Monday, 20 April 2009

• This week at Roosville

  Got an interesting weather alert this morning.  It warned that people seeking relief from the very warm weather here (in the 90s) in the very cold waters in the rivers and reservoirs fed from the melting snowpack in the rivers could experience hypothermia: 
  
  THE WATER IN THE RIVERS...STREAMS AND RESERVOIRS THIS TIME OF YEAR
  IS BEING FED DIRECTLY FROM THE MELTING SNOW PACK. WATER
  TEMPERATURES IN THE RIVERS AND STREAMS ABOVE THE CENTRAL VALLEY
  RESERVOIRS WILL BE IN THE 40S...WHILE WATER TEMPERATURES IN THE
  SACRAMENTO AND SAN JOAQUIN VALLEYS LARGER RIVERS WILL BE IN THE
  50S TO AROUND 60 DEGREES...WHICH IS EXTREMELY COLD.
  
  ANYONE CAUGHT UNPREPARED IN THE COLD WATER CAN QUICKLY EXPERIENCE
  HYPOTHERMIA. HYPOTHERMIA IS A SUDDEN LOSS OF BODY TEMPERATURE THAT
  CAN BE FATAL. WARNING SIGNS FOR HYPOTHERMIA INCLUDE UNCONTROLLED
  SHIVERING...MEMORY LOSS...DISORIENTATION...INCOHERENCE...SLURRED
  SPEECH...DROWSINESS AND APPARENT EXHAUSTION.
  
  Cheryl and the boys are here and getting settled in quite nicely.  As predicted, Dad gets a little pouty.  He wants our constant and undivided attention.  I understand that, to a certain degree, but what he doesn't understand that he gets himself so worked up that he's not pleasant to be around.  Cheryl, Zane and I went over Thursday evening, bringing dinner and stayed to play a few games.  He had been sitting there feeling sorry for himself, and at first refused to eat the meal we put out for him. We sat down and cheerfully ignored his grumpiness, and finally he came to the table.  He complained he wasn't ready for dinner yet, complained that the meat was too tough, and yet he ate every bite of food on his plate--a good meal.  We know he isn't eating right, and he is deteriorating rapidly from the healthy state he came home from the hospital.  We are looking into home health service--someone to come in and prepare his meals, get him to do his PT, and help him with laundry and cleaning.  He was approved for 45 hours a week, but his share of cost is $400.  He thinks that is too much, but for what he gets, it's not.  The social worker reminded me that it's a better quality of life than a nursing home, which will take his entire social security check when the time comes, and it surely will at the rate he cares for himself.  He complained the next day that we don't spend any time with him--he'd completely forgotten that we'd gone over there and hung out at his place.  We see him every day, but it's never enough.  Amazing when you consider that in the past 30+ years, we've probably seen him a total of one hour before we took him in. 
  
  I'm on vacation for a week! 
  
  

  • 7:51 AM
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