Yesterday started with a bang, and not a good one. Unfortunately, I heard a crash of what only could be a car hitting something. I got up quickly to look, startled. Well you can imagine how that went. I realized quickly that in case of an emergency, don’t ever count on me. In my startled reaction to the sound, I got up and fell. It took me some time to get myself up. Thankfully, there were many people from my building outside helping the lady who had the accident. Actually, no, thankfully no one was hurt. I thought someone hit our back gate. I was surprised to see that a car somehow jumped the curb and hit another car. It wasn’t so much a car jumping a curb it was the reverse angle they jumped the curb.

Crazy, right? I am thinking maybe some confusion between the gas and the break pedal. It must have been a kamikaze move. Glad no one was hurt.

By the way I didn’t get hurt when I fell, in case you were wondering. However, I once again fell. I also fell on Thursday but my aide was here. On Friday I had a intake conversation with Suffolk Independent Living Organization. This is the non profit group who work with the state to assess and install a care plan program for me. The phone conversation was about 30-45 minutes. We discussed my condition, symptoms and difficulties. Typical things from a nursing care level. There were two major issues that emerged through the call; falls and my bed.

The falls became an obvious and fast concern. She asked me how many times I fall in a year. If you read my blog with any type of regularity, you can understand why I would chuckle. I explained I can break it out better in months then to try to figure it out for the year. She asked me do I report it to Aetna, which is my current insurance. I say yes every month absolutely. I know my falls are well documented. This was definitely her biggest concern, I think. I know it is for my entire family and it always has been Hence the reason why they want me to have more aide hours. The second part was the bed. She wanted to know if I can turn over in bed. I cannot. Getting myself into bed can be difficult. Some days I don’t have a problem other days I have a problem. I’ve discussed this a few times as well in my blogs. The more I need to get up to use the bathroom, the more chance I have for a fall or problems getting back into bed.

The intake nurse felt I need to have two 12 hour aides. I am not really sure who makes the ultimate decision. I could have asked but I truthfully didn’t want to. I will get a whole package of information this week, I’m sure the information will be there. I know a lot still needs to be done. I have to sign a bunch of paperwork first. Then I have to pick a nursing agency and case manager. From there, they’ll be another in person intake with the nursing agency and a questionnaire of I believe 190 questions. She said it could take 3 to 6 months. She oversees everything until the completion. This includes the care plan so I kind of think she has a lot to say about the hours. I just can’t think about that right now because where I know my family is happy, I’m not. I’ll never have my own solitude again. I have a lot of steps to go though. Maybe the weekend could have some compromise. Time will tell.