It’s A Celebration!

You guys won’t believe this. I hope you’re sitting down for this one. Not only did the phone call with the caregiver study go well Monday night, but they actually heard me. I’m stunned.

The call started with both M and me on speaker phone and the caller wanted to get his permission for us to participate in the study. That was no problem – he and I had talked about it before she called, so he was ready. Then he went downstairs to watch his latest detective show obsession.

The woman from the study asked me lots of questions about M and his abilities at this time, and it sounded as though he is still doing pretty well. There are still lots of things he’s able to do for himself – like dress himself, bathe, feed himself, etc. But when she asked about him getting lost or getting obsessed or easily agitated, I had to tell her about that.

Then she asked how I was doing. And it wasn’t just one question on “how are you feeling?” It was lots of questions about many times and instances . . . wow! By the time it was done, I could tell I hadn’t scored very high on those.

Last night, we were celebrating my birthday, (there will be NO DISCUSSION of how old I am now. I can’t believe this number!) when the phone rang. It was the head of the caregivers study. She was concerned about how high I had scored on the depression index. Yikes!

I had to tell her I was in the middle of a birthday party (do people with depression have parties?) and that I would talk to her later.

But FINALLY!! Someone heard what I was saying about how M’s diagnosis has rocked everything around here. And I know the uncertainty of my job and everything that has been going on in our world in 2020 haven’t helped. But just knowing that a professional heard me (for once) was refreshing!

I was thrown back for a loop this morning, bright and early (at 7:15 am) when I got a call from the Social Security Disability Determination office. They’re STILL trying to process the paperwork for M and when we last talked, in February, they needed the results of an assessment he had in 2018. I found the physician who administered the test, gave the Social Security person the phone number for the medical records office for that physician and they ASSURED me it was handled.

HA!

This morning, I found out they’ve been having personnel issues and NOTHING has been done since February.

GGGAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

So, I took a deep breath and started again. It took a while, but I found out the physician who administered the test had retired. Great.

And the test is a psychological exam. So those results aren’t kept in the regular medical record, with everything else. The physician had kept those records with him, while he was practicing. Which means . . . where are they now?

I’m going to be a detective in my next job, because I found them! Now, I just have to get M to sign a medical record release and then I’m ordering those records. Once I get them, I’ll send a copy to Social Security and keep one on file – just in case.

When we get this Social Security bit all figured out, there will be a MAJOR celebration around here.