Going through some mental fatigue issues.
I know the signs; if I think about too many things at one time I get sleepy. About an hour ago I passed out. It's not one of those things where I fall out in the street, however if I am sitting somewhere I will take a nap. I will get tired and want to rest. Yesterday I was walking up the steps and each time I thought of something different I got tired and slowed down.
As usual the primary thoughts are Florida related. With Mom nothing major or specific. Just the morbid control freak in me worrying as usual. I was just put on to some new problem though. The lady who cares for my mother let me know that the lady who cares for my aunt may quit because she wants more money. As always with my curse I understand both sides of he issue.
A few ladies have worked in the house with mostly my aunt. My aunt has great difficulty walking and needs constant assistance. On one hand she does not need a LOT of assistance like other seniors who need to actually be fed, but she does need a lot of help because she can't even walk to the bathroom and now cannot even stand without help. In my opinion if you work in the house for six hours, two of the hours have some hard work like getting her out of bed, bathing and just general moving her. The other four hours are not really as difficult. She is a pleasant lady with a strong personality. She is on top of things and is not easy to take advantage of. Even though you can get through a day reading she has had more than a few workers who are completely lazy.
She pays a nice amount of money to the agency for the ladies, something like $13 an hour. The lady for my mother is a family friend and not with the agency and gets $9 an hour.. The main lady with my aunt gets the same. The problem is the two of them know what my aunt spends on the agency. They are doing her a favor now by working some of those hours (most of the agency girls left except for one).The lady for my aunt wants a dollar more an hour which she feels is fair because my aunt would spend more for the agency girl. I see her point.
Neither my aunt nor my mother get Medicaid and they pay for the help out of their own pockets. They are FAR from wealthy and the paychecks come from their own savings. They fall into that category of almost middle aged retired folks who own a home and small savings. I can feel their pain. On one hand America pushes you to live a long life while at the same time the government makes it difficult to afford that life. During the 70s when the country was pushing for a long life by taking care of yourself, etc., we never considered the quality of that life and the cost. Now more people are living to be 90 and 100 but their quality of life is poor. And paying for assistance is devastating. So I fully understand how my aunt feels about paying more for assistance.
Ultimately the bottom line is...the non agency ladies are terrific and a lot better than the agency ladies. Paying them the extra is at the very least, practical.
But I was already wondering the issue to myself and this makes it worse, do I want to live to be in my 80s?
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