Mom may have had more fun than Ruby, but it was well worth it.
Mike Update
After a great ALS walk weekend and many conversations with family, Mike and I tackled a new hurdle- hiring someone to come into the house on a weekly basis and help out with daily needs of Mike.
We first wanted to hire someone to come in and take care of his noon tube feeding as well as take care of showering, dressing, stretching and meal prep. After some research and a few phone calls we came to find out that in order to get that we would need to hire 2 people. 1 nurse to do the tube feeding and 1 to take care of the rest. Due to their licenses, rules and reguations we couldn't get everything from 1 and that seemed to be a little our of our reach financially. That guided us to reach out to the church for help.
After an overwhelming response from the church we now have a rotating team of 10 volunteers who come over and give Mike his noon tube feeding. Prior, Mike was missing this feeding which didn't help out with the weight gain :) Now he is back on track and we hope to bump up his numbers even more than the 10 lbs. he has put on already.
We have also hired a home health aid. They come in every M-W-F for 2 hours. The aid's primary job while at our house is to help Mike with showering, dressing, stretching, lunch and getting snacks/drinks ready for the afternoon. When done with that they are also capable of doing light housework. I personally have reaped benefits beyond words with the simple act of light housework. Many days there was never enough time in the day to take care of a house after caring for Ruby and Mike, which left me exhausted and stressed out. Now many days I am greeted at the door with a well-fed Mike, a cleaner house and time left to play with Ruby before she goes to bed. Ahhh...sigh of relief.
Yesterday, Mike and I approached a new phase as well. We met with Iowa Home Health Care and started the process of ordering a power wheel chair. Watching Mike get ready to try out some of their sample wheel chairs warmed my heart in so many ways. Mobility is becoming quite a struggle and Mike misses going places with Ruby and I. Even the idea of Christmas shopping is more daunting than it was exciting. Cold weather brings challenges as well with muscle stiffness, ice and unfavorable conditions for a walker and an unsteady Mike. With our current insurance and Medicare they hope to have our wheel chair here by Christmas! Mike is beyond excited to go from place to place with little effort and hang out with Ruby and I more. When it arrives we will be sure to show all!
