2026 Life Logs, Day 223: Puerto Rico Lo Hace Mejor
Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2026
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Hot, Nice Breeze; High Temp 87, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
“Puerto Rico lo hace mejor” translates as “Puerto Rico does it better.” And that is what my daughter-in-law, Jo, thought this morning on the first day of Ziggy’s senior year. When she took Ziggy and Coco to school this morning, there was a huge celebration. Evidently in Puerto Rico they celebrate the beginning of the senior year with as much enthusiasm as they do at the end for graduation. There was music, dancing, cheering, a parade. What a wonderful way to start off the school year!
After doing a little work on my computer this morning, I actually went out and weeded in the garden. When I was done, there was almost nothing left. A few straggly tomatoes, some unhealthy-looking kale, and a couple of pepper plants. The weeds had so totally taken over that nothing I planted in May could grow. And since I haven’t stepped foot in the garden since late May, I was surprised to see that anything had survived. I will simply have to try again next year.
It was well after 1 pm when I got back inside, and just as I was starting to make lunch, the phone rang. It was a visiting nurse that was on her way to see my sister. Late last Monday when I was told by a CNA at Bridges that my sister had what looked like diabetic ulcers on her feet, I immediately went home and sent an email to the Wellness Director at Bridges asking her to FAX a request to Patsy’s primary care to refer her for skilled nursing. Sthe director had already left Bridges for the day, thus the email. I got an email back the next morning saying the referral had been sent. But I followed up with a text to the primary care stating the urgency. I was leaving town for Maine on Wednesday, but I felt sure a nurse would come by Thursday or Friday. On Saturday when I visited Patsy, I asked the nursing staff if anyone had come to see Patsy and they said they saw nothing about this in her records. So Monday morning, I called the primary care asking when a nurse would be coming. I had to leave a message and got a text back saying the nurse would be coming on Tuesday. But I found out from the nurse today that no referral was sent last week. Yesterday, a different visiting nurse was at Bridges and one of the nurses asked if she was there to see Patsy. She said she was not, but she got the message back to the home office that ‘a family member’ was very concerned. Evidently, after my call in the morning, the primary care did send in the order yesterday afternoon—one full week after the initial request. But this is just totally unacceptable. The same thing happened with the referral for physical therapy for Patsy. I will spend tomorrow morning dealing with this, but back to today, the visiting nurse asked me if I would like to meet her at Bridges for Patsy’s examination. She said she would be there in 20 minutes. The answer was yes, so no lunch for me today. I got out of my gardening clothes and into something presentable and headed straight to Bridges. The complete examination took over two hours as it was more than just looking at Patsy’s feet and documenting and bandaging them. The ulcer on one foot has not broken through the skin, but on the other foot, it has. The nurse ordered visits twice a week for three weeks for now and once a week after that, plus she met with staff to explain that the bandages cannot get wet. It will be sponge baths for now until I can order plastic sleeves to keep her legs and feet dry during showers. And I need to get a real wheelchair for Patsy, a special pillow to put on the footrests to cushion her feet for now, and we ordered new diabetic shoes right on the spot. The nurse was very thorough and very helpful. It was a productive afternoon, but just not how I planned to spend it. The story of my life these days. I hurried home to eat lunch/dinner and got to the library just in time for the Trustees meeting. Thankfully I had printed the financial reports this morning, so all I had to do was get there on time.
