The Reprieve (and Return to Lumigrate) of Summer 2020

The silver linings of the 2019/2020 virus crisis are many, in my opinion, and I've overall heard others say similarly. It was eerie, seeing this sign when O'Rio was able to walk to the park again.  

I'm writing this in the afternoon of July 5 (2020). We're recently liberated, likely briefly, from Covid-19 restrictions.  Since my last blog post in March, which I created fast on the used computer I'd bought just as the restrictions were beginning, I've been able to go shop for, and purchase, a brand new laptop! It was like old times -- me at Best Buy, talking to the knowledgeable helpers I rely upon. 

I checked it out first to see the model is able to communicate with Lumigrate, because only the Macintosh at the library, not the desktop PCs, would.  The Macintosh I'd purchased to begin Lumigrate with in 2008 had died in January of 2019.  I could use the computers at the nearby library, but they were all PCs and didn't communicate with Lumigrate for formatting.  I'd check the county library in the big city and found the Macintosh worked, but O'Rio would need to ride with me, stay in the car -- in hot or cold that wasn't great, plus it was a long drive.  I'd end up moving closer to the big library, but O'Rio would be in pain if he stayed long in the back of the vehicle, even if the weather was okay.    

As "luck" would have it, I was to begin assisting a client in 2020 who had the VA "Home Team" services, family coming into town frequently from a few hours away, a housekeeper (for over a decade, same gal), a hair cutter, and a food deliverer.  I ended up wearing a lot of hats!  And O'Rio was welcome there, even regarded as an "inspiration", and his progress due to having the providers, diet (and supplements), routine, and care I provide was a shining example of "animals showing us the way" -- once again.  

Below, O'Rio with his Memorial Day poppy, I wore one as well. This was not long after receiving the Help Em Up harness.   When my client once again fell while alone, while working to get up on their own without calling for help, he said he thought about how I could put O'Rio's harness on him and lift him the same way I did O'Rio.  Yes, that is how it works, but maybe we'll call for a second person to help.  And how we're underway with that type of call system in place.  And I'm on call.  

I joked that it was like a private assisted living we were running, just at a fraction of the cost of the ones he'd considered moving to.  Some days I'd be housekeeper, cook, dish washer, activities director, nurse, physical therapist, and even occupational therapist.  Other days groundskeeper, maintenance, and then we got into accounting and bookeeping. 

Since I considered this time in our history a national and world-wide emergency, similar to how we had to pitch in with World War II, I'd not charge for many of the hours. (Memorial Day, above, to the one who served in the US Military, a free day, for instance.) I would be able to purchase a computer by this reprive time, mid year. And my client was the very first person I'd show it to.  

As the Covid-19 crisis came upon us in March, I had enough money to buy a used computer from someone for $50. An HP, it had a good monitor, adequate keyboard, but was on Windows 7 and wouldn't work for me with Lumigrate, though it's fine for the purposes we have in the client's home -- aside from video conferencing.  So with my laptop to do that, our bases are covered.  

0I knew the client would benefit from having computer, with assistance, in the home, even before I realized how the crisis would force the use of virtual, video conferences with providers and clients. It's simply become a necessity.  And that's hard to explain to someone born 90 years ago, who has gotten by all these years without.  

It's a win/win/win, as I look at it.  Though I'm sorry he had to pay for the hours of assistance he'd not been forseeing.  I'd have been able to purchase the computer earlier had O'Rio not had a right knee injury, as I was loading him into the car to "go to work", in early February. 

O'Rio would be turning 15 at the end of February, so I started his birth month thinking we were doing really well, then in an instant, the injury had me wondering if it was going to be the time for his life to be brought to a peaceful end. But veterinarians, both conventional and rehabilitative, once again, pulled off a miracle.  And then they suggested a brand of harness that "helps 'em up", and so the computer got put off, because O'Rio comes first. 

Thankfully, in June we didn't need a veterinary visit, which I attribute to a supplement the rehabilitation specialist suggested, plus I got a little work helping a returning client, and the laptop came to be. Yes, Mardy PopIns Returned.  

So here we are! 

(Photo from 2019, but I've begun using it as my primary photograph for marketing myself as "Mardy PopIns", with O'Rio literally and figuratively "in the picture".)  

I hope you're enjoying the resumption of my blog posts, as well as activities you enjoy going and doing.  While allowed, which I look forward to seeing how long or short this lasts.  Until it's more restricted, viva la vida loca!  (Just be smart about it!) ~~ Mardy