What do you do?

[avalen]

what a great discussion, although living with my son right now doesn't give me the need to check in, I do know of an elderly lady
that lives alone that raises a flag every morning so the neighbors know she is up and ok. If no flag, the neighbors go check on
her and recently that had happened, when they checked on her cause there was no flag, she had gone to a doctors appt and
running late didn't raise the flag, but she was ok.

[cpatinjones]

Good discussion.

[Acadianmom]

I was messing around in our old house and climbed up on a piece of s#@% step ladder that my step daughter had saved after the flood. It should have been thrown a long time ago. It broke and it and I hit the floor. I didn't get hurt but thought I would have been in there until probably dark if I had broken something. My DH would have probably wondered where I was by then.

When my mother was in the nursing home every time something came up the nursing home or the hospital wanted her living will. I can't tell you how many copies I gave them. I told my DH I was going to have mine tattooed on my chest so they could find it.

I have been saying for years that I was going to keep a journal on all our surgeries and illnesses but that hasn't happened yet. We always forget when things happened and usually forget some things. One doctor was concerned my DH was missing a kidney. We forgot to list that it had been removed. There are some tests that they run that show abnormal readings but are ok if they know he only has one kidney.

I think if I was doing much traveling I would put one of the tracker things in my motorhome so my kids could keep up with me, not that they would.

Martha

[Sandersmr]

I think if I was doing much traveling I would put one of the tracker things in my motorhome so my kids could keep up with me, not that they would.

Being a Ham, I have access to APRS, which is basically a tracking device. We use them for tracking emergency vehicles when working the MS 150 bike ride from Houston to Austin. There is actually an app for my Droid phone that I use since my mobile radio isn't equipped with the tracker. And it makes it really nice when DBF has to travel a long distance for his job - I can track him and follow his progress. One day, he made about 3 stops in about 20 miles, so I knew something was up. Yeah, he was having problems with the truck.

[Echo]

Excellent discussion.

Kelly and I are together so that is a big help. But I have their cell numbers in my phone labeled as son and daughter. I also carry their phone numbers in my wallet with my drivers license. Truth to tell I'm not a great one for keeping in touch. Most times I will call David once a week but there has been times I haven't. And there are times he doesn't. I have thought about using one of those tube things that you wear at the beach and putting my prescription info in it along with the necessary phone numbers and hang it from the steering column in my vehicle. I think that it would be an idea to hang one in the RV too.

When Kelly and I split up and go our separate ways sooner or later? I just know she will be contacting me everyday. She's done it before!! But I do also have a living will. That was done mostly for David. Both kids know my views on being kept on life support, But I think David would have a hard time of it and fight his sister about pulling the plug.

[JudyJB]

I really like the flag idea. COuld also be some sort of sign in the window.

One other thing to list on an emergency card (besides missing body parts) is any bits and pieces of metal you have in your body or things like plastic implanted lenses. They need to know about those if you need an MRI.

One thing I learned in a visit to my lawyer a month ago: living wills or power of attorney documents are only good in the state where you are residing currently. I was asking him to write me up a new one giving more powers to my son, but he said I should wait until I changed my residence to Ohio and see a lawyer down there.

It seems we need to carrying around a filing cabinet of living wills so we have one good in every state!!!

Just found this article about medical tattoos: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46542385/ns/health-health_care/

[Rufflesgurl]

With a lot of people getting full tat sleeves, backs, chests, etc., wonder if first responders would even notice if one of these people had a medical alert tat'd on their bodies. I think it's a good idea if it was about the only tat on a person's body.

Linda

[bluepinecones]

Judy, think you might need to recheck the living will thing. My lawyer recommended I file my medical directive and POA with an organization called DocuBank and simply carry their card. You can also provide them with a brief medical history and prescriptions to go with your directives. (I still carry a copy of the latter.)
http://www.docubank.com/
Any hospital or doctor anywhere in the world can access it with the ID number from the card as long as they have internet access. If no internet, they can call and have it faxed so I'm told.
Docubank also provides electronic storage for wills, financial, and other documents thru SAFE to all members.
I think the cost is only about $20.00 per year; well worth it to me.

[VickieP]

Our situation is different, I've been thinking about this and talked to Ronnie about it last night, but thought maybe some of you would have some other ideas for us. Most of you know, but some background for the newer ones... Ronnie uses a wheelchair, he was a passenger in an auto wreck in 1988 that resulted in a spinal cord injury. He is considered at the quadriplegic level of movement, but he does have the ability to move his arms. He drives with special equipment and we have a wheelchair lift in the toyhauler. Now, I've taken care of him through me having a broken rib and pneumonia, but what if something were to happen to me that I wouldn't be able to or worse, if I were to die when we were on the road somewhere. In thinking about it, and I know this sounds horrible, but it would be better if something were to happen where we both were injured, because he would be in the hospital also, but if he were uninjured he would need outside care until one of our family members could get to him. I'm thinking that he should, though contact with emergency responders, be able to find a home health nurse or something like that, but I'm not sure that they would be available everywhere. I thought about contact with a local church in the area, but they wouldn't be able to do things he needs like bathing, dressing, catheter care, bowel program, that sort of stuff above the normal. He could fix himself sandwiches and not starve. What about walking Weatherby? Maybe someone in the campground would help out with that. Any ideas or suggestions?

[JudyJB]

Vickie, is there some sort of nationwide nursing group that you could arrange care with in advance? Maybe talking to a hospital social worker somewhere could help you develop a Plan B.

I am guessing anyway, and maybe there are some emergency responders on this forum who could answer this, that if you had an accident or a serious illness, that he also would be taken to the hospital along with you to be checked out, based on his condition. And then in a hospital, there are always social workers who would arrange some sort of care temporarily.

Sometimes being in a remote area or a small town is an advantage when you need help because it is more personalized and people rally around you. When my mother was hallucinating from dehydration, and I was a long way away, her social worker drove 22 miles to pick her up, took her to the doctor, and then drove her to the pharmacy to get meds and sports drinks, and took her 22 miles back home!

I used to have similar worries when I traveled with my sons. I once had horrible food poisoning and left them, ages 13 and 16, in a hotel room wiht money for pizza, and went to the local emergency room. The hospital wanted to keep me overnight, but I refused and ended up being treated and driving back to the hotel. And that was before cell phones.

[Sprinter]

Vicki,

There are home health agencies in just about every town across this nation. I think that would be your best bet. They can usually admit within 24 hours with a physician's order and have social workers too who can help with setting up immediate and long term needs. As long as Ronnie can dial a phone, help should be at his finger tips. And if you are someplace really remote, he can dial 911 and be taken to the nearest ER. They too have discharge planners and social workers who can see to it that his needs are met.

Love,
Sharon