"The Son Sitting in the Chair..."

...turned out to be Blanche's cat, Cleo. I found that out when I made her go back to her apartment with me right behind her so I could confront for her all of the "people" that were hanging out in her apartment. We walked in and there was Cleo, sitting in a chair. So I asked Blanche if that was "the son sitting in the chair" and she said yes. Another mystery solved, until tomorrow when I am certain we will repeat the entire exercise again.

Just to digress for a moment, yesterday Blanche told me she had to go back to her apartment because her husband was waiting for her over there. Since he died in 2004, I told her yes, he's waiting for you, but not over in your apartment! (Just kidding - I just thought that. I didn't really say it out loud, although I am tempted sometimes because she would never remember from one moment to the next what was just said.)

Our next challenge will be getting the caregiver that comes in four days a week to actually DO something when she is spending time with Blanche. It's been quite a learning experience for us regarding what professional caregivers say they will do and what they actually do! For example, when we went on vacation in September, we had a full-time caregiver living with Blanche. We had a meeting with the caregiver and the office manager and the liasion to make sure everyone was on the same page and that they knew what to do. Well, apparently even though the office manager was taking notes, she never passed those notes on to the caregiver when it came time for her to stay full-time with Blanche for 10 days.

So when we came home, most of the instructions we had given were not followed and it was extremely annoying and frustrating to think for $220.00 per day (plus meals and mileage), we did not receive the services we were supposed to receive. When I spoke to the office manager on our return, her response was that the caregiver needed to take better notes next time! When I pointed out that everyone was taking notes during that meeting, the office manager just glossed over that and did not really respond. The last thing I have to say is that when we signed on with this company (who shall remain nameless), they put a notebook in Blanche's apartment that they would fill out as a daily log as to what they were doing each day and how Blanche was doing. I ended up having to call TWICE to ask them to please fill out the log everyday as that is our only resource to keep us informed as to what goes on during the day.

The moral of the story here that no matter how reputable the company, or group or person, or how highly recommended they are, it is up to you, and you alone, to keep on top of things regularly and make sure your loved one is getting the care that you are paying for and the services that you are paying for. It's simple really. Hope this helps someone else who may be in the same situation. If you must know the group we are using, contact me privately and I will tell you who they are. I will also tell you that we continue to use them, but we are much more diligent in making sure they do what they are supposed to do.