Let's Take Time to Celebrate Life!!!!

It is all a part of the process

I spent close to an hour talking to the person that puts together schedules at our caregiving agency. I trust it will be useful for both of us.

The occasion for the meeting was the result of not getting my caregiving needs met and not liking it one bit.
I am usually real quiet and laid back, but I am getting crankier as I get older. I am not as apt to want to waste my time as a result of people's need to fill "spots". There were two incidents that illustrated this fact perfectly and at the end of the conversation we had an understanding.

1. I was sent to take care of a client and the staff who heard of my willingness to do the job said she would forever be thankful. Of course she told me nothing about what I was heading into (okay, I did not ask). Then I get to the place and there is no one to introduce me to the people and the task at hand. Let's just say I was able to wing it. I had not used a gait belt in over two years. I asked for some help from the client to help refresh me. Everything went fairly well until the client decided he had to get back in bed, while his wife was out. Obviously this was not part of the usual routine his wife told me about. I was game. I got him into the bedroom and got the gait belt on the wrong side of the bed and did not think/know to put down the railing. He had had a stroke and the left side of his body was very weak. This guy is 6 foot three and three hundred pounds. He loses his balance and then only by the grace of God he makes it into bed. He then tells me he has to go pee and it was too late to get the job done. What a mess. I survived, but I told Miss Kara the coordinator that she better have somebody the next time I go there or I will turn around and go home. She let me know there would be and also told me I could go home if there wasn't.

2. I was sent to take care of a client with early on set Alzheimer's. Someone was supposed to meet to help get me connected with the client. I waited and waited. The client wanted to see his mother. I had forgotten to get my phone (I will never do it again). I asked if I could use his phone and he was more than glad to oblige and then told me he did not know how it worked. I figured it out, after all I had some knowledge of cell phones. I punched in the number on my volunteer badge twice and both times there was a message that it was not a working number. We left to see his mother. He told me he would get us there. Sure enough as many times as he had gone this was a day that he could not remember how to get there. He explained to me he had dementia and this made it hard for him to remember. The agency called him on his phone asking to talk with me.(he did know how to answer the phone and that was a good thing). I told the agency director of my predicament and after some searching on the gps, (there were three assisted living residences close to where he lived by the same name) we got there. It only got more interesting from there. His mother had dementia. At one point she forgot that she was the client's mom. I was able to laugh at the whole experience after it was over. The coordinator apologized profusely. "It should have never happened"! Hopefully it will not happen again, because I am not sure the caregiver and client will survive.
And after it all it is only a part of the process. I can not wait for the next time!!