Rosewood admission

Well Dad has been moved into Rosewood Skilled Nursing Facility today.  As I said, he is room 1301B with another gentlemen named Gil Navarro.  This is one of the toughest thing we have had to do, but we exhausted all the other options.  We hope Dad is able to get the help he needs to move into the Assisted Living apartments in a few short weeks.  Of course that will depend on how long he is on IV medication.  Dad has a couple of doctor appointments this next week, the first is on Tuesday at 1:40 with Dr Nguyen, the oncologist.  John would you please either work with Rosewood to get Dad to this appointment or re-schedule the appointment for a time that is more convenient for you?  The second is with Dr Heidari, the infectious disease specialist (the one in charge of Dad’s anti-biotics) on Thursday at 2:15.  Jim if you would work with John on this one, that would be great.

Unfortunately, moving Dad into Rosewood on a Saturday of a three day weekend didn’t make for a smooth transition.  They were short staffed and while the nurse came in and introduced herself, she said she would do an evaluation on him sometime before 11 PM, we did not see her before we left at 6:45.  We also did not have anyone to talk to about which specialist we would like Dad to see.  In a meeting today, Tom, John and I thought it would be best if Dad could see Dr Heidari, Infectious Disease; Dr Trang, ENT specialist; Dr Nguyen, Oncologist; and Dr Alexandrakis, Ophthalmologist.  There was no one to talk to, so John if you could work with Tom over the next day or so to get this taken care of, I would appreciate it.  If the doctor is not available until Tuesday, would either you or Jim please work to ensure this.  We have been told that Dad’s primary doctor has to be a doctor that will visit the facility, so we agreed to Dr Memen.  He will have to approve the specialist that we use for Dad and will probably mean a switch in medications.

Jim, would you contact Life Alert and discontinue the service. I have already stopped the newspaper and all of Dad’s mail is going to Tom and Marys.  I can get the internet, tv and phone shut off when I come back in a week or so, so Jim will not be without service while he is here.  Also, I believe all of Dad’s bills are being paid automatically, and I am working to understand the process that he has set up.  But if you see any unpaid bills, please let me know.  I just added Jose to auto-pay for the landscaping, in case he asked.

I am sure I am missing several important items, but hopefully I will remember before anyone misses a deadline. Deb and I are heading home tomorrow, but I plan on returning the week of Sept 10th and Deb will return when she can, hopefully in a month or so.  If we are needed before that, please let us know otherwise I will try and make regular trips down to help out with doctor appointments and to spend time with Dad.  I hope he makes new friends at Rosewood and I just become a nuisance, but either way l try and make regular trips down.  I would like to thank Tom, Mary, John and Ranae for all the support while we were here.  This was much harder than I thought it would be on me personally and it was great to have them here to share the load, grief, frustration that this process entailed.  Both Tom & Mary and John & Ranae went out of their way to help relieve the pressure during the last four weeks and I truly appreciate all they did as well.  I believe we worked very well as a team.  I want to also thank Deb for all of her support during this period.  I know she was getting pressure from work to return, but she never let on and was a tremendous support for me.  She is my rock, my counselor, therapist and best friend, and I would have been a bigger wreck without her by my side.  I am truly blessed.

Dad’s good days still outnumber his bad, so I have been blessed to spend this time with Dad.  His sense of humor is still very sharp and I only wished I would have captured more of his Dadisms.  Dad has taught me so much over the years and he continues to teach me how to live even when you are dealt a crappy hand.  Jim I know you will enjoy your time with Dad as much as I did.