the guy in front of him! When I analyzed all of the folks around us, the majority of them were overweight. The three people across the aisle from us were so big that the guy on the end was sticking a good 6 inches out into the aisle! Every time the flight attendants walked by him, they would tell him to move into his seat and out of the aisle. Another problem was the arduous task of getting their seat belts buckled… my seatmate took forever trying to buckle his and even after he finally did, he had to have had bruises from it! The attendants told him and the guy in front of us that if they had to have belt extensions, then they would have to change seats… (I could not figure that one out). I spent a long time at the beginning of the 3.5-hour flight thinking about how hard it must be for them to fly at that size. I know how much I hate sitting in those cramped seats for 3+ hours… imagine flying those long flights at their size. It just saddens me to see how much we abuse ourselves with food and stress. It is all the more reason to kick my fitness and food plans into another gear. And believe me, I am trying to. This will be my first full week at boot camp and karate together. And I am starting my 1800-calorie plan this week too. I just feel so much better each day that I exercise and eat right. And every since I had my gall bladder removed, most foods that are bad for me make my stomach ache or give me seriously bad heartburn. I am not complaining about the stomachaches though… I am still very happy with my surgery results- internally I feel great! I just need to lose some excess baggage off my frame so my endurance and fluidness improve in my exercise. I have a long road ahead of me…

Just Another Day.

Change? Maybe. Promise? We'll see. Intelligent? Sure. Popular? Definitely. Hope? Nope.