Summer week

Another beautiful day today; not too hot, not overly humid (at least, it didn’t seem to be) and nice and sunny.  It’s been pleasant, and there’s a forecast of rain and thunderstorms for later this week, but we’ll wait and see.  Jerry is a little cuddler and mooch who was trying to sneak some chicken off my plate earlier, and letting me know that he was not happy that I wouldn’t share (it had things like onion, tomato and garlic, which are not good for little dogs)   He’s been throwing his ball at me and making me bend over — which is probably good for exercise, but not great for my pain!  Here’s a photo of the birthday boy with his “slice” (quarter) of cake… it’s really delicious, loaded with many, many calories and real cream, and he’s managed to consume 3/4 of it in 2 days (doesn’t want it to spoil 😂)  It’s almost done, as are the cherries that I got him as an extra treat, so I don’t think he’s too unhappy with his food choices… I just need to find him some steak at a reasonable price to complete his trifecta.

I was absolutely exhausted yesterday and went to take a short rest around 3pm… woke up at 8, had no idea what day or time it was, nor where I was (in my own bed) and it took a few minutes to reorient myself.  I must really have been tired, since I went back to bed before 11 and was quickly asleep!  I’m having some ongoing struggles with my care agency, who are telling me that they don’t provide most of the services that are listed on their website under “personal care” — I was told that the support worker can only “cook” using the microwave and can’t spend more than 5 minutes on food preparation… given that my kettle can take up to 7 minutes to boil, you understand that this is frustrating.  They “can’t” make a cup of tea because it takes too long; they won’t fry an egg because they can’t use the stove; laundry can only be done if there’s time (I use part of a 2-hour visit once a month for laundry) and they can’t fold laundry.  On the website, though, they say that they will do laundry, fold and put it away.  My care plan specifies personal services, which (according to the website) include things like changing sheets on my bed (apparently the workers can’t do that) and that sort of thing.  I am frustrated as I really don’t think that I should have to expend this much energy in managing the agency, let alone arguing with people who are supposed to be helping me.  Then they told me that they are replacing my regular worker, and I am livid.  I’ve refused service from the person they were sending me today — she was here Saturday and I’ve explained that she is not at all punctual (consistently over 90 minutes late) and not helpful.  I’m being scheduled for a “mediation session” to discuss my requirements… I really am not trying to be difficult, but they’re making me angry.

This is not a secret, but it’s something that annoys me.  Given that in this country we have universal healthcare that is covered under provincial jurisdictions, I think that it’s disgusting to divert public funds to private companies to provide the same services for higher costs with user fees attached.  It’s a pattern that repeats across many countries — there’s a good, publicly funded system which gets overwhelmed for several reasons, but then politicians start pushing for private care (cynical me thinks it’s because they get “benefits” from that if their friends/donors get contracts, but they are “all honourable men” who wouldn’t do that, right?) Money and resources then get diverted from the public system, which then struggles all the more… the private clinics then tend to shuttle more complex cases back to the public system, adding to the burden, while they siphon off resources and tax-paid funding.  The public system does have problems — I am not denying that, nor am I pretending that everything is sunshine and rainbows — but they’re worsened when payments are not made in a timely fashion and resources are threatened.  We don’t want to go the route of other countries where someone could lose a house for an illness; or have to pay escalating insurance premiums if you get sick.  I don’t mean to descend into politicking, and I’ll stop here.

I’m going to see what there is for dinner; I’m tempted to order something, but I’m in a state where the menus don’t appeal… I will need to cook something, but not today.  Good night!