My 86 year old mom (who lives with me) has been in and out of the hospital the past few months, but really declined about 2 weeks ago and was rushed to the hospital again. She is doing better but will now need to be admitted to a short term assisted living facility for a 4-6 week stay for some post-op care.
The toll it has taken on her is of course my primary concern, but something like this just wreaks havoc with a normal schedule, work, meals, sleep, traveling back and forth to the hospital etc. I just "live better" when I have a set routine and schedule.
My budget for the last 2 weeks is just all messy. I was pulling money out to eat on the run, pick up some things that my mom needed, more gas money than usual etc. My body is feeling it too. Way too much junk food, not enough sleep and no time to exercise or to just chill out.
Now that things are starting to settle down, I can get back on track, but it got me to thinking that unfortunately, my mom will prbably continue to have health challenges and I need to really be more prepared when these emergencies happen so that I don't go into a tailspin.
I have a fully funded emergency fund for money, but seem to lacking on a "life planning emergency fund" for all the other things (not money related) that happen.
On a happier note, it's Friday!
Rough Couple of Weeks
December 14th, 2012 at 06:41 pm
December 14th, 2012 at 10:40 pm 1355524818
December 17th, 2012 at 08:26 am 1355732764
Jerry
December 23rd, 2012 at 12:12 am 1356221532
If you have a sibling or other relative who can help pitch in, I think it would be a great help to at least talk about it with them and consider the possiblities and possible responses, to review your mother's preferences about end of life stuff and so on.