Meeting G

Last night G was supposed to arrive about 4ish.  She texted me that she was running late--still at the house where Fiona lives. Would it be all right to come between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m?  I said sure.  6:30 and still no G.  She finally rolled in about 7:30 p.m apologizing for being late. She was caught up in details at the home and time got away from her.  No worries, I finished popping KC into bed while she made a call to break a dinner plan and then we sat down with tea to talk.

She is a woman who is passionate about what she does, and I think very very wise.  I've had some concern's about Fiona's new home and not surprisingly, G does too.  The administration at the home have been unwilling to share much data with me because I do not have the hard copy of the guardianship award to show them.  I have emails from the legal staff but this was not enough for them. They have refused to share med schedules and their daily plans for Fiona. They have stalled on sharing her approved contacts list.  The list goes on.

I explained this to G and she I think must have set them straight today as suddenly my in box was FLOODED with communications from the staff.  Suddenly they are eager to set up a February meeting, they are still going to work on the risk management team meeting, they had papers for me to sign and med schedules to review.

G and I are both concerned by how dull Fiona's day seems when we look at what is going on there.  When we toured, Fi and I were told that she would have a structured day program outside of the home.  That has not happened. There may be a good reason,but substituting movies and puzzles is not a reasonable or healthy therepeutic option.

I am equally concerned by diet.  Fiona is pre-diabetic and diabetes runs in her family.  She has successfully controlled this with eating healthy choices.  The home seems unaware of how to offer healthy choices.  Lots of take out Chinese and pb and fluff sandwiches. . . "because the ladies like them."

G really wanted a feel for who Fiona is as a person. I showed her pictures and some of her art work and said how much I hope that we can find a way to foster that creative spirit within her.  It is something she loves and something she is good at.There almost isn't an art form that would interest her.

I know she wants a job and I shared that with G.  It seems that there should be some type of mentoring for a job at least explored.  There are things I am convinced she could do for a short period of time (2 to 3 hrs) daily.

Basically G gave me the go ahead to be the squeaky wheel.  She suggested that I find out who her Rogers monitor is, who her rep payee is (G is quite certain it should not be the agency that runs the home) and get a current list of upcoming doctor appointments.  Even if I can not attend all of them, attending a few here and there will help me stay very much in the loop and not hear things through the lens of how the home staff want me to view things.  She also very much understood what I was saying when I explained how the home wants to eliminate contact with staff from the Great School and why this was not a healthy model for Fiona. She agreed that it was a very old behavioral model and not one we need to follow. She and I both are in agreement that former staff have very much taken on the role of close friends and quasi family in Fiona's mind.  She has had enough ripped away from her. We need to show her that people do not disappear.

G could see the pictures of all the kids on our walls, all their art mounted around the house. It was clear that Fiona was central to our lives.  She will only be on the case for about 6 months and then it will transition to a person in a local office in my city.  But in these transition months I am going to learn all I can from her so that I can make sure Fiona gets the level of care she needs and the best possible life she can live.  G left my home at just before 10 p.m.  I have struck gold and found someone with the dedication and expertise of Jane to help down this next new bit of road I walk.