May AJ, Cheryl, and Elizabeth be carried through this time of grieving and shock by the comfort and care of Jesus. Thank You for the multitude of ways that Jesus knows to carry people through suffering. Sometimes it feels like walking on air because of prayer support, or times it can be an unexpected sense of joy in sadness, it can be through hugs without words, or through the Holy Spirit speaking through a pastor…it can be through an animal, a pet, realizing the owner’s distress and offering unusual sweetness in behavior…so many and varied benefits does Lord Jesus offer to His followers and it all is a result of Your grand plan for eternity, Father God. We can rest in that sense of peace that only You give. We know without a doubt that You hold A.J., Cheryl, Elizabeth, A.J.’s Dad, and other family members in You hands at this time. In Jesus’ name, Amen
Update on my friend Carol — she’s somehow trapped in an insurance go-around, most recently (last night) she was sent to USC county where, now she’s told, she can’t stay because her primary physician is not connected there and so she has no coverage.
So they’re trying to find a hospital that can take her and cover her with the Medical insurance she has. She’s been sitting in ER and “observation” all night, waiting her next ambulance ride to *somewhere.*
This is the 3rd place she’s been sent, she started out in a small, low-income hospital and from there was sent to a convalescent home for 1-2 days and now USC … next, who knows.
Meanwhile, none of her rather pressing medical needs have been addressed or checked out yet …
Heavenly Father, I continue to lift up Mumsee and Mike in their great needs and also Donna’s friend, Carol, and Mama Ruth. Please act on their behalf in each facility and on each need for healing or comfort. We are all sunk without You consistently doing good and making provision in our lives. Also, I lift up beloved lost family members. Please, may that Hound of Heaven stay after them relentlessly until they can resist no more. I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen
Just talked to my friend Norma whose cat is not well and may have to be put down. Honestly, everything sometimes hits at once. I hate thinking of her without her cat 😦 especially considering her own health issues right now.
OK, off to visit Carol up at county hospital who pleaded with me to bring her a bag of golden Oreos. What the heck, probably couldn’t really hurt her at this point, she’s still awaiting an opening at another hospital somewhere in the metropolitan area.
Well, I arrived at the hospital just as they were getting ready to load her up for yet another transfer — that’s about 4 in 5 days. This is crazy, your government-run medical care in action.
So off we went to a convalescent facility in Filippinotown (I know Chinatown and Koreatown and Olvera Street, but this particular corner of old LA was new to me).
Not a great place, she’s in a room with about 3-4 other people (I couldn’t quite tell how many), her bed has a wooden footboard and looks like it dates back to at least the 1950s — they have to hand-crank it to raise her up (it doesn’t go far) so she can at least eat; and the TV in the room was stuck on a continual loop of mind-numbing informercials about how to keep your skin flawless and your body sculpted. (Carol and I got the staff to switch it to a local news station after a while.)
Sooo, looks like I’m going to be making some phone calls on Monday to a couple of the doctors — and one of the former convalescent places that still has some of her clothes (she was there for a day) — to try to see if we can’t straighten this whole mess out and get her where she needs to be for medical treatment.
Basically, she’s stuck in a loop that’s out of particular doctor’s ‘network’ for her government insurance — she needs to get back to his network so she can be treated, not just shifted from one facility to another. It’s become a not-so-funny comedy of errors.
Meanwhile, her assisted living place has informed her that her bed/room had been filled — so she can’t even go back there now … And they (presumably) still have all the rest of her stuff (her walker, clothes, shoes, books).
Oh Donna this is horrible….she needs medical care and all they can do is move her from place to place…and lose her things in the process? I am praying for her and am so blessed to know you are in her life to advocate for her…
Donna, it does sound like your friend Carol is being jerked around. With Mama Ruth’s confusion of not being at her own home and going back and forth between the nursing home and the hospital…I can’t imagine what your friend is going through. Just think if she didn’t have you to keep up with where she is she could be lost in the system and who knows what would happen then.
Thank you for being the kind of person you are.
I’m going to start making phone calls tomorrow, starting with her social worker. The doctors will be difficult to reach, I’m sure, and although she’s put me down as an authorized contact in the past, they may need permission again from her to speak to me. So I’m thinking the social worker is a good and easier place to start. If she’s willing to assertively go to bat for Carol (but she may be overloaded with clients), that may be her best advocate as she knows the system and I really do not.
I honestly can’t figure out how this has become so crazy. Carol is very easy going makes the best of her circumstances, she’s not picky like I would be (but she’s alert and sharp/intelligent) and she also whines a lot less than I would. 😉
I tend to become impatient and easily irritated in these situations, so I’m praying for myself on that score — I made an extra effort to be nice to the staff at the convalescent home yesterday as none of this is their fault or doing.
I’ve got to find the bureaucratic wizard behind all of this, he’s somewhere behind a curtain pulling the random levers …
This Wednesday, Lee has the stress test I mentioned a while ago. (He has a very low heart rate, & yet is on the brink of hypertension. 😦 )
Also on this Wednesday, he is going to get a shot of Lupron, the hormonal treatment to fight the prostate cancer. He thinks he will eventually have the surgery I had mentioned, but since he can’t have it right away (due to work), he needs to at least start the Lupron therapy.
Have not slept much in two nights and now have a bad sore throat. Not feeling well and feeling badly about all those folks flying 10 hours with us this afternoon (thankfully straight through to SFO). We’re dropping Stargazer off soon for the first of three flights and are planning to wander around Dachau in the blustery rain . . .
Wandering Views 
Heavenly Father,
May AJ, Cheryl, and Elizabeth be carried through this time of grieving and shock by the comfort and care of Jesus. Thank You for the multitude of ways that Jesus knows to carry people through suffering. Sometimes it feels like walking on air because of prayer support, or times it can be an unexpected sense of joy in sadness, it can be through hugs without words, or through the Holy Spirit speaking through a pastor…it can be through an animal, a pet, realizing the owner’s distress and offering unusual sweetness in behavior…so many and varied benefits does Lord Jesus offer to His followers and it all is a result of Your grand plan for eternity, Father God. We can rest in that sense of peace that only You give. We know without a doubt that You hold A.J., Cheryl, Elizabeth, A.J.’s Dad, and other family members in You hands at this time. In Jesus’ name, Amen
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Update on my friend Carol — she’s somehow trapped in an insurance go-around, most recently (last night) she was sent to USC county where, now she’s told, she can’t stay because her primary physician is not connected there and so she has no coverage.
So they’re trying to find a hospital that can take her and cover her with the Medical insurance she has. She’s been sitting in ER and “observation” all night, waiting her next ambulance ride to *somewhere.*
This is the 3rd place she’s been sent, she started out in a small, low-income hospital and from there was sent to a convalescent home for 1-2 days and now USC … next, who knows.
Meanwhile, none of her rather pressing medical needs have been addressed or checked out yet …
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Heavenly Father, I continue to lift up Mumsee and Mike in their great needs and also Donna’s friend, Carol, and Mama Ruth. Please act on their behalf in each facility and on each need for healing or comfort. We are all sunk without You consistently doing good and making provision in our lives. Also, I lift up beloved lost family members. Please, may that Hound of Heaven stay after them relentlessly until they can resist no more. I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen
LikeLiked by 2 people
Just talked to my friend Norma whose cat is not well and may have to be put down. Honestly, everything sometimes hits at once. I hate thinking of her without her cat 😦 especially considering her own health issues right now.
OK, off to visit Carol up at county hospital who pleaded with me to bring her a bag of golden Oreos. What the heck, probably couldn’t really hurt her at this point, she’s still awaiting an opening at another hospital somewhere in the metropolitan area.
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Well, I arrived at the hospital just as they were getting ready to load her up for yet another transfer — that’s about 4 in 5 days. This is crazy, your government-run medical care in action.
So off we went to a convalescent facility in Filippinotown (I know Chinatown and Koreatown and Olvera Street, but this particular corner of old LA was new to me).
Not a great place, she’s in a room with about 3-4 other people (I couldn’t quite tell how many), her bed has a wooden footboard and looks like it dates back to at least the 1950s — they have to hand-crank it to raise her up (it doesn’t go far) so she can at least eat; and the TV in the room was stuck on a continual loop of mind-numbing informercials about how to keep your skin flawless and your body sculpted. (Carol and I got the staff to switch it to a local news station after a while.)
Sooo, looks like I’m going to be making some phone calls on Monday to a couple of the doctors — and one of the former convalescent places that still has some of her clothes (she was there for a day) — to try to see if we can’t straighten this whole mess out and get her where she needs to be for medical treatment.
Basically, she’s stuck in a loop that’s out of particular doctor’s ‘network’ for her government insurance — she needs to get back to his network so she can be treated, not just shifted from one facility to another. It’s become a not-so-funny comedy of errors.
Meanwhile, her assisted living place has informed her that her bed/room had been filled — so she can’t even go back there now … And they (presumably) still have all the rest of her stuff (her walker, clothes, shoes, books).
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Oh Donna this is horrible….she needs medical care and all they can do is move her from place to place…and lose her things in the process? I am praying for her and am so blessed to know you are in her life to advocate for her…
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What a nightmare for poor Carol! As Nancy said, I’m glad you are there for her. You must be quite a comfort to her.
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Donna, it does sound like your friend Carol is being jerked around. With Mama Ruth’s confusion of not being at her own home and going back and forth between the nursing home and the hospital…I can’t imagine what your friend is going through. Just think if she didn’t have you to keep up with where she is she could be lost in the system and who knows what would happen then.
Thank you for being the kind of person you are.
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I’m going to start making phone calls tomorrow, starting with her social worker. The doctors will be difficult to reach, I’m sure, and although she’s put me down as an authorized contact in the past, they may need permission again from her to speak to me. So I’m thinking the social worker is a good and easier place to start. If she’s willing to assertively go to bat for Carol (but she may be overloaded with clients), that may be her best advocate as she knows the system and I really do not.
I honestly can’t figure out how this has become so crazy. Carol is very easy going makes the best of her circumstances, she’s not picky like I would be (but she’s alert and sharp/intelligent) and she also whines a lot less than I would. 😉
I tend to become impatient and easily irritated in these situations, so I’m praying for myself on that score — I made an extra effort to be nice to the staff at the convalescent home yesterday as none of this is their fault or doing.
I’ve got to find the bureaucratic wizard behind all of this, he’s somewhere behind a curtain pulling the random levers …
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This Wednesday, Lee has the stress test I mentioned a while ago. (He has a very low heart rate, & yet is on the brink of hypertension. 😦 )
Also on this Wednesday, he is going to get a shot of Lupron, the hormonal treatment to fight the prostate cancer. He thinks he will eventually have the surgery I had mentioned, but since he can’t have it right away (due to work), he needs to at least start the Lupron therapy.
Prayers appreciated!
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Have not slept much in two nights and now have a bad sore throat. Not feeling well and feeling badly about all those folks flying 10 hours with us this afternoon (thankfully straight through to SFO). We’re dropping Stargazer off soon for the first of three flights and are planning to wander around Dachau in the blustery rain . . .
I would like to skip this day . . .
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