Thursday 6 January 2011

Out With The New, In With The Old

Well we had our first meeting with the 'new' CPN yesterday. It was good to see someone we knew, and had confidence in and Jr was comfortable seeing someone he knew – so comfortable that he was sat waiting for him to arrive!

Sorry to any fans of misery out there but it all went rather well. We had a long chat about the sort of things that my son needs (and wants) to be doing and he left with a long list of things to get details on. We never expected him to come round here with a bunch of answers but we now have a base set of ideas that he's going to research and come back to us next week with solid ideas. Some of the ideas we had simply aren't possible but on the other hand he came up with some ideas that we'd never thought of and when he left both my son and I were very confident that we were going to be moving forward with this guy.

Despite the positivity I can't help feeling that my son has been held back because of this guy being replaced by an incompetent buffoon (and that's me being polite!) last spring just when he'd developed a relationship with my son but we've got to look forward now and get what we can.

One point I did make to him was that I would not ever accept a lack of funding as an excuse for my son missing out on something he needs. I was clear to him that I wasn't saying this in an adversarial way at all but that if Jr missed out on anything at all due to funding I would not only be straight round to my MP but I'd also have no problem kicking up a fuss in the local press and even going as far as instructing my solicitor to take action (fortunately for me he's an old friend of my late father so I know he'd help pro bono). I simply will not accept that funding can stop my son getting the help he needs – not on my watch!

So all in all a very positive meeting.

As an aside (and this may be of interest to some) Jr was talking about joining the library recently but actually going in is still a bit much for him. As I was collecting a book I'd ordered yesterday I asked if there was any way round that. I didn't expect anything but it turns out the WRVS run a scheme through libraries where they'll come round to 'housebound' people, sign them up and come round roughly monthly with whatever books they want. It appears that many libraries offer this service so maybe someone reading this may want to look into it if appropriate.

xxx

4 comments:

  1. So glad the meeting was good. I know my situation with my mom is so differant than yours and your son but I hope you don't mind me talking about my stuff. Funding around here is so important. It is like on my mind 24/7. I told you before I can't get mom on medicad because we have too many resources . "They Say" Not us. Anyway. She is on Hospice now which Medicare will pay 100% of all her care. Thank goodness. But she has been the same for along time now and if she does not get worst Hospice will stop coming. I have to say I don't want mom getting any worse but I don't want Hospice to stop coming. She has been in the same stage of Alzheimers for 3 yrs now and Hopice has be coming a little over a yr. I thank god she has not gotten any worse but I pray Hospice keeps coming. And I pray that your son and you never have to worry about lack of care due to funding. Good Luck.

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  2. Hi Karen.

    Please feel free to post about your situation whenever you like. Whilst our situations are different in the detail I think that most themes about being a carer are universal and I think the worst is feeling you're the only one going through stuff. Good luck to you and your Mum.

    xxx

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  3. I'm so pleased for you both. A good committed sensible empathic CPN is worth their weight in gold. MyMan had one for a while. Pity we can't keep them on tap for emergency use. Still that's life.
    Let's hope that 2011 Will be a better year for you both
    Regards 'Penny'

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  4. Hi Penny.

    It does make such a difference. We were bloody annoyed when he was changed last year but "we're" only the patient so what do we matter? The most important thing is that my Son trusts him because without that there's nothing.
    And may I return your good wishes for the year.

    xxx

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