by Judy Handley | May 7, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 126: Onward
Date: Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Rain in the PM; High Temp 65, Low 50 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
In the past five weeks, I have spent more time than I care to even think about, dealing with my sister’s healthcare situation. It has been frustrating, discouraging, and totally maddening at times, but there have also been bright spots. Doctors on call at a hospital who took the time to call me to update me and to tell me my sister has an amazing ability to rebound. She went into the hospital with double pneumonia, Covid, an insanely high sugar count, and an extremely low oxygen level. Three days later, at 92 years and 9 months old, she was rebounding. I talked on the phone daily to people from doctors to people dealing with palliative care. I read her My Chart continually to check her blood sugar levels, her white blood cell count, and a myriad of other tests. I learned to understand how to interpret a chest x-ray. A week later she went to rehab, and there I had to learn to talk to another whole group of people. Physical therapists occupational therapists, social case workers. Then after two weeks in rehab, she was ready to go back home to her assisted living situation. All of a sudden, there was no one to talk to. From last Friday to today, I have struggled mightily with communication with the med tech staff where she lives. But I am hopeful that I have finally found a path going forward. I am not sure any of this would have been easier if I were there in person because almost all of the communication is via text, email, or phone. It has taken a chunk of my life, but here’s hoping I don’t have to talk to anyone other than her physical therapist who texts me with updates for the foreseeable future. I am going to officially close this chapter right now.
Because of all the time I have spent overseeing Patsy’s healthcare for 5 weeks, I am more than a wee bit behind on other responsibilities. But I’ll get there. Heather’s new podcast was launched in the middle of this medical mess, but tonight I watched two of the four podcasts she has out there so far. Wow! I know she is good at whatever she attempts to do, and this new venture is no different. She is a great interviewer and the information I have learned from just two episodes is huge. More on this tomorrow night after I listen to the other two episodes. If you haven’t watched one yet, I highly recommend you do so. Just Google ‘Not a Climate Scientist’. I watched on YouTube.
by Judy Handley | May 5, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 125: Happy Cinco de Mayo
Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Warmer; High Temp 60, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
A message from Sam last night that his flight to Seattle went smoothly and that he was in the car with his friend Ethan and Ethan’s dog Cosmo, headed out on to the Olympic Peninsula. Happy travels to Sam, Ethan, and Cosmo.
A call this morning from my neighbor Andy who left yesterday morning for a cross-country trip to California and back. He got as far as Washington, Pennsylvania last night, and called this morning to say that the news about the war in Iran and gas prices in Pennsylvania had changed his mind. He is going to do a little trek down through West Virginia, maybe as far as South Carolina, and then head home.
Another day on the phone dealing with my sister’s healthcare, but not surprisingly, no call back yet from Terra Bella in response to my very long email of complaint on Sunday. My sister is fine, but if I do not hear back from Terra Bella tomorrow, I have to decide what action I will take next.
Then tonight, I put all of that behind me and went to a Cinco de Mayo celebration with my wine group. It was great to be with friends and think about nothing other than enjoying time with friends for a couple of hours.
by Judy Handley | May 4, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 124: Sisters, Sisters
Date: Monday, May 4, 2026
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Windy; High Temp 58, Low 50 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
This was one of those days when the Irving Berlin song, “Sisters, Sisters” made popular in the movie White Christmas, kept reeling though my mind. This was day four of having to spend all of my energy dealing with my sister Patsy’s health issues. In the song, the words say, “Lord help the mister, that comes between me and my sister.” Take out the word ‘mister’ and put in ‘incompetent people’ and you have the song I was singing today. Finally, yesterday, the senior living facility where she lives started giving her the insulin she needs. But today I got a text from her paid companion saying that they waited until Patsy was seated for lunch and then came in and got her and took her to the med tech station to inject the insulin. The med tech doing this then turned to Patsy’s companion, who has not one ounce of medical training, and asked her where she should give the injection. Oh, my. And I still have not heard back from the administrative staff in response to my very long email of yesterday. My nephew who lives near enough to Patsy to help out when needed was on a flight to Miami this afternoon, and in flight, he was researching to whom in North Carolina you report this kind of negligence. It is the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services that regulates assisted living/nursing home facilities. But Patsy lives in a senior living community that offers Independent Senior Living, Senior Assisted Living, and a Memory Care program. Now I have to switch to lawyer mode to figure out who does regulate this place. In the meantime, I have this one photo of me with my two older sisters that keeps me grounded. My oldest sister was born in 1928 and died in 2005, my sister Patsy was born in 1933, and then I came along 14 years later in 1947. I was never friends with my sisters because of the age difference, but family is family. Patsy’s husband died in 2019, her oldest daughter died in 2022, and her youngest daughter lives in an assisted-living memory care facility in Ohio. She suffers from post cortical atrophy, a rare form of Alzheimer’s. And our brothers died long ago. Patsy and I are what is left of my immediate family. So, I will battle on because we are family.
by Judy Handley | May 3, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 123: Send-off Dinner for Sam
Date: Sunday, May 3, 2026
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 55, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
My morning and early afternoon were spent continuing to deal with my sister’s return home from the rehab on Friday. Since she returned, I have been unable to talk to anyone on the med tech staff to see if she is receiving the newly prescribed glucose for other diabetes. Finally, at 8:30 am this morning I talked to a real person instead of an answering machine and found out that indeed, she has not been getting the glucose injections as prescribed. They have the meds, but no one ordered a test kit so it couldn’t be administered. But also, no one let her doctor or me or anyone know that a test kit was needed. I wrote an email to the administrative staff detailing all of the attempts by me and by my sister’s primary care nurses to reach someone on the assisted living staff since Friday at noon. When I printed out the email, it was 3 full pages long! I have spent a lot of time on hold at Terra Bella this weekend and every time I hear a man saying, “Visit us at Terra Bella, a retirement community with a country-club like atmosphere.” If this kind of service is country-club like, then put me in the poor house.
This evening I went to Heather and Jed’s for a farewell dinner for Sam. I know. He just got home on Friday, but he is off to Seattle tomorrow to meet up with a friend and head across the country, cowboy camping along the way. I had to ask for a definition of ‘cowboy camping’. It just means tucking into your sleeping bag on bare ground under the canopy of stars. Sam and Ethan are both 19. Youth is on their side, and I’m sure they will be fine. But I suggested Sam at least take a camp pad! However they decide to sleep, I just hope they have a wonderful trek across this country “from sea to shining sea.”.
by Judy Handley | May 2, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 122: Hats and Horses
Date: Saturday, May 2, 2026
Weather: Overcast, Some Rain; High Temp 57, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
My saga with my sister continued today. I continue to try and talk to someone on the medical staff and all I can do is leave messages that don’t get returned. More on that tomorrow. But this evening, I changed gears and attended Encore’s spring social. This year it was called Hats and Horses, a theme built around this evening’s Kentucky Derby. We wore our crazy hats and we cheered on our horses of choice. The horse I chose, So Happy, didn’t win, but he ran a good race. And I enjoyed the evening.
