Life Unraveling

I have a calendar in my kitchen where I keep track of the aides' hours here.  When they both come on schedule, I don't put anything on the calendar—I only note when they don't come; when there is a substitute, etc., so on pay day, I have the info I need right there.  I was amazed in February when the whole month was free of my notes—they both showed up every day.  I rarely get such continuity for a whole month at a time.

So, that is all unraveling now.  My Mon.-Fri. evening aide came on Wednesday with a horrid cold, despite the fact that he's done this before (last year, Vince and I both caught the cold, and I didn't sleep for 3 weeks while I was on phlegm-spitting-up patrol all night for Vince), and I told him to NOT come when he is sick.  He would have come back last night, but I told the agency to see if he was still sick and to stay away if he was.  He was; and he is still sick today.  So the daytime aide brings Vince up to bed at 4:00 when he leaves, and I am on duty myself.  I can do it, but it is difficult.

Then my trusty aide who has been with us for years and who comes seven days a week plus weekend evenings (altho he often takes weekend evenings off) announced that he would be taking a vacation on April 16 for 4 and 1/2 weeks (plus, he is taking off this coming Sunday evening).  He took a month+ vacation two years ago, and it was just h*ll.  I fired two replacements because they were no help; the agency sent some women when they ran out of men and they quit because it was too hard for them to move Vince.  My regular aide has no trouble moving Vince in and out of the shower, and all the other ways he gets him around.  Everyone else does.

At the very least, I will not even attempt to have Vince showered when my aide is away.  I will give him total bed baths, and hope the substitute aide can get him out of bed and downstairs with wheelchair, stair lifts, and my help.  Or Vince will be in bed for over a month.

Anyone who reads this please pray for us.  It's going to be really really really awful, short of some miracle aide appearing.  I've had enough experience with home health aides that this is highly doubtful.  I feel I have the best agency available now, after firing many bad ones.  The agency I use was recommended by a geriatric care manger I hired briefly for advice years ago.  They have more male aides than the others, and I really like the people who run agency.  The problem is aides in general—not well trained; not motivated; and they are the bane of my existence—the worst part of this caregiving experience.