Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Mom Update

My mom celebrated her 70th birthday yesterday. I took the kids over during the morning to spend some time with her and take her a birthday gift. We got off to a late start, but we were able to spend some time with my sister, Margie at the same time. Margie is expecting her second child around Halloween, but will probably deliver early.

Mom was glad that my siblings and I all made it to her house. She's been down in the dumps lately worrying about her cancer situation. She went to the doctor today and learned that the cancer has spread a lot. They want to begin chemotherapy asap, but are waiting to see what type of treatment will be covered by her Medicare and Medicare supplement. The doctor thinks that the new (read much more expensive) treatment would work much better, but we just don't have the $10,000 to pay for it if it isn't covered by insurance.

My mom has also discovered that her home needs a lot of very expensive repairs. Her roof is leaking and mildew is growing in the plaster and drywall. Many of her windows are rotted through. She lives in a 150 year old farm house and the windows are enormous. Each window would need to be custom made. Several bees and hornets have built nests in the attic of her two story home. A ground hog has moved into her garage (which has a dirt floor and is attached to her home. She is afraid that he will end up digging through the crawl space under her home. None of these projects are something that I can tackle. I don't have the money to pay for these repairs. We have been suggesting that she sell this house since my dad died 8+ years ago. My mom just doesn't have the resources to handle the upkeep and she doesn't want to move.

Mike and I are really concerned about her situation and aren't sure how to handle it. She is competent and has all her facilities, so we don't have the ability to get her out of this situation. She should simply move in with one of her children and sell her house and acreage. Unfortunately, her children can't make this decision for her.

3 comments:

Melinda said...

Sorry to hear about your mom Karen. It will all work out though. Prayers!

Karen said...

Just found out that mom's treatment will be covered by her insurance and medicare, so she starts the expensive chemotherapy on Monday. It looks like she will have transportation also, so I won't need to go get her.

Thanks for your prayers, Melinda.

Melinda said...

Good news that she can have the treatment and that she has transportation. Now we'll pray that it does the trick and gets rid of the cancer!