Posted 3-12-20
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. “
Matthew 6:34 (ESV)
Hi all! Sorry for the super abbreviated piece yesterday. 🙁 Momma said there’d be days like that…
I was blessed yesterday with getting to help our local public radio channel (KSMU) in a small way with their upcoming 10-part series on aspects of our topic. I will try to post links when it happens, or you can stream it live at the above link.
Part of what lead to my short post yesterday is the fact that I wear a lot of hats at SeniorAge including that of safety and security officer (Disaster response/recovery). I am not sure if you have heard about this little nugget of news hidden in the back reaches of the newspaper on past the farm reports and the Ask the Plumber section, but there is a great, big virus thing going on right now. I know…you can’t be aware of EVERYTHING in the news, so I am glad I can help. 😉
Indeed, this specific strain of CoronaVirus (dubbed COVID-19 by super creative scientists), has struck China and Italy particularly hard, but has swept throughout the globe too…including in St. Louis, Mo. (and, I expect, our Ozarks region quite soon). The reported mortality numbers vary widely (similar to but higher than the flu), so I won’t jump into that fray, but the main thing we need to know for our little community is our loved ones desperately need to avoid this at least as much as they need to avoid the flu. To that end, our topic du jour.
The news in my world: Yesterday was the last time I will get to see mom, physically, for at least two weeks because of mandatory quarantining at long-term care facilities. Multiple brands of nursing homes, if you will, have already blocked visitor access and mom’s followed suit 5 minutes ago.
Here is my action plan:
- Visit my soon-to-be-super-stressed stepdad the same days I would visit mom.
- Call the care team daily, likely multiple times
- Learn more; Serve more (as best I can with the response piece of my job); Pray more; and fight the ever-present worry-wart part of my persona.
I suppose, fortunately for us, we are a little battle-tested in this area. Mom spent much of the holidays of 2018 (see those posts, perhaps starting with this one) living in a specialized behavioral health facility, partially designed to serve seniors with dementia, after she had several challenges in her new abode. We were allowed only a very short visit in a very strictly-controlled, lock-down unit. However, that was a different time. Mom could feed herself with prompting then. Today my stepdad hand-feeds her all three meals per day, so switching to a new hand-feeder may meet resistance.
I also have a fear that she will be sad…something I absolutely hate the idea of. I have seen folks lose the “will to live” and die shortly after. Note: I believe wholeheartedly that God is sovereign over our lives including when we come in and when we leave this world, but He uses means…He doesn’t waive a metaphorical wand and make it happen more often than not… He works through people and situations.
She is in such a great place right now. She is in a well laid-out routine that will be flushed down the toilet by this disease… I just hate to see her struggle again.
Last, but not least…I will fight the worry walrus. I can fight for and do things in my power and I simply must let go of what I cannot. I am not a super strong person in this area, so pray for me. I tend to let my mind run wild with worst-case scenarios….
The Lord is Mighty…and I am not.
Stinkin’ disease. 🙁
#EndALZ
Update: All is well. The flu is rampant again at mom’s center, but she spends most of her time in her room with her roomie and has fought it off pretty well.
Alz Update: I am waiting to hear back whether the add-on to the Older Americans Act that would add early onset dementia in the group who could qualify for these services was approved with yesterday’s reauthorization bill. I am excited for the potential help this might make although the fund is tight and needs to be increased even more that I suspect it will.
Note: I suppose Mom’s take on how it will go looks like this: