Most of us take things for granted

After visiting my mother, I realized that she is in the same rut today that she has been in for her whole life. Nothing changes, just the scenery, friends, spouses (at her age), finances, children. Nothing stays the same, but our outlook manages to stay the same. We will still feel as horrible or good only we will have different things to feel good or bad about.

My mom is like many people at this stage of their life, she doesn’t see the intrinsic beauty of where she’s been or where she is now. In her younger days she was worried that everything would go wrong, coloring her world with these thoughts not allowing her to see the beauty that she lived with, the joy of watching her three sons act like clowns and ruin their lives or live their lives, have girlfriends, spend time doing crazy things, etc.

I came to Florida to witness my mom while she is waiting for something to happen and not realizing after all this time she is the catalyst for change. What an opportunity to observe herself and make peace with herself. She has the time, she has the motivation (fear, anxiety) to do something. She has the opportunity to create change around her, to interact with her grandchildren and live her life vicariously through their triumphs, failures, etc. She has the time to learn new things or teach the things she knows to younger people, she doesn’t recognize the fact that she is so much wiser now and it is just hiding waiting to come out.

 

Why this blog exists

    Last year my dad had gotten unexpectedly sick and needed a new doctor to care for him. He was admitted to a local Florida hospital in the Delray area. As prepared as my parents thought they were, insurance, extended health care, they soon found out they were not prepared for much of what happened next.

First the doctor, as we all know  Florida doctors are much too busy and regretably do not have enough time for the amount of sick older people living in such a concentrated area. This forced us to search for someone to care for him and it took a while to find the right doctor, but the communication regarding my fathers medical history was not followed well, which is a problem when shopping for a doctor.

I found we have to be advocates for our family members, doing all the work to find the right hospital, making sure he was being treated with dignity as well as good care. The first hospital was a disaster but we had nothing to compare it to. He was soon transfered to a rehab from there and that appeared to be a death sentence that he would never return from. He developed some complications and was sent to a new hospital that was wonderful.

My father never recovered from the experience and the purpose of this blog is to make sure that no one else has to go through the nightmare that my family went through. There are still wonderful medical resources in Florida but you have to know where to go. With your help sharing your experiences through this site, I can post the results so you can be an informed patient and not have to go through the frustrating experience of having to go from facility to facility and wasting time and effort.

Many of you are not from here originally and have your family in other places. They are invaluable, and no one is better at caring for you and helping when you are not well. They come down here to help and need to be brought up to speed so they can become acquainted  with your situation as well as the resources available to you and them.

My hope is that with your feedback regarding care and your reviews of doctors and facilities will help the next person. And each of you can turn to this forum to help get the best care for your illness. In turn the better facilities and doctors will remain busy and thrive and the bad ones will improve with feedback when it effects their bottom line.

I plan on starting with the medical industry (which is a tremendous endeavor) and grow to other services in the Florida area such as plumbers, carpenters, cleaning services, etc. With your help everyone will benefit.

 

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