The caregivers' meeting yesterday was a mixed bag. I arrived 20 minutes early (the letter said it was 2:00 to 4:00), walked into Bacharach Rehab, and asked the receptionists where the meeting was being held. Did anyone know? Nope. No sense in going into all the ins and outs of trying to find somebody who had any notion of the group's very existence while I gnashed my teeth, but the upshot was, I finally was directed to it at 10 after 2:00. (This is run by Atlanticare Hospital, but Bacharach is attached to it and they have a close relationship.)
There was a nurse/facilitator, plus two other women besides me. They meet every other Monday and I'll receive a snail mail reminder about the next one. I asked about e-mail, but the facilitator, Annie dismissed the idea of a nod to the 21st century--okay, fine by me.
The others there were Hazel, who has cared for her husband since his massive stroke 10 years ago and Debi, whose husband has naropothy (I know that's not the way to spell it, but I'm sure the spell check wouldn't have a clue, either), which I understand is nerve damage, plus vision problems, all due to severe diabetes. I liked them both a lot and was intrigued when Debi said her husband was 74--she's 53, 21 years younger.
Annie, however, was a pain in the rear. She talked much too much, giving us personal information of no interest (divorced, remarried, the circumstances of her first husband's leaving, how obese the current one is, she'll turn 50 soon, raised in Hammonton, has four sheep, and so on and boring on), and promoting a project for which she got a grant from Washington. She was all starry-eyed about how wonderful the undersecretary of something or other was who addressed the participants. She described the project the feds are funding as a series of meetings for those with chronic illnessness and how they can take over their own care in dealing with doctors, keeping track of records, and so on, presumably to relieve their caregivers--or something. Annie herself will train the facilitators, who will, naturally, be volunteers. When I asked if this included any practical help, such as aides, equipment or respite care--well, of course not. This is the federal government we're talking about, which can now sanctimoniously cite this pointless, pseudo-helpful, serio-comedy as "evidence" of how much they care for their citizens while doing as little as possible that would really help.
All right, I'm a cynical bitch, but people need not to take as gospel anything that comes out of some supposed "authority's" mouth and hey, that goes double and triple for anything from the government.
Aside from all that, it actually was an enjoyable experience when Hazel, Debi, and I shared our stories and I do plan to go back.
Ray and Frank treated Pat to lunch for his birthday, so for dinner, I just rustled up some scrambled eggs. Tonight I'll make a proper meal.
It's starting to snow--very lightly right now, but I have to take Pat to his podiatrist appointment at 10:00, so I hope it doesn't get icy. Also need to go into Manahawkin to pick up his samples from the dermotologist and run a few errands, but can defer them if I have to.