Muscle Relaxant; Expenses; Mother and Bills; Raiding the Bank; Mexican Silver

The muscle relaxant had worked wonders. I'm actually able to make it through the day without having my throat become overly painful. And it has made me not nearly as jittery, so my concentration is better.

I've been taking steps to cut expenses. Last week I discontinued mother's medical alert system and stopped the cable at her house. Yesterday I called and discontinued her phone service. A hard decision emotionally since she'd had the number since the late 50s.

Yesterday at noon, I turned in my digital cable box and reduced my cable service to basic. This includes the networks, C-SPAN 1 and 2, WGN, QVC, TV Guide Channel and two horrible public access channels. The primary programming of the access channels is bible-thumping ladies wearing crushed velvet hats hell-bent on spreading the word of the lord.

I also called the nursing home yesterday and asked at what point I should make an application for mother to receive Medcaid. The limit for personal assets is $4,000. Since I have bills in excess of $10,000, her savings will be gone within a month or so.

It is unbelievable how expensive all this is even with health insurance and Medicare. Her health insurance pays nothing for skilled nursing care of custodial care. Medicare pays for first 100 days, then ziltch.

It is very depressing. If you feel ill, you should look for an old elephant burial ground, it will certainly be cheaper.

Last evening, I got a call from a cousin whom I'd literally forgotten about. Her mother had also been in a home, so she was familiar with all that one goes through.

I attended a care team meeting at the nursing home this afternoon, after which on a spur-of-the-moment decision, I decided to clear out the safety deposit box, since I realized I didn't have a good idea of what was there. I found several certificate of deposits and a large collection of Mexican silver coins.

My father was incapacitated for several years before he died, so one of the few things he could do was to dabble in coin collection via the mail. And his speciality was Mexican silver coins which are almost 100% silver. So when you pick up a silver dollar, it feels really heavy.

I filled a briefcase with everything from the box, then picked it up and thought it was full of bricks. The key word here is heavy. I'm curious to catalog and find a market value for the coins. They're all at least 20 years ago. But the market may be slim.

Several times during the day I went into panic mode thinking of what to do with mother. But this evening I sat down and read through a booklet I snatched from the clinic's office. I read parts of it before, but this time it made more sense. And I feel more positive about things.

So maybe tomorrow the sun will bring new energy and a proud sense of renewal.

PAX!