Greetings.
I read you both are still alive and kicking, and that's good... As far as of what's been published, many specialists are beginning to think on the omicron strain of COVID as the beginning of the end of the pandemic disease and the early stages of an additional endemic respiratory disease... Time will tell if all that is true or not...
Happy Pi Day
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Any topic is acceptable, and topic drift is permissible.
Re: Happy Pi Day
I've read the same thing about omicron. Pandemics come and go, but endemic diseases are here forever. It's difficult for me to decide which is a better situation. Plus, if you are the one struggling with the worst effects of omicron today, neither pandemics nor endemic diseases really matter. Be that all as it may ... it is indeed good that we are here to talk about it. Hopefully that condition will continue for a long time to come. 
Re: Happy Pi Day
My COPD and Emphysema is getting really bad, really fast now. Mornings are very hard for me to get up to snuff and make it to my office. And even after I'm up here, it takes a good half hour or longer before I'm stable enough to start doing stuff.
I can only hope that I'm fairly immune to it, because if not, I'll be incinerated sooner than later.
All I can say right now is, my mornings are getting mighty scary for me. Near Panic some mornings.
I'm beginning to see some things in me that I saw in my late wife when she couldn't breathe.
Only I don't have the helpful options she had available to her.
I think I just liked starting businesses for the heck of doing so, and the challenge of getting them up and running profitably.
Then I got tired of them and sold them, or passed them on to my best employee to carry on with.
I can only hope that I'm fairly immune to it, because if not, I'll be incinerated sooner than later.
All I can say right now is, my mornings are getting mighty scary for me. Near Panic some mornings.
I'm beginning to see some things in me that I saw in my late wife when she couldn't breathe.
Only I don't have the helpful options she had available to her.
I think I just liked starting businesses for the heck of doing so, and the challenge of getting them up and running profitably.
Then I got tired of them and sold them, or passed them on to my best employee to carry on with.
Re: Happy Pi Day
Just about all my life I placed a high value on my mental awareness. I knew that I could never understand all the things happening around me, but I did act to improve and broaden my awareness of those things. It's an instinct with me and is probably what motivated my interest in things like social interactions and psychology. I did things to stay healthy and to keep my brain functioning with the hope that I could possibly avoid excessive loss of cognitive ability and dementia. Each time I've come into contact with people whose cognitive abilities were hampered, I felt a deep empathy for those poor souls.
So here I am with 77 years of observation experience and thinking that my mental awareness is doing fairly well. However, there have been moments in my old age when I wondered if it would not be better to be unaware of my surroundings. I wondered, but realistically I did not want that to happen mostly because it would place a burden I did not want to impose upon those close to me. Yes, I know they love me and would care for me out of their dedication, but it still is a disturbing thought. The surprise at this point in my life is that the cognitive awareness is a double edged sword. Not only can I see what is happening around me, but I can also see what is happening internally. That seems to be where you are at these days, and I totally agree with you about how frightening it can be.
The price one pays for having a healthy mind is a confrontation with the inevitable facts of life. The inevitable is ... inevitable. That is the point at which our beliefs in the hereafter are tested. Their beliefs are comforting for many people, but my own vision of an afterlife is blank. About all I can do is endure what nature has planned. I understand that it would not be less scary even if I had a plan for how to deal with my final days. But being aware of what I can and will do is in itself some comfort.
So here I am with 77 years of observation experience and thinking that my mental awareness is doing fairly well. However, there have been moments in my old age when I wondered if it would not be better to be unaware of my surroundings. I wondered, but realistically I did not want that to happen mostly because it would place a burden I did not want to impose upon those close to me. Yes, I know they love me and would care for me out of their dedication, but it still is a disturbing thought. The surprise at this point in my life is that the cognitive awareness is a double edged sword. Not only can I see what is happening around me, but I can also see what is happening internally. That seems to be where you are at these days, and I totally agree with you about how frightening it can be.
The price one pays for having a healthy mind is a confrontation with the inevitable facts of life. The inevitable is ... inevitable. That is the point at which our beliefs in the hereafter are tested. Their beliefs are comforting for many people, but my own vision of an afterlife is blank. About all I can do is endure what nature has planned. I understand that it would not be less scary even if I had a plan for how to deal with my final days. But being aware of what I can and will do is in itself some comfort.
Re: Happy Pi Day
As far as myself goes, I was always the curious sort. I wanted to know how everything worked and why. At least up until technology far surpassed my abilities to learn about it.
The world around us has gone crazy Yogi!
I know I'm beginning to forget things I should not be forgetting.
But then for most of my life, if I didn't use something daily, give it a week and I didn't remember how to do it without brushing up on it again. And then you know about my 5 year cycle of brain reformat, hi hi.
I am sad that my condition has went downhill so fast. I have several things I wanted to organize to pass on, and or clean up to sell. Because if I don't do it, Debi will just have some mighty expensive stuff hauled away as junk.
I have no friends down here to call on to help me with stuff either. Sad state of affairs.
Even so, personally, I'm still cheerful, and scared sometimes when I can't breathe.
But I'm still hangin' in there!
The world around us has gone crazy Yogi!
I know I'm beginning to forget things I should not be forgetting.
But then for most of my life, if I didn't use something daily, give it a week and I didn't remember how to do it without brushing up on it again. And then you know about my 5 year cycle of brain reformat, hi hi.
I am sad that my condition has went downhill so fast. I have several things I wanted to organize to pass on, and or clean up to sell. Because if I don't do it, Debi will just have some mighty expensive stuff hauled away as junk.
I have no friends down here to call on to help me with stuff either. Sad state of affairs.
Even so, personally, I'm still cheerful, and scared sometimes when I can't breathe.
But I'm still hangin' in there!
Re: Happy Pi Day
They say our brains function as two separate lobes when it comes to thoughts. There are the Left-Brained people of which you would be the quintessential model. The details of how things work allure your curiosity to a point which makes you want to act upon what you understand. Then there are Right-Brained people who also have a mental attraction to how things work but on a more abstract and philosophical level. I believe my brain is dominated by that kind of thinking process. I can tell you how the economy of the United States works, but running a business of my own is a recipe for bankruptcy. LOL In truth most people are a combination of left and right side thinking, but some folks obviously have more of one than the other. That difference between us is probably what allows us to get along as well as we do.
It's that time of the year again when I must assemble all the financial facts of my past life and report them to the IRS people. My tax life has been pretty simple but I tend to avoid detailed things like filling out lengthy tax forms. Thus I have somebody else do that work for me; somebody who knows how to read those forms. LOL
This year was a shocking experience for two reasons. First of all when I calculated all our out of pocket medical expenses the total exceeded $19k. Wife had cataract surgery last year but that was less than $1000 out of our budget. By far the bulk of the expense went to insurance premiums and to pay for drugs that those premiums will not cover. The second shock had to do with pension income. We have three pension checks coming in which in total barely covers the aforementioned medical expenses. For some odd reason it occurred to me this year that we did not get the 1099-R form for one of those pensions. Looking back to previous years I was shocked to see we never got them during our tenure here in Missouri. Thus that income was never reported. It's odd to me that it went unnoticed for so long because I know the IRS gets a copy of those 1099's, but they never flagged me for unreported income. Well it wasn't easy getting those old tax forms, but we now do have them for all the years we lived here. Plus the pension payer NOW knows we live in Missouri and not Illinois. My guess is that we will be filing some amended tax forms and that is a situation I am more than happy to pay somebody else to do.
It's that time of the year again when I must assemble all the financial facts of my past life and report them to the IRS people. My tax life has been pretty simple but I tend to avoid detailed things like filling out lengthy tax forms. Thus I have somebody else do that work for me; somebody who knows how to read those forms. LOL
This year was a shocking experience for two reasons. First of all when I calculated all our out of pocket medical expenses the total exceeded $19k. Wife had cataract surgery last year but that was less than $1000 out of our budget. By far the bulk of the expense went to insurance premiums and to pay for drugs that those premiums will not cover. The second shock had to do with pension income. We have three pension checks coming in which in total barely covers the aforementioned medical expenses. For some odd reason it occurred to me this year that we did not get the 1099-R form for one of those pensions. Looking back to previous years I was shocked to see we never got them during our tenure here in Missouri. Thus that income was never reported. It's odd to me that it went unnoticed for so long because I know the IRS gets a copy of those 1099's, but they never flagged me for unreported income. Well it wasn't easy getting those old tax forms, but we now do have them for all the years we lived here. Plus the pension payer NOW knows we live in Missouri and not Illinois. My guess is that we will be filing some amended tax forms and that is a situation I am more than happy to pay somebody else to do.
Re: Happy Pi Day
I think my brain runs in and endless loop, hi hi.
I keep remembering the same useless stuff over and over, while the things I want to remember I can't seem to get it right.
Ah Yes, time to pay the piper as they say.
Only once did I have to do an amended return, because some title company filed like 8 months late, and it ricocheted back to me, hi hi. I was lucky I was not fined, but I guess they may have fined the title company for not filing on time, which let me off the hook for a fine, but I still had to pay the piper their just due. Or unjust as the case may be, hi hi.
I usually do my own Income Taxes using an on-line free service. So far, so good, no problems.
Even so, I hate doing them!
I keep remembering the same useless stuff over and over, while the things I want to remember I can't seem to get it right.
Ah Yes, time to pay the piper as they say.
Only once did I have to do an amended return, because some title company filed like 8 months late, and it ricocheted back to me, hi hi. I was lucky I was not fined, but I guess they may have fined the title company for not filing on time, which let me off the hook for a fine, but I still had to pay the piper their just due. Or unjust as the case may be, hi hi.
I usually do my own Income Taxes using an on-line free service. So far, so good, no problems.
Even so, I hate doing them!
Re: Happy Pi Day
Back in Illinois I did my own tax returns. Once in a while I'd buy TurboTax for the forms I needed, but that was only prior to when I learned that they can be had free under certain circumstances. I also did my mother-in-law's taxes and she lived in Iowa. I must say that the Illinois and the Iowa tax forms are fairly easy to figure out. In fact Illinois had what I considered an exceptional web site for the purpose. Missouri, on the other hand, scared me the first time I looked at the forms. They are insane compared to other states. The first year here was very complicated in that I earned income in two different states plus sold and bought a new home. The tax people I hired to figure it all out did what I consider an outstanding job. They of course have professional software to do most of the work. All they do is data entry. However, they also know what forms and support documentation is needed for special cases. They probably would have seen the missing income if they reviewed my previous year taxes from Illinois, but that was not part of the deal. I'm not sure what penalties I will incur because there was withholding on those missing 1099 forms. With any luck I'll be due a refund, but I am prepared to pay a fine if it comes down to that.
Re: Happy Pi Day
The only time I had a professional do my tax returns was the first few years I was heavily into real estate.
It was worth it to pay both a tax attorney and a real estate lawyer who worked together.
They taught me how to buy houses in such a way I had little in the way of tax liabilities, and a few tricks about when and how to take possession of a property.
When you have 21 houses in inventory, and 6 rental properties, the taxes can get quite hairy, hi hi.
While Debi had an IRA I hated all the paperwork involved, but thankfully, that's all cashed in a few years ago.
The government screwed her over big time by having an IRA, so we are both glad that is gone and done with.
It was worth it to pay both a tax attorney and a real estate lawyer who worked together.
They taught me how to buy houses in such a way I had little in the way of tax liabilities, and a few tricks about when and how to take possession of a property.
When you have 21 houses in inventory, and 6 rental properties, the taxes can get quite hairy, hi hi.
While Debi had an IRA I hated all the paperwork involved, but thankfully, that's all cashed in a few years ago.
The government screwed her over big time by having an IRA, so we are both glad that is gone and done with.
Re: Happy Pi Day
I looked over the tax forms when we sold our old house and moved into this one in Missouri. It wasn't much different than the tax forms I had to use when I bought and sold stock. The only tricky part is in determining if you made a profit or a loss, and that was all determined by what they called the tax basis, or what it cost to buy the properties. If you buy and sell it all at one time it's pretty easy, but if you buy into it several times over many years and then only sell part of the equities, there are a few options for figuring out how to apply the costs. A house is not as complicated in that it's a single purchase, unless you are in the rehab business. LOL then you are really asking for trouble to determine a cost basis. It's all in the IRS code and you did the right thing by having some legal experts work out the details.
My wife had a profit sharing fund with the company she retired from. She rolled it over into an IRA when she left the company and never added to it since then. The IRA just sat there and earned interest and dividends until age 71 1/2 at which point the government wants you to start selling off a specific amount in order to collect the deferred taxes on your former contributions. They use a mortality table to decide your life expectancy and then want you to take out equal portions every year until the end. You could in fact take out more or dissolve the whole fund at one time. But stretching out the withdrawals is said to be a better tax bargain because the current life expectancy age for my wife is something 97 years old. If they used a more realistic mortality table we would have to liquidate a lot more than we do and end up in a higher tax bracket. I tried to convince her to cash it all in at once and take the tax hit for that one year. She didn't think it was a good idea because she didn't like paying all that tax in one lump sum. So now it will be stretched out over her lifetime but I'm not sure we will end up paying less that way.
As you point out, it could be complicated.
My wife had a profit sharing fund with the company she retired from. She rolled it over into an IRA when she left the company and never added to it since then. The IRA just sat there and earned interest and dividends until age 71 1/2 at which point the government wants you to start selling off a specific amount in order to collect the deferred taxes on your former contributions. They use a mortality table to decide your life expectancy and then want you to take out equal portions every year until the end. You could in fact take out more or dissolve the whole fund at one time. But stretching out the withdrawals is said to be a better tax bargain because the current life expectancy age for my wife is something 97 years old. If they used a more realistic mortality table we would have to liquidate a lot more than we do and end up in a higher tax bracket. I tried to convince her to cash it all in at once and take the tax hit for that one year. She didn't think it was a good idea because she didn't like paying all that tax in one lump sum. So now it will be stretched out over her lifetime but I'm not sure we will end up paying less that way.
As you point out, it could be complicated.
Re: Happy Pi Day
The Basis of a house is what you paid for it.
Profit is what you sell it for over the Basis amount.
Improvement costs are tax deductible as an expense, but also increase the value of the property.
The only time the Basis itself changes is if you dedicate a part of your house as a business expense.
Although you do get a deduction for the expense, it also lowers the basis so you end up losing more than if you didn't do that.
Houses in inventory for later renovation actually depreciate, not appreciate.
And if you buy a rental property with a tenant already in place, and you are buying that property for renovation purposes, but cannot start the renovation until the tenant moves out. It becomes Unusable Idle Inventory for the renovation business, but an income asset for the rental business, which you have to keep separate. Gets complicated, one company owns, while another profits from something it doesn't own. But this convoluted way of doing it, makes the Basis go way up when it does get taken as a renovation possession.
All I can tell you about IRA's is the government LIES in order to add fines and penalties.
Receipts mean nothing to the government, because they twist them around so they don't count.
And when that happens, you not only owe more in taxes, but also the fines and penalties they impose.
Would have been better for Debi had she not had an IRA at all!
Profit is what you sell it for over the Basis amount.
Improvement costs are tax deductible as an expense, but also increase the value of the property.
The only time the Basis itself changes is if you dedicate a part of your house as a business expense.
Although you do get a deduction for the expense, it also lowers the basis so you end up losing more than if you didn't do that.
Houses in inventory for later renovation actually depreciate, not appreciate.
And if you buy a rental property with a tenant already in place, and you are buying that property for renovation purposes, but cannot start the renovation until the tenant moves out. It becomes Unusable Idle Inventory for the renovation business, but an income asset for the rental business, which you have to keep separate. Gets complicated, one company owns, while another profits from something it doesn't own. But this convoluted way of doing it, makes the Basis go way up when it does get taken as a renovation possession.
All I can tell you about IRA's is the government LIES in order to add fines and penalties.
Receipts mean nothing to the government, because they twist them around so they don't count.
And when that happens, you not only owe more in taxes, but also the fines and penalties they impose.
Would have been better for Debi had she not had an IRA at all!
Re: Happy Pi Day
I realize you have been involved with real estate for a good part of your life and that you know all the ins and outs as a result of your experiences. The cost basis for real estate and equities is pretty much the same, i.e., the buying price. In the case of a house you make one purchase which makes that cost basis pretty obvious. The deductions for improvements are exactly that, tax deductions. The net effect of those deductions, however, is to raise the value of the cost basis. Unlike equities those improvement costs can be deducted in the year they were incurred. So, as I see it, it's simply a matter of when you pay the tax - pay me now, or pay me later. You will pay either way.
All I can tell you about IRA's is that our experience with them has not been negative. It may take a bit of study and understanding to comprehend what they are all about. In essence IRA's were designed to encourage people to save for their retirement because even the government knows you can't live off a Social Security check. They added a benefit to defer the taxes on the amount you personally contribute to the fund, but I never felt warm and fuzzy about that arrangement. The deferment sounds good until you realize that the tax rates never go down. Twenty years after you make those non-taxed contributions your income tax rate will be higher. Thus I"m actually paying a higher tax on the deferred amounts I contribute. At our stage in life the income from the IRA that is due to wife's former contributions is insignificant. But still, in principle, we are paying a higher nominal tax rate than we were twenty years ago. That's why I say take the hit and dump it all as soon as it can be liquidated. Be sure to reinvest it so that you have that extra income at retirement.
Anyway, my investment days are over. I am now living off what I hope was a good plan conceived well before I was forced to retire early. If I ever win that lottery then I might have to refresh my memory regarding investments. But even then my future isn't as lengthy as it was when I worked for a living. I must might blow it all the first year. LOL
All I can tell you about IRA's is that our experience with them has not been negative. It may take a bit of study and understanding to comprehend what they are all about. In essence IRA's were designed to encourage people to save for their retirement because even the government knows you can't live off a Social Security check. They added a benefit to defer the taxes on the amount you personally contribute to the fund, but I never felt warm and fuzzy about that arrangement. The deferment sounds good until you realize that the tax rates never go down. Twenty years after you make those non-taxed contributions your income tax rate will be higher. Thus I"m actually paying a higher tax on the deferred amounts I contribute. At our stage in life the income from the IRA that is due to wife's former contributions is insignificant. But still, in principle, we are paying a higher nominal tax rate than we were twenty years ago. That's why I say take the hit and dump it all as soon as it can be liquidated. Be sure to reinvest it so that you have that extra income at retirement.
Anyway, my investment days are over. I am now living off what I hope was a good plan conceived well before I was forced to retire early. If I ever win that lottery then I might have to refresh my memory regarding investments. But even then my future isn't as lengthy as it was when I worked for a living. I must might blow it all the first year. LOL
Re: Happy Pi Day
Actually, my real estate dealings only started around 1986 and ended in 2003 when I sold the very last house.
Albeit, I did buy an apartment complex back in like 1979 and sold it around 1984 or before.
All of the investments I had, some were nice and tidy nest eggs too, all got sold to pay for my late wife's medical bills.
When you have assets, you cannot get medical help, and usually have to pay the premium prices.
I had a very poor aunt who got the best top notch medical care, and never received a single bill for anything.
But that didn't happen until her husband went to the poor house paying her medical bills.
She got much better care after she was destitute than ever before.
But it don't quite work that way anymore in this day and age.
Albeit, I did buy an apartment complex back in like 1979 and sold it around 1984 or before.
All of the investments I had, some were nice and tidy nest eggs too, all got sold to pay for my late wife's medical bills.
When you have assets, you cannot get medical help, and usually have to pay the premium prices.
I had a very poor aunt who got the best top notch medical care, and never received a single bill for anything.
But that didn't happen until her husband went to the poor house paying her medical bills.
She got much better care after she was destitute than ever before.
But it don't quite work that way anymore in this day and age.
Re: Happy Pi Day
I know a little bit about your situation and it is a glaring reminder of what is wrong with the system. The question comes down to determining if healthcare is a benefit or a right. I don't think there is anything in our constitution that says we are all entitled to quality healthcare so that I'm leaning in the direction of it being a benefit. The problem I have with healthcare as a benefit is clearly shown in your own situation. You went broke paying for vital healthcare and now you can't afford even the basics. While all that might be legally and constitutionally proper, it is immoral in a country as successful as is ours. I realize even though we are well off as a country there are also priorities and the money supply is not unlimited, believe it or not. The truth is we as a country can afford to assist you and the millions of others like you who cannot pay for needed medical treatment. Because it is affordable that makes it immoral to not guarantee healthcare fully funded for everyone. We as a country are not doing the best we can.
Re: Happy Pi Day
I don't know why some people get help, and much more than they need, while others cannot get enough of anything.
I guess these days, it depends on what color you are, hi hi.
I guess these days, it depends on what color you are, hi hi.
Re: Happy Pi Day
Judging by everything I can read on the topic, you are correct about race being a factor in healthcare. People of color seem to be getting less than us lighter skinned folks. When you think about your own situation and then think about some folks getting even less, the immorality of it all slaps you cold in the face. There are enough anecdotal stories about people getting help who can well afford it on their own. Then there are the laws that penalize you for being married. I agree fully that there is a lot of injustice and imbalance in the system.
Then, too, there are people in need who simply don't know where to look. This happened with my mom. She lived for more than thirty months on a system of palliative care associated with hospice services. They provided everything from a bed to oxygen to nurses to people coming just to visit and entertain her. None of this was imaginable until some kind person brought it to our attention. Of course the stigma of being on hospice care made us all very hesitant to go that route, but she got better care at home for a few hundred dollars a month than any hospital would provide for $5000 a day. It's amazing to me what is out there if only you know where to look.
Then, too, there are people in need who simply don't know where to look. This happened with my mom. She lived for more than thirty months on a system of palliative care associated with hospice services. They provided everything from a bed to oxygen to nurses to people coming just to visit and entertain her. None of this was imaginable until some kind person brought it to our attention. Of course the stigma of being on hospice care made us all very hesitant to go that route, but she got better care at home for a few hundred dollars a month than any hospital would provide for $5000 a day. It's amazing to me what is out there if only you know where to look.
Re: Happy Pi Day
My late wife Ruth had a home health nurse stop by every day to give her a medication, that now doctors prescribe for home use by the patients. But when she was ill, it could only be administered in person by a home health nurse. Her insurance covered all those things though. I did have good insurance back then.
FWIW: Having to change to Medicare and Supplemental Insurance, really cut down on what I have available to me.
Debi's mom's insurance covered everything, she never got a bill for anything. And in the end, they came in and set up like Hospice does, and provided everything for her.
I'm not eligible for Hospice until I permanently in a bed with no chance of getting up.
My sister who is a nurse gave me the info I needed for when the time comes, and that all will be covered.
When someone dies, the nurses take all the medications and flush them down the toilet.
I knew not to let them do that with Ruth's medications and sent them to her church for redistribution.
I don't belong to any organized religion or church down here, but Debi's sister does, and she has been getting some of the medications I need through them, if and when they are available, as unopened never used scripts. If a bottle is opened, they don't give it out except to a family member of where it came from.
FWIW: Having to change to Medicare and Supplemental Insurance, really cut down on what I have available to me.
Debi's mom's insurance covered everything, she never got a bill for anything. And in the end, they came in and set up like Hospice does, and provided everything for her.
I'm not eligible for Hospice until I permanently in a bed with no chance of getting up.
My sister who is a nurse gave me the info I needed for when the time comes, and that all will be covered.
When someone dies, the nurses take all the medications and flush them down the toilet.
I knew not to let them do that with Ruth's medications and sent them to her church for redistribution.
I don't belong to any organized religion or church down here, but Debi's sister does, and she has been getting some of the medications I need through them, if and when they are available, as unopened never used scripts. If a bottle is opened, they don't give it out except to a family member of where it came from.
Re: Happy Pi Day
The way mom qualified for hospice care was by the attending physician in ICU declaring her terminal. They expected her to die within 48 hours. That diagnosis got her removed from ICU, if you can believe that. She was put into the only available bed in an orthopedic recovery ward and only provided with what the hospital called palliative care. When mom was going on her third day effectively not being cared for, we took them up on their offer of hospice care at home. She was bed ridden at the time of the diagnosis, but eventually got well enough to conduct a near normal life once released from the hospital and attended to by hospice people. The only "catch" was that given mom's situation she could not expect any heroic attempts to save her life when things got bad. That worked out fine for three years and the last few days a nurse moved in 24 hrs a day. She tended to mom until the end, which was less than 48 hours. So, I don't know what the actual requirements are for being given hospice care. Being terminal is one thing, but mom quickly became mobile. The hospice people did at one point want to take her off the program because she was doing too well for them, but then she got slightly worse and they kept her in. She was only really confined to her bed for the last week or so.
Medicare and mom's supplemental insurance (from Aetna) paid for nearly everything. She had COPD and needed a nebulizer for her asthma which we got from a local medical supply house. We might have had to pay for that, but I don't think so. The only expense we did take on was the hospital bed. After we bought it and had it installed, then the hospice people told us they could have supplied it for us. grrr. Admittedly mom didn't need all the oxygen you apparently need, but we had concentraters, full tanks of O2, portable tanks, and they told me we could have the liquid oxygen tanks if we wanted them. As far as meds were concerned, there was no difference in cost on or off hospice care. We had enough morphine to put a small army to sleep, but fortunately that only had to be used the final days. The attending nurse took what was left of it with her and disposed of all the other drugs mom was on. I remember her going through a lot of paperwork describing what she disposed of and how. We kept those little tin containers for the nebulizer and found somebody who could use them. Apparently they were ok to transfer because they were not pills in an open bottle.
Mom followed the Catholic religion, but she didn't attend church very often. They agreed to bury her, but for all the times we asked them to send a priest to visit mom, none ever showed up. The hospice people had a Chaplin who prayed with mom and gave her her last rites. Needless to say we were not enthused about the lack of help from mom's church.
I have a feeling hospice care and home care in general is not standardized. I've heard of other people who didn't get the quality of treatment mom did. We didn't do anything special to get that help because we had no idea what was available. As it turned out the advisors at the hospital did us more good than the medical staff.
Medicare and mom's supplemental insurance (from Aetna) paid for nearly everything. She had COPD and needed a nebulizer for her asthma which we got from a local medical supply house. We might have had to pay for that, but I don't think so. The only expense we did take on was the hospital bed. After we bought it and had it installed, then the hospice people told us they could have supplied it for us. grrr. Admittedly mom didn't need all the oxygen you apparently need, but we had concentraters, full tanks of O2, portable tanks, and they told me we could have the liquid oxygen tanks if we wanted them. As far as meds were concerned, there was no difference in cost on or off hospice care. We had enough morphine to put a small army to sleep, but fortunately that only had to be used the final days. The attending nurse took what was left of it with her and disposed of all the other drugs mom was on. I remember her going through a lot of paperwork describing what she disposed of and how. We kept those little tin containers for the nebulizer and found somebody who could use them. Apparently they were ok to transfer because they were not pills in an open bottle.
Mom followed the Catholic religion, but she didn't attend church very often. They agreed to bury her, but for all the times we asked them to send a priest to visit mom, none ever showed up. The hospice people had a Chaplin who prayed with mom and gave her her last rites. Needless to say we were not enthused about the lack of help from mom's church.
I have a feeling hospice care and home care in general is not standardized. I've heard of other people who didn't get the quality of treatment mom did. We didn't do anything special to get that help because we had no idea what was available. As it turned out the advisors at the hospital did us more good than the medical staff.
Re: Happy Pi Day
I'm sorry you and your mom had to go through all that.
All I can say is, being twice a widower, and taking care of my parents, and Debi's parents, I Know what it is like!
Both my mom and my dad's medical bills were fully covered, as was Barbara's, but in the case of Ruth, I got hit with the brunt of the bills for years. Ruth was only in her 50s, and we had excellent insurance, up until the point it capped out. That was a new one too me at the time too.
This is one of the reasons I have no assets in my name at all anymore.
In fact, we just transferred the title for our house over to Debi's son, and I'm sure she will live more than five more years, so she will not have any hooks to the house after that period of time for the government to take.
I've been trying to buy another oxygen concentrator for my office. My son got me a cheap one that never worked from day one, it was not a medical class unit and cheap to start with.
Even the medical grade expensive ones, like I'm on all night every night, do not put out the amount of oxygen I need, which is why I go through so many tanks when I'm not asleep.
When I wake up in the morning, and begin to stir, my O2 drops like a rock. And when I sit up to get dressed, then I have to switch over to Tank O2.
My late wife was on liquid oxygen, which I've mentioned I had plumbed into the walls of the house, with those hospital type sockets in four rooms. My supplier said they don't use liquid oxygen down here, the just supply larger tanks, about the size of a portable large outdoor propane tank they can swap out if it comes to that.
My grandpa on my mom's side, had several of those super large tanks like welding tanks at his house.
But the ones they put outside here are 5 times larger than those in diameter, but no taller.
All I can say is, being twice a widower, and taking care of my parents, and Debi's parents, I Know what it is like!
Both my mom and my dad's medical bills were fully covered, as was Barbara's, but in the case of Ruth, I got hit with the brunt of the bills for years. Ruth was only in her 50s, and we had excellent insurance, up until the point it capped out. That was a new one too me at the time too.
This is one of the reasons I have no assets in my name at all anymore.
In fact, we just transferred the title for our house over to Debi's son, and I'm sure she will live more than five more years, so she will not have any hooks to the house after that period of time for the government to take.
I've been trying to buy another oxygen concentrator for my office. My son got me a cheap one that never worked from day one, it was not a medical class unit and cheap to start with.
Even the medical grade expensive ones, like I'm on all night every night, do not put out the amount of oxygen I need, which is why I go through so many tanks when I'm not asleep.
When I wake up in the morning, and begin to stir, my O2 drops like a rock. And when I sit up to get dressed, then I have to switch over to Tank O2.
My late wife was on liquid oxygen, which I've mentioned I had plumbed into the walls of the house, with those hospital type sockets in four rooms. My supplier said they don't use liquid oxygen down here, the just supply larger tanks, about the size of a portable large outdoor propane tank they can swap out if it comes to that.
My grandpa on my mom's side, had several of those super large tanks like welding tanks at his house.
But the ones they put outside here are 5 times larger than those in diameter, but no taller.
Re: Happy Pi Day
I'm left with some very mixed feelings about my experiences with mom. I have no regrets whatsoever regarding the time and effort I put into her well being. In some ways it was fortunate that I was forced to retire when that happened because it gave me the free time to deal with mom fully. Up to that point the focus in my life was to stay financially solvent and healthy. But when I talked to the hospice people about my role in taking care of mom, everything changed. My mission, as they clearly pointed out, was to help her die as comfortably as possible. I had to think about that a while before it sunk in fully because all my life 100% of my energies and efforts were dedicated to staying alive. But, the reason mom was in the hospice program to begin with was because all hope of living was theoretically abandoned. She was diagnosed terminal after all. Thus there was only one choice. How do you help a person die comfortably?
I did in fact help mom reach her transition as comfortably as I could possibly make it. The truth is that she outlived everybody's expectations on her own, and probably out of spite. She was not ready to die when they said she would. There is a little story about that too which I won't go into detail this time around, but I think the diagnosis was incorrect because they were assessing her condition the wrong way. Regardless I pursued my mission the best I could which was made easier by the fact mom lived with us. Indeed I have a tremendous amount of empathy for you and what you did to help your family make their transitions comfortably. I fully appreciate what you did and admire your strength and dedication for doing it more than once.
And not to get overly philosophical, which I realize is a fault of mine, but in my view there is an imbalance in the universe when I think of what you must be experiencing these days. You gave your best efforts for the comfort of those close to you, and you dissolved all your earthly possessions to make it happen. In my mind it's just not right that you should be lacking anything to make you comfortable at this stage in your life. Yes I know you have a positive outlook and are an expert at making do with what you have. I just think you should have at least what you gave. Well, you don't. And that is a major reason why I consider life to be a series of random events to which we react - nothing else. The concepts of balance and fairness and morality do not exist anywhere but in our minds. I'm fairly certain that is correct, but I could just be feeling bitter.
I did in fact help mom reach her transition as comfortably as I could possibly make it. The truth is that she outlived everybody's expectations on her own, and probably out of spite. She was not ready to die when they said she would. There is a little story about that too which I won't go into detail this time around, but I think the diagnosis was incorrect because they were assessing her condition the wrong way. Regardless I pursued my mission the best I could which was made easier by the fact mom lived with us. Indeed I have a tremendous amount of empathy for you and what you did to help your family make their transitions comfortably. I fully appreciate what you did and admire your strength and dedication for doing it more than once.
And not to get overly philosophical, which I realize is a fault of mine, but in my view there is an imbalance in the universe when I think of what you must be experiencing these days. You gave your best efforts for the comfort of those close to you, and you dissolved all your earthly possessions to make it happen. In my mind it's just not right that you should be lacking anything to make you comfortable at this stage in your life. Yes I know you have a positive outlook and are an expert at making do with what you have. I just think you should have at least what you gave. Well, you don't. And that is a major reason why I consider life to be a series of random events to which we react - nothing else. The concepts of balance and fairness and morality do not exist anywhere but in our minds. I'm fairly certain that is correct, but I could just be feeling bitter.