If you’ve read my posts lately you know that I’ve been working with a company called Wellthy.com to get my life in order. As funny as that sounds, that’s exactly what they do. They take some of the many “To-do’s” that are constantly present in the life of a caregiver and handle them. It’s almost like a Genie in a bottle. My coordinator Dana and I had a conversation about our life, my concerns with momma, and my biggest nemesis. Which is of course, understanding medical insurance, although I think even Dana probably couldn’t help me understand that. They do better than that, they do it for you. You just don’t understand what that means to me and that’s not even the greatest benefit I’ve seen.

Between my momma, my husband, and myself we have three insurance companies that I have to deal with. Do you know how many times I’ve been stuck on the phone being kicked around like a hockey puck in a grass field telling my sob story over and over and over until you finally get to the right person and SNAP you get disconnected. I can honestly tell you that my phone has been cursed repeatedly. What a total time suck. But you know what happens then? I give up. I just get overwhelmed and choose to ignore it. Instead of dealing with it head on and calling back I say screw it and don’t get the situation fixed. It’s not something I like to admit, but it’s there and I’m working on it.

Dana also talked about me. About what it felt like being with someone from the time you wake up until you go to bed at night. I have to admit though, I’m pretty lucky in the evening. Momma and my husband are both in bed by 8 every night. Mom has always gone to bed early  and doesn’t want a TV in her room. My husband gets up at 4 a.m. to go to work. So I have from then on to myself and I love it and it’s usually enough that I don’t feel crowded.

Then we shifted the conversation on to momma and my concerns for her. I really worry about her because in my opinion she doesn’t get enough social stimulation. Meaning as much as I liked my alone time I felt momma would probably enjoy some time away from me as well. She can’t go anywhere because neither of us can drive. It doesn’t bother me because it feeds right into my social anxiety and keeps me a happy prisoner in my own home, but she gets bored so easily. We usually run on the weekends, but because of my husband’s work schedule we are at home all week.  I wanted her to be able to do things.

Dana found the perfect answer. She found momma a friend. I haven’t seen her this excited in a while. She did everything. She found her, checked her references for me and set up our first interview. She(and I will call her Mary) came out and spent a lovely afternoon with us. She’s closer to mom’s age than mine. She’s a retired nurse and now she is momma’s companion caregiver. Once a week she comes and takes momma out shopping and to lunch. We started last week as a test to see how it would go. It was a huge success.

When she climbed out of Mary’s car she had two bags full of thrift store finds and a smile that made it all worth it. I have to admit after we went through the process and set everything up I became a nervous wreck. I almost called it off several times and the night before I didn’t sleep a wink. The whole time she was gone I couldn’t relax and again I thought of throwing in the towel already and then she came home.

She was excited. She had bought a bright pink blanket and throw pillow (She has 37 other ones like it around the house). She bought my grand daughter a doll and my grandson got a stuffed dog. She was so proud of herself and she’s carried that blanket all over the house this past week. I keep mentioning that Thursday is coming up and she is really looking forward to it. Maybe this week I’ll relax and enjoy it too!

I couldn’t be happier with the service that I’ve received from my friends at Wellthy,com. If you are a caregiver, or a family member of someone who needs care this can really make a huge difference in your life. There are so many different aspects and services that they provide that there is no way I could list them all. Check them out for yourself. Just click on the link.

My service fee was waved so that I could share these experiences for review purposes.

Remember to

Appreciate the good, laugh at the crazy, and deal with the rest.

I love you momma!