Today is Thursday, June 12th

Life is what happens or Plan B...

On Tues. finally consolidated everything in one place - Capitola with Dinah's help ...after Mon.'s mind numbing exhaustion... and then, Wed. came along.... as Tracy & I were talking his team arrived.  Next phone call was from a substitute "social" worker that had as much compassion as a stump... she proceeded to tell me that Tracy would be discharged on Fri.  Great news for his recovery but WTF?  Where was I supposed to put him????   She would "help" me find a place to go to (besides crazy) since our Palo Alto place would not be available until Tues. at the earliest.  I begged for more time... a day at least.... Sun. please? and then, I read her the riot act.... What were they going to do?  Roll Tracy to the curb?  They spent all this time getting him to this point and now... GET OUT!!!  What good would it do to cure the patient and kill the caregiver?

I'd broken down my home in 2 weeks- separated what I thought we'd need for 3 months from the other stuff that still needed to be moved out of our home; rented it; moved our stuff 4 times and now was given barely 2 days to find a respite for the next 5 days... BTW:  that new place must be antiseptically clean; within 30 min. of Stanford and with a full kitchen.   Not to mention I had important plans... let's face it... 90 days of 24/7 caregiving is daunting and I wanted a chance to relax and enjoy some time with friends before starting this next phase.

Lea, my Godchild, will be graduating from UC Davis Veterinary School on Fri.  I had planned to be there.  The culmination of a huge accomplishment deserves acknowledgement!!!  Now there wasn't any way to go...  When I explained my desire this "social worker" numb nuts said;  well, just get someone to sit with Tracy... oh yah sure, right after I find a place for us to live.

How could she qualify herself as a social worker?  I was angry, resentful and just plain crazed.  Oh, but she would help me find a place.... Yah... the first suggestion was a studio with a pull down murphy bed in Mt. View at $150 a night... duh, had she even seen the patient?  Tracy is 6'4".  Not happening...  Then,  it was a place in Newark for $200 or was it $250 per night.  Anyone know where Newark is?  It's North of Fremont & Hayward on the East bay and would require a drive across a bridge ... talk about insanity... next was the topper: basically a flop house on El Camino Real for a $105 + tax.  This person was a telephone book with a mouth that had never seen the places she had suggested...  I told her that I'd get back to her right after I ripped her a new one... my friend, Sally heard my end of the conversation on the 2nd and 3rd calls.  I asked her if I'd gone too far and she said no.... the key here was that I should have been told on Mon. at the latest that there was a change in plans... that Tracy, our miracle,  was recovering more quickly than expected.   But here's the thing:  on Mon. and Tues. T had been given blood and platelets.  His absolute white cell count was .3 where normal is 4-11.  T hasn't been able to go out of his room because he was severely neutrapenic but they were now thinking they'd release him on Fri.????

Does this make any sense?  to anyone?

I insisted that I had to speak to his Dr.  There had been a rotation change so, the Dr. we had started with was now on to another discipline.  I explained to the new guy that there had been a  communication break down... actually there had been a total lack of communication... and in this as in all things... communication is key.  He listened but there was no budging on T's release... he said he'd speak to me every day if need be... oh boy!

So, Dinah pulled a solution out of her hat... her cousin has a 2nd home in Menlo Park.  We will be staying there until the 17th.   Oh, I forgot to mention that earlier in the week I'd received a call from the Palo Alto folks asking to delay our move to their home until the 21st.  When I related that to Tracy,  he said "my Dr. trumps her Dr." and we laughed... he's not even a poker player.  So, now I'm  back to moving again.  Fri. and then, hopefully, on Tues. to the place we'll call home for the next 90 days....  right after I have my head examined.

Good news:  The San Jose short sale may be coming to a close soon after a very long 7 months... my buyer has been so patient...  my clients who are renting my home are ready and willing to find a new home and my listing in Live Oak is getting more attention.... and the world just keeps on spinning....