Disclaimer

This is dementia. It's not just a memory problem.
What you read in this blog is purely my own personal experience in dealing with Lewy Body Dementia every day.

This is not meant to offer any medical or legal advise.
I have no professional training in care giving or experiences in formal writing.
I'm just a woman that loves her husband deeply and wants to provide him with the best quality of life he can and chooses to have.
My prayer though this is "Lord, What am I learning from this; how can I use it help someone else and to glorify You?"
If just one person finds comfort in this public blog. I will feel like it was a success.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Numb

I started to say Lewy bodies have me feeling numb but realized numb is no feeling at all.

SO just what am I feeling?

Here's our update.
The hearing for Hubby's guardianship went well and I was appointed. As such I will now need to file an annual accounting of expenses and health update. I have no problems doing this. What's a little extra work ;-)

Seriously, I was very pleased with the proceedings and the Judge and the Bailiff were as supportive and helpfully informative as you could imagine. As I handled the case Pro Se (by myself) The Judge took me off record to explain some of the responsibilities of guardianship. The things I was allowed to spend Hubby's income on and the things I was not allowed to spend it on. It struck me as odd but understandable, as most spouses never have to declare themselves as guardians, that I was able to spend Hubby's income on His food but not mine. ALL expenses had to be for Hubby's benefit and Hubby's alone. The Judge in his kindness did smile and say he would grant me a generous salary for the 24 hr caregiving I provide.

The bailiff informed me of a couple of things I did not know of concerning the veterans. He is a retired Military and wanted to pass on some information he felt would be beneficial to both hubby and myself.

The first was a grant for "Special Adaptive Housing"
The second was a "Veterans Mortgage Life Insurance"

We do not qualify for the Life Ins due to Hubby's age.
I will do more research on the adaptive housing.

All in all I was very pleased with the outcome of the day and VERY appreciative of all the help.

We still have a ways to go until we get back to our financial normal. Hubby's biggest income is still floating around somewhere. We have yet to receive it and that loss still keeps us in financial distress for now. Savings (big laugh, should be called squirrel money) plowed through to cover last months expenses which are now due again for this month. It's a waiting game.

Now my life sits in limbo. Can't move forward can't move back. Numb.
Maybe that's a good place to be right now.

As for Hubby. Informed that a guardianship was taking place. Properly notified, Dr discussed it with him and Hubby even agreed it would be a good thing. Nothing done behind his back. He becomes confused as to exactly what would happen. He is under the impression that I will now keep him locked up. I tried to reassure him that is NOT the case. He actually became so upset that while his sister was here he verbally lashed out at her for no reason. While I was trying once again to explain the reasons behind the guardianship, his sister injected that it was so I could pay the bills. His reaction to the comment she made took me by surprise. At one point he rose from his chair as to strike her. I was floored. He said some very hurtful things to her. Bless her heart for understanding.
I would not have been surprised if the anger and hostility had been directed at me. It has been before and I can deal with it, but his sister who he has always admired and respected had to be on the receiving end of it. So sad.
She stepped away from the situation and went home. I called to make sure she was OK and she assured me she was. God bless her. I know that had to hurt.

As Hubby slips farther and farther the things I want to protect others from are becoming increasingly difficult. For the first time while talking to our son, Hubby called him by another name. I could tell my son was hurt by the tone of his voice but I don't think he would ever admit it completely. He tries to be strong for me. I try to be strong for my family. I suppose we can't keep them completely protected.

Wow this is such a depressing post so I shall stop!
Better start looking for the positive.

2 comments:

  1. I am sorry that you are having a rough time. I'm happy that you were granted guardianship.

    Lewy is mean.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I ran across your blog about your new guardianship of your hubby. I want to tell you that it is wonderful to see when a family member takes it upon themselves to take guardianship of their loved one. It is tough to go through what you are going through. I am a Professional Guardian and their are many people out there that do not have someone their to protect and love them as you are for your hubby. I just wanted to send you a little note to also tell you that the VA has a program called "Aide and Attendance". Their are some qualifying factors but it would be a little extra income coming into your home every month. It's about $1,623.00. If you are over the asset limit, you could open a special needs trust that would help you qualify and still safe guard the assets to use for his care. Many attorney's help apply for Aide and Attendance but you do not need one. You could do the application yourself. If you need help finding the application, let me know. crabago@adevotedheart.com

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to word verify comments. I'm sorry that due to Bot Spam the process is a little more time consuming.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.