Gisele Update

So, the meeting about Gisele went well. She is being released from the skilled care section and moved to the regular rehab care area. She is getting off the oxygen and managing but tired. Her spirits have had a dramatic lift and she jokes and laughs on the phone for the first time since she got ill. Apparently she can apply to have her rehab stay paid for (mostly) because she only has social security income. The application is 46 pages long and the list of documents required is daunting – birth certificate, bank statements, car title, income statements, naturalization document, rent receipts, social security card, pre-paid funeral receipts, etc.

So, on Friday, I took the 4 hour drive from home to Gisele’s apartment in order to gather the necessary document for her Mass Health application. The office manager at her apartment complex got her permission to let me in. Luckily she is EXTREMELY organized. I found everything she had right away. The only thing missing is her birth certificate. I found her baptism certificate (which is in french). I have no idea how to go about getting a birth certificate copy from Canada. Whenever I talk about all of the complication regarding paperwork for health care with her canadian relatives they find it perplexing.

Anyway, I got the documents and brought them over to my BIL place in the same town and made copies. Then I went to the post office and was able to talk them into giving me her mail. (I had put a 30 day hold on it when she was hospitalized.) Now I need to go through the pile and get bills she is delinquent on, medical docs for the application, etc.    I left BIL with the apartment keys so he can get in and get mail regularly and do other things if necessary.

I drove the 4 hours home in good weather. Got to talk with my brother, Mike for 45 minutes on the way. It was nice to catch up. I took 10 minutes to destress with some stretching before we headed out to our old neighbors for our regular Sat night rummy game.

On the Thursday before I got in my longest, best ski of the year. I went for about 3 hours in the bright sunshine with 20 degree temps. I was out so long my eyes were sore all weekend but it felt great.  The weather is perfect still and looks to stay that way for the next 2 weeks at least. I’ll be skiing every day again!

Namaste