2026 Life Logs, Day 202: Ups and Downs
Date: Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Weather: Sun, then Overcast, Windy/Thunderstorms; High Temp 78, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
My morning started at Bridges with my sister. We had a nice, but short visit before the physical therapist came to do an evaluation. Halleluiah! I have been trying to get this done since Patsy’s first week at Bridges, but insurance issues complicated the matter. The young woman who came was wonderful with Patsy and prescribed a plan to try and get her walking again. She says Patsy has the strength, just not the will. But at least we now have a plan. The problem of keeping her falling out of bed is trickier. In order to have a bed rail, you have to go through a lot of red tape and are not normally successful. Memory care facilities cannot restrain residents and installing a bed rail does just that. If I understand correctly, you have to get permission from some state office. So, alternatives were offered. One is to get a hospital bed with a specific type of mattress. I think that costs a couple of thousand dollars and I have already spent $1800 on her current bed, mattress, waterproof mattress covers, sheets, blanket, etc. The hospital bed will be a different size, so I will have to buy all of the stuff again. I will begin to figure this out tomorrow and see where the search takes me. So, the upside is that Patsy is fully capable of walking again, but the downside is just how to make that happen. And in the meantime, we have to find a way to keep her from falling out of bed and fracturing something.
After leaving Bridges, I went home to change into beach wear and then did something for myself. I went to the beach. By the time I got there, it was overcast and windy, but I didn’t care. I was sitting on the beach for the first time this summer and I enjoyed every minute of it.
Then it was back home to change and then go back to Bridges for a Family Support Group meeting. I am not sure I will go to another one of those. There were eight of us, all women, and only one other person caring for someone other than a spouse. It was heartbreaking to hear their stories. Some are caring for husbands at home, and four others have husbands at Bridges. The hour and a half with these women convinced me to go home and celebrate Mark’s life. He fought cancer for 5 years, but the stories these women were telling made the cancer battle sound like a walk in the park. Dementia is a demon.
The first thunderstorm happened before I left Bridges and they have continued throughout the evening. Right now it is pouring rain, accompanied by a chorus of thunder. We need the rain, but not buckets of it all at once.
