7-13-2022 The night nurse has COVID (not from us)

(Tricia) I should know by now that whenever we make a little progress, something else will happen to set us back! The bad news: As noted above, one of our nighttime caregivers now has COVID!  Sigh...we had just started getting back to normal in the house, but now we're back to wearing masks and waiting to see if Linda comes down with it. Ed and I have been negative for more than week, so it is more likely that the caregiver was exposed at her family reunion, which she attended this past weekend. 

I suspect that Linda will turn up positive because she spent two full nights in a row in the same room with the caregiver. Our only hope is that she remains asymptomatic. And, of course, there is the chance that Ed and I could catch it again--please, no.

The good news: In the past week, I've made an appointment for Linda with a highly recommended primary care physician with a geriatric specialty--he is even seeing her on July 23, a Saturday morning, in order to spend more time with her. We will continue Linda on hospice until at least just after that point.

We also have been able to use the Hoyer lift to place Linda in a standard wheelchair (not the Broda chair). Now that her pressure ulcer is healed, she can sit more normally. She is able to sit comfortably in the wheelchair for two to three hours now. If that continues, that means that we hopefully can transport her to the doctor's appointment more easily than I anticipated. Ee might even take her outside for brief walks once the weather cools off a bit. 

She is complaining of pain in her knee, and of course in her right hip, which is hindering attempts to do more "advanced" actions, such as sit up on the side of the bed. But just as she did as she was coming out of the coma, she is now constantly saying that she wants to get up. As hard as it is to remind her that she can't at the moment, the fact that she is asking indicates that she is feeling better, so that's one good thing. We will keep doing what we can do--exercises in bed, sitting in the wheelchair--until we can have a doctor order actual PT.

Even if/when the primary care physician orders PT, it is very likely that Anthem will not cover it. But if nothing else, we'll bring PT in for a few times to show us what to do.

But we now have to get past COVID--again. For the next two nights, we will be without nighttime caregiving as the nurse completes her quarantine period, so I will be finding out whether I can handle that part of it. I had planned on doing a trial run eventually, but I had hoped it wouldn't be quite so soon or suddenly.

I have learned one thing: I do not have the temperament for full-time caregiving! But part-time? Maybe. I'll know by Friday.