it goes on

We have friends that named their boat Never Ending Story. That is what I think about the struggle to keep caregiver coverage. I had started to write about doing new caregiver training the last two weeks when a new problem came up. Let's see where to begin. Last spring I was feeling great with a complete caregiver team. It was a good balance of personality and dedication. So why did I have to say something and jinx the entire thing? First Melissa hurt her back. It was the end of the school year so Kelsey-Ann could cover most shifts and still do her regular nights. After finding out that Melissa had 2 slipped disks we knew it would be a long road back. Then Sherry found out her recurring eye problem was much worse than anyone had realized. She was diagnosed with uvites, an inflammation of the color portion of the eye that leads to blindness. She has an appointment with a specialist mid September to see if anything can slow it down. Already she can not see to drive or read. The agency already had someone in mind to take Melissa spot. However when they were trying to make arrangements for her training she told them see had another Monday through Friday job. She was still interested in Saturday and doing some Sunday nights. So Cindy did the day training and Sherry the night. It all looks easy on paper, just a few transfers and tube feeding. The ventilator is a little more complicated. All of this requires lots of my energy so, many things, like writing this blog, get put on hold. Anyway after all that she tells the office that her new job requires her to do some training on the next two Saturdays. Back to square one. Okay, interview the next one. This time Cindy and I developed a hands on interview and skills assessment. She looked good but this time I insisted she have vent training prior to working with me. This helped but it was still an exhausting 3 day training. We all took a breath because it looked like we had a full team. Then Sherry started saying that her vision was getting blurry again after her cateract surgery. That is when Sherry got her devastating news. So next week we start interviews for a night person. I have no idea what we would have done if school had started for Kelsey-Ann. She almost moved in as she did 6 nights a week. That will help with her books. I sure hope things settle down soon.