Good morning, happy Monday. I’m definitely on the recovery side of things and I’m so grateful for that. I’m hoping to play mahjong for a little today with the ladies in my building. I might not be able to play all day but I’ll be thrilled if I can get through a few hours. I canceled therapy for tomorrow because without an aid with me I am worried I’d be too fatigued on my own. That leads me to today’s other activities. Figuring out the agency and aid issue.

The agency I change to works very well for my aid. For some reason on Long Island there is discrepancy of hourly pay for home health aides. The agency I switch to actually pays more and even offers benefits to their employees. This is wonderful they should get it especially when working full time. However, it is rare to find. You’d think because of this they’d have a large employee pool but it seems they do not. They were unable to find me coverage in my Aid’s absence because i have dogs.

The first thing they asked me is could I put them away someplace for the day. I flat out refused. I’m not gonna lock both of my dogs up in my room for the entire day listening to both of them cry to have an aid with me. That would make me crazy and would make me uncomfortable and unhappy in my own home. to do that for three days I could never do. My mother wasn’t very happy with that decision because she is more concerned about me and is not a pet lover. Anyone who has animals could completely understand my side. This was not up for discussion.

Then my mom thought maybe I can bring them to a kennel. Even when I go away I don’t bring my dogs to a kennel. My dogs stay home with the babysitter. They would never even have the shots needed to go to a kennel. Yet I would never traumatize my dogs for the sake of an aid. It just won’t happen. She thinks I’m crazy and she’s frustrated because she’s thinking of me but these are my babies. Needless to say I’m home today without an aid.

I was contacted today by the agency still looking for an aid for tomorrow. The caseworker actually asked what type of dogs I had because she wanted to look it up online. That actually helps pretty because if you look up a French bulldog online they have a pretty good description:

Life expectancy: 10 – 14 years
Colors: Fawn, Brindle, White, Brindle & White, Tan
Temperament: Easygoing, Affectionate, Lively, Sociable, Patient, Keen, Bright, Alert, Playful, Athletic
Origin: France, England
Size: Generally a French Bulldog is about 11 to 12 inches tall. Males weigh 20 to 28 pounds, females 16 to 24 pounds. dogtime.com

I hope everything works out because I would like to stay with this agency for my aid sake. Meanwhile she’s going to stop over later just to say hello and check on me. Those are the reasons I do things for her because she goes out of her way to do things for me.