Frustrations

I'm about to scream in insanity and run down the street. No, not the stress of being a family caregiver, the stress of trying to run a family caregiver website.

I've been trying to get family caregiver info organized so the site works how I want it to, but I keep having trouble with the forums not working how they are supposed to. It's frustrating and I have restarted three or four times now and am about to do so again.

I'm going to test this revision on another site, then if this other approach works I will go back and revamp family caregiver info once again, but if not I at least have not started from scratch for nothing.

Rare Coin Investments

Now here is something that I would love to get started in collecting: rare coins. For some reason I have always loved coins, they fascinate me for an undefinable reason. As a kid I would go to the mall when they had vendors in there and I would sort through the bowls of foreign coins sitting on the people's counters, paying something like a nickel to a quarter apiece for old coins from foreign countries. I still have the box of old coins, my treasure box, sitting on the shelf in my office. Collectively they are only worth probably a dollar, but to me they are a wondrous reminder of the awe I had as I sorted through coins from all over the world to locate some kind of coin with Russian writing on it and a picture that looks like a viking ship, or a German coin with a fancy bird I assume is an eagle on it. Another ship graces the back of a Korean coin, while a coin with oriental writing offers up a lovely display of flowers.

Some day I want to get back into collecting coins, but instead of sorting through bowls of coins at flea markets, I want to invest in rare coins with a rare coin dealer such as Monaco Rare Coin. Monaco Rare Coin is known for offering the finest rare coins available and has a collection of rare coins for interested buyers that is valued at over $10,000,000.

By buying from a well known and respected dealer like Monaco Rare Coin, investors can be confident that they are going to get the best opportunities available in the rare coin marketplace, opportunities that smaller or less well known coin dealers will not know about.

To learn more about Monaco Rare Coin and the possibilities of rare coin investing, visit zoomcoin.com (link above)

Would McCain veto a family caregiver bill?

I wonder, in his goal to reduce government spending -- what would McCain do if a bill such as the Social Security Caregiver Act of 2007 (H.R. 1161) were to land on his desk? Would he approve it or veto it?

Would McCain approve of family caregivers being credited for deemed wages for up to five years of serving as caregivers of dependent relatives? I would seriously like to know if the bill ever did make it to his desk - would he just sneer at it at veto or would he approve it?

Politician bloggers?

I saw today where John McCain started a blog, it's not actually maintained by him, of course, but it still got me to thinking. Maybe it would help to track down the blogs that members of congress have going and send comments to them asking for support of bills that impact family caregivers? I doubt if it would hurt, but it might just help.

No more coffee, give me spicy herbal tea instead

I've began drinking spicy herbal tea in the mornings instead of coffee. I had been drinking a couple of cups of cappuccino in the morning, then a few more in the afternoon and a couple in the evening... at least 6 cups a day on average. Not good, particularly not for the diet efforts.

So, I have now decided to try and drop the coffee habit and drink tea again like I used to. Of course, I am modifying that. I used to drink black tea with 2 spoons of sugar. I'm now drinking spicy herbal tea with no sweetener or maybe a tsp of honey in it. It should work out better in the long run, at least for my diet.

Thinking of my future

As a family caregiver, I know that it is important to be prepared for the future. As I care for my parents I am inevitably left to wonder who will care for me when I am no longer able to tend to daily tasks such as shopping or preparing my own meals. The reality of such things has made me look more and more into what I will need when it is time for me to retire. One of my goals for my home business is to one day, hopefully within the next five years, to be in a position to invest in the stock market.

I know that it can be a risky proposition, fortunes are won and lost every minute on the floor of the exchange. What if I was one of the ones who made their fortune though? That would be something, wouldn't it? I've made the decision that I am going to start learning about options trading and other methods of investing for the future. I am hoping that by the end of the summer I can have the time to make full use of the 14 day free trial that PowerOptions offers so I can see just how powerful their SmartSearchXL® really is. SmartSearchXL® helps investors identify the options that have the highest return, which is something I most definitely want, so I am hoping that when I can dedicate some time to getting started in options trading I will be able to afford to make several good looking investments and see what happens from there.

Poor kitchen clock

I've been neglecting assorted small tasks around the house without even realizing it and one of those, which I keep noticing but not getting around to fixing, is replacing the batteries in the kitchen clock. The poor thing keeps chiming the hour and the tune it plays is drawn out in a slow werrrrn-wroooooouuun-wooourrrrrnnnnn-weeeerrrrn sound that is so pitiful sounding. I'll have to change the battery today, just need to write a note on my to-do list and then not loose the list again.

National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped

I put the cassette for the U.S. News and Weekly World Report on for my dad to listen to. It's one of the audio magazines for the handicapped and blind that I have started getting for him. I's so wonderful to be able to have him "reading" again.

He was a lifetime reader that read anything and everything he could find to read, so it was very hard when one of the things taken from him by the stroke was his ability to read. With the materials for the blind and handicapped, however, he can listen to the books and magazines that he always loved so much and once again enjoy being able to read - or at least to listen to narrations of the things he used to enjoy reading.

It is amazing how much of a difference something so simple as a book on tape can make things seem so much better for someone. I'm very grateful that the Library of Congress and various magazines support making materials like this available to the blind and handicapped.

If you want to learn more about the talking books program see the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped FAQ page.

Medical reference software - turn your PDA into a medical assistant

Doctors get the kewlest toys. Thankfully there are some of those toys that us family caregivers can use as well, so I'm always keeping my eye out for something kewl that the doctors get to play with that is also useful for family caregivers.

The handiest thing I have seen in some time that meets that goal is the medical reference software that Epocrates has made for doctors to use when they are writing prescriptions for patients.

According to Epocrates, the software is being used by over 500,000 healthcare professionals to help them keep track of needed information. The products section of the Epocrates website has information on the free and premium products that they offer, as well as information to help in understanding compatibility with mobile devices.

My interest in the software is in the possible uses for caregivers in confirming new prescriptions for their care recipient will not have adverse interactions with current prescriptions the care recipient is already on. Over the years I have seen far too many instances where prescribed medications were in conflict with current prescriptions - sometimes potentially fatal conflicts. My grandmother was nearly killed because of medicine conflicts years ago, and it is still a very serious problem that I am often encountering as I deal with my dad's medications.


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This announcement was paid for by Epocrates.

Bad tooth is starting to infect

One of the biggest problems with being a full-time family caregiver is never being able to take care of myself. Right now I have a very nasty toothache that has started turning into an infected tooth, but I can't afford to go get it fixed. I know I should go see the emergency clinic, and I will if it gets to point I know I have to, but I really don't want to have to go down there.

The last time I went down to the emergency clinic in town to have them take a look at an infected tooth the doctor chewed my ass off for having bad teeth. He told me to go see a dentist because all he could do was treat the infection. I told him I know that was all he could do, that's all I needed was the infection that was working it's way up my sinus passages stopped because I know any infection in the face, particularly that area, is very dangerous. He snarled some more about how I had to go to a dentist and I finally got tired of being chewed out and asked him if he knew one that took payments rather than wanting to be paid up front, the last one I saw told me $3,000 (up front) to do anything at all for my teeth. That at least stopped the doctor chewing my ass off, but he still gave me nasty glares and an attitude that made it perfectly clear I was wasting his time by going to see him for help.

It really sucks when someone in my situation can't even go to the local walk-in clinic to get help without being made feel like they are a worthless waste of the doctor's time. I know it's not true, but it don't help much when you are sitting there having a doctor lecture you and can't even tell them to go to hell because if you do they'll toss you out without giving you any help and still charge you $150 for the privilege of chewing your ass off. So, here I sit, waiting and praying that the pain medication I just took will make the pain stop, and hoping that the peroxide/water wash I have been trying to fight the infection with will work this time and I won't have to go to the walk-in clinic again. I just want to be able to have my teeth all fixed someday, get the pain to stop and be able to make it through a day without being embarrassed to actually smile.

Family Evicted Over Service Dog

I was visiting a pet lover's social networking site and saw an article about a family that was evicted in connection with their service dog. Yup, that's right - their service dog got them evicted. What got me about the article was that the woman had a service dog for her daughter, and she gave it up to move into the apartment. First off, service dogs are excluded from the "no pets" policies, but still, she gave the dog up. Then when her daughter had bad problems with increased seizures the woman applied for another service dog and was told she had to move before the dog was delivered to them.

The woman sued her landlord for “refusal to make reasonable accommodation to his rules that may be necessary to afford equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling,” and she was awarded $115K. You can read the article at Zootoo - Family Evicted Over Service Dog.

Father's Day

Father's day is just around the corner and I still have not figured out what to get my dad for it. I had wanted to maybe go down to Hope, Alaska to go gold panning, but I don't think we're going to be able to make that for Father's day, so I'll need to think of something else that would work instead. We'll see what can be come up with for it, maybe if nothing else we can just cook some burgers on the grill on the back porch for it.