Working From Home

There was a lot of confusion around here over the past few weeks about what, exactly, was going on this summer. We knew we were moving, we knew I was working, we knew Little Hawk would need a lot of in-home care, and I knew that I really, really needed to spend some quality time with my beads, my dyes, my wool and my knitting. If I want to get serious about running a business, I need to dedicate a lot of time to my artwork. Also, if I don't want my developing artistic vision to stagnate over the summer, I need to spend time each day working.
The issues that we had to work out were money and care. As it stood at the end of the quarter, we were spending horrendous amounts of money on Er visits, insurance, medicine, and other bills. This was due to a frustrating cycle that we were locked into:

Little Hawk would try to do something that he was too weak to do, such as take a shower by himself or try to load the washing machine, then he would fall and hurt himself, either banging his head or jarring his hip. I would either take him to the ER for xrays, or we would have to call an ambulance, we would spend the entire day or night there while they shoved us in a corner or ignored us, he would check out battered but not broken, and we would return home. For a few days he would depend on me to help him with everything, then he would start to feel a bit better, try to do something by himself, and get hurt all over again. 

Then we would have to try and find money to pay for the ambulance, xrays, and ER copay, which all together would end up being about $250 on top of the $600 we were already paying for insurance. Factor in that we were going in two to three times a month, and it adds up. 

So the summer started with us fending off a few collections agencies, me unable to leave Little Hawk by himself, and having to follow him all around the house so that I could be on hand to assist him with anything strenuous, because he refused to ask for help. 

Remember, a year ago, he was in the prime of life, able to live entirely on his own and never needing help from anyone. Having to admit that this recovery is going to take a long time, having to stoop to ask for help with activities of daily living, that kind of humility is too much for a proud man, especially one who is determined to make his own way. 

In the end, we applied to the COPES program. It would subsidize our medical expenses entirely and provide in home help, solving our money problem and allowing me to either spend more time doing artwork and educating myself, or to work more. It took a month for them to get around to approving us, and during that month things have gotten a little better. We still have money problems, and he is still having health issues, but I have found some ways to let him be independent, but minimize his risk factors, like taking over all of his daily chores, but putting him in charge of other, safer ones. It's like the creed of the assisted living program I work for- We accommodate the client's needs, we don't make them accommodate us. 

In the end, it looks like our summer will be a lot easier now. We have our appointment with the people who will be providing the in home care today, and I will try to explain to them what the situation is. Little Hawk thinks that they will be there to clean the house and do the dishes, and that is a small part of it, but not all. I think they will also be expecting that I am taking classes this summer, but I cancelled my summer classes because I didn't know if we were going to be approved or not, and if we weren't, I needed to be at home. Now that we are approved, I'm going to be locking myself in my studio and getting something accomplished. 

I am beginning to see the inherent problem with working from home- Since you are at home, everyone seems to think you aren't working and can do things for them.