One of the terrific people who follow my diaries asked me to update again soon. Nothing has really changed, but since Saturday and Sunday are my days off from both watching Mr. R and my school hours, I’ll update today. :)
The doctor hadn’t expected Mr. R to make it to October, but he went from eating a few spoons of baby food per meal to eating full (if small) meals, and asking for more. My imagination was put to the test when he’d ask for things that were not going to work… like popcorn. I suggested the puffs flavored like butter (sold at all gas station convenience stores for $2 a bag!) — and he got his popcorn. Bananas mush easily (if they are ripe) and filled the requirement for some fruit.
But the past several days, he’s been sleeping a lot and not as interested in eating. His foot is becoming re-infected, and the nurse has thrown out a new (to me) word: sepsis. Plus, things are going really badly for the Cubs. That sucks.
It is so lovely staying in a nice home (and sleeping in a bed), just a couple of miles from the school where I work afternoons. Plus, I get to watch MS-NBC and Pitbulls and Parolees. Mr. R’s daughter is very kind to let me stay here between times when I’m watching Mr. R. She has 4 pets — two Italian Spinone dogs (wirehaired pointers who are known for soaking up water bowls into their beards before shaking next to you) and two new cats — a mama and her baby. The cats are mostly in the basement, because Luisa and Ruffo (the Spinones) are being very slow in accepting them. Actually, Ruffo doesn’t really care much at all, but Luisa spends a lot of her time trying to figure out how to get past the basement door, to destroy them.
School is going well. I have had 3 paychecks direct deposited into my bank and my Credit Union Accounts. My plan is to use the bank account while I’m getting paid regularly, and then the Credit Union account over the summer… unless I get another (hopefully, full-time) job. Most of the kids make me laugh. It’s a fairly diverse group (at least it is, compared to my elementary school!) and they get along pretty well.
So far, I’ve been able to leave the bank accounts alone, so that’s become my goal: save all that money as long as possible before starting to use it.
I caught a cold which became bronchitis, like last year… but, unlike last year, I seem to be nearly over it. I treated it with DelSym cough medicine and Mucinex, sleeping in most of the day the past couple of Saturdays… and I feel much, much better. Hopefully I will be completely past it in the next week or two, and won’t drag it out to next April, like last year’s bout of bronchitis.
I have received some beautiful yarn through the mail, thanks to a couple of Kossacks — a big box of colorful acrylics and a ginormous box of mohair (including some rich blues). I’ve knitted some, but between helping Mr. R and leaving for school, I’m not as focused on knitting as I’ve been while sitting at the library. So, that will be my plan, once Mr. R passes away.
I can’t imagine how sad Mr. R’s daughter must be. In talking to her, I’ve found our families seem to be pretty similar in a lot of ways… including how we pretty much just deal with stuff, and not discuss our feelings a whole lot. I have noticed that she tends to get a bit loud when she’s upset. The dogs are far from perfect (like, way far), and her when her dad was sleeping all day and awake all night, which included attempts to get out of bed, it got pretty crazy. If I were yelling, it would be at the dogs (and to be honest, more than one “QUIET!” has come out...) Yelling at her dad because he’s not staying awake while I’m trying to help him isn’t really me. I’d rather just let him sleep. :)
Anyway, tomorrow starts the week over again. On Monday through Friday, I watch Mr. R from when his daughter leaves for work, until about 2 pm. I feed him his lunch, and I feed him his breakfast on days when she goes to work. I let in the hospice lady on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. She shaves him and bathes him, mostly. The nurse comes by Monday and Thursday or Friday to take his vitals, and to deal with his foot. Then, somewhere around 2, another woman comes to watch Mr. R from 2 until 5 pm. I get back between 5 and 6:30, depending on how late I’m asked to work (usually until 6:05 on Tuesday and Wednesday, earlier Monday, Thursday and Friday.)
Oh, one thing that I’ve changed… I have attended Money Matters classes offered by Wheaton Community Bank through PADS, and had opened my bank account with that bank… I didn’t really have any money to budget, since I was basically spending what I made in teaching, with extra wonderful help from Kossacks…
So, after many web searches, I found a website that sold Quicken Deluxe (which costs $75 through Quicken) for 2016, for $30. Then this week, I received an email from Quicken offering to upgrade to 2017 for free. :) So, it’s been awesome to watch my bank accounts increase in my new software — though I haven’t tried the budgeting capabilities, yet.
I’m hoping that Mr. R has another period where he feels better — regardless, I’ll continue to help watch and take care of him as long as they will have me, and continue to bank my paycheck gratefully… Though it’s unlikely I’ll post another diary here until I’m back at the library.