2026 Life Logs, Day 215: One Step Forward, One Step Back
Date: Monday, August 3, 2026
Weather: Cloudy and Windy, Rain PM; High Temp 80, Low 62 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Plans for working in my garden just didn’t materialize today. I wanted so badly to do some serious weeding to try and save the kale that is dying because it is being choked out by weeds. Gardening has always been to me what I think meditation is for others. And I had really hoped to be on a bi-monthly Zoom meeting with the Falmouth Immigrant Rights Coalition. That didn’t happen either. I ended up dealing with bureaucracy regarding my sister’s change from NC Medicare Advantage to MA straight Medicare with supplementary insurance. The changeover was supposed to happen at midnight on Friday, August 1, but I still don’t know if it happened. But other than the bureaucratic challenges, everything else seemed to be going ahead on an even keel with Patsy. The switch from insulin injections to Jardiance, a pill, seems to be working, so I was beginning to relax a bit. But when I visited this afternoon, I was told by one of the CNAs as I was leaving that Patsy has developed two ulcers, one on each foot. That is not good news for a diabetic. But they had already taken her to dinner when I found out, so I didn’t want to disturb her eating. I will go tomorrow to check this out. Memory care nor assisted living facilities are allowed to do wound care, so I either do it myself or get a referral for a visiting nurse. I came home and did the communication necessary to get a referral going, but that will take a few days. In the meantime, tomorrow afternoon I will go examine the ulcers so I can describe the problem in detail to my friend Jane Woodin who just retired a year of so ago as a visiting nurse in facilities like Bridges. I am taking my neighbor, Andy, to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston tomorrow morning as he is having a heart ablation for his Afib tomorrow. But when I get home, I will go straight to Bridges and deal with my sister’s situation. I never, ever, never ever wanted to be a nurse, but life happens and you have to rise to the occasion. Thankfully, I have nurse friends who are willing to help me. So the bottom line is that the blood sugar numbers are looking better for my sister and that is one step forward. But now we have the ulcers, and that is one stop back. So, we’ll call it even. At least things are not just going backwards!
