A Glimmer of Light

     This morning I was given a glimmer of light in the bleakness of this past week.  It's something to hope and pray for, and will be close to a miracle if it occurs.  I was speaking with Jenny, the administrator of the Retirement Village where Bob is.  I had called her to see what I need to do to make the transition from his being in respite (which ended at 11 am this morning) under the auspices of hospice and Medicare, into an ongoing and indefinite stay under "private pay."  My thought was that perhaps a few more weeks, or a month, would give me time to sort out my options more carefully without feeling like I was under so much pressure.

     Jenny told me that last night, until 12:30 p.m., she and Kip (director of nursing) and Sarah (business manager) had met together about how they might approach the VA for either a one-time contract to take care of Bob, or becoming a VA contracted facility for northern New Mexico (currently there are none in northern NM).  I was pleasantly and humbly amazed and flabbergasted that these three people whom we hardly know have cared so much about us that they would give up an entire evening, literally working late into the night to try to help us be able to stay here in Taos.

     Of course, they still have a lot of "leg work" to do, beginning Monday (although a staff member was already dispatched to the local VA clinic this past week with the mission of obtaining the proper contact information for this group to initiate their plan.)  And, of course, the VA may not end up collaborating in this attempt.  But the fact that these three are even working on this means more to me than I can say. There are good people.  There is compassion.  There are angels.  May their kind and dedicated hearts be rewarded with success, on our behalf, and on behalf of all the vets in this area.