August 26th, 2009
Dear Doctor,
Tomorrow my dear wife is taking Mom into your office for her regularly scheduled physical. We gave Mom a ride to Prayer meeting tonight and she complained about having to go to the Dr. in the morning and appeared to be totally worn out from the ride to church and back home. She said she would have to write a check and couldn’t remember who to write it to. I wrote a note for her so she could remember who to make it out to and how much. Her memory is getting worse all the time. She often does not know what day of the month it is or what day of the week it is.
She will probably tell you that she is “fat and sassy”. That is not what she tells me 9 out of 10 times when I talk to her. She complains about bursitis pain in her left shoulder and dizziness, nausea and lack of balance although she refuses to use the walker we got for her. She is frequently short of air and coughs constantly. She acts as if she does not have the strength to get up and do hardly anything and spends her days lying on the couch watching TV and napping. She repeatedly says getting old is not as much fun as she thought it would be.
We have her on a waiting list for a “Chore Volunteer” in home care giver to help with the domestic things that need to be done. We are not sure that she eats properly. She keeps a hand written log (if we can believe it) of when and what she takes for her medication and this convinced the nurse that you ordered for the evaluation on her that she did not need “medical assistance” regarding proper medications. During the recent period of very hot weather, my sister had Mom stay with her for those few days and since then told me that she now feels that IF Mom doesn’t get an in home care giver soon Mom will be needing assisted living. That would be a very difficult move to make. Mom is barely getting used to the move from her mobile home to the SHAG apartment she is in now. I started a Blog on “Aging Parents”: http://wat2dowitmom.blogspot.com
Yours truly,
Elvis
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August 27, 2009
ReplyDeleteDear Doctor,
First of all, our apologies for Mom and thank you for waiving the $285.00 charge for a no-show. After prayer meeting last night, Mom called my wife and verified the time that she was going to pick her up for the appointment. When asked if she had made out the check for the co-pay, she said, “Oh yes.” But – when my wife arrived to pick her up this morning, she was not waiting in the front lobby of the apartments as usual. My wife buzzed Mom’s room from the intercom at the front door and said, “I’m here are you ready to go?” Mom said, “For WHAT?” speaking in an irritated and rather hateful manner. My wife said, “For your 9:15 Doctor appointment.” Mom said. “That was yesterday.” My wife said, “No, last night after prayer meeting we agreed on a time for me to pick you up this morning and you said you wrote a check for the co-pay.” Mom used some profanity. My wife said, “Can you still get ready in time?” Mom said, “NO, I haven’t even had my shower yet.”
My wife said, “Well, you will have to call and reschedule and there will probably be a charge for the no-show today.” Mom said her profanity again and agreed to call for a reschedule. My wife said, “OK, I’m going back home.” Then she called your front desk and tried to explain what happened because she did not believe Mom would actually call. Mom is starting to pull these kinds of things more and more. “I forgot” is becoming a handy excuse for everything. I honestly doubt that she will call your office for another appointment and we will have to wait for another crisis of some kind before she will seek any medical attention. Thank you again for understanding.
Yours truly,
Elvis