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One of Those Days

Kate and I have many good days, but not always. Sunday was one of those exceptions. It began around 9:00 when I got a call from the agency that provides two of our three caregivers. The one who was to come was sick, and they were looking for a replacement. They had identified someone who might be able to take her place, but she would be on overtime, and they wanted to know if that would be all right. I gave my approval.

A little later, I received another call telling me that person couldn’t come. After we hung up, I called them back to say that if they couldn’t get someone for the whole day, I would be happy to have someone for a short time to help me get her up for the day and return later in the day to help me get her to bed.

They found someone who could come under those conditions and that she would not be on overtime. They let me know that she was inexperienced and would need my help if I were agreeable. Since I’ve been an active participant in Kate’s care, I agreed.

When she arrived, I learned that she had been in training as a medical technician. She had taken a temporary position with the in-home care agency to make a little money before continuing her previous educational plans. It didn’t take me long to find out that she was not skilled in the kind of care Kate requires. She wasn’t good at changing or dressing someone in bed, and she had never used a lift for a patient.

This was not an ideal situation, but I began optimistically with the thought that I might have learned enough to make things go smoothly. I think of myself as a pretty good assistant to our regular caregivers, I quickly learned how unskilled I am in direct patient care and training of other caregivers. Trained and experienced caregivers clearly handle situations like this without any great difficulty. I won’t go through any of the details, but it took us at least twice as long to get Kate up and in her wheelchair. Fortunately, using the lift went more smoothly.

In addition, Kate was more confused and not as cheerful as she is other times. I’m not sure that I have mentioned that for the past 4-6 weeks she has had more experiences when she doesn’t recognize me. That normally disappears after I give her my name and tell her some of our history (where we met, falling in love, having children, that we have been happily married more than 58 years, and that I love her dearly ). After that, she usually responds to me as though she knows me. It usually lasts for the rest of the day or at least a few hours. On Sunday, she asked, “Who are you?” off and on until we retired for the night.

I’ve frequently mentioned that I like routine. This was a day that was far from that and, therefore, somewhat uncomfortable for me. That was particularly true in connection with the difficulties with a substitute caregiver. I had become comfortable and dependent on our regulars. A new and unskilled caregiver was an abrupt change.

Despite that, there are good things to report. For the first time, I took Kate for ice cream without a caregiver. We went down the main hallway that is officially named “Main Street.” Our building is at one end, and the café with ice cream is almost at the other end. It was a nice stroll and a treat to enjoy time to ourselves.

After the caregiver left that night, Kate and I had another good evening. At first, she couldn’t remember who I am. I gave her my routine explanation a couple of times and ended by telling her how much I love her. That seemed to stick. We watched YouTube videos with music by The Kingston Trio and The Brothers Four. The day ended well as it always has.

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Always a Few Glitches. You have to Expect That.

I think a lot about how the world is and how we think about it. Right now, I am feeling very grateful. Kate has been home from the hospital just over a week, and the past two days she has shown significant signs of recovery. She may not return to exactly the way she was before COVID; however, if we can get her on her feet again, she might be pretty close. She was able to eat and drink successfully if not in the same quantities as before. She was also more cooperative when moved from her back to her side and when we changed her. I have found it helps a lot for me to lie beside her in bed and hold both of her hands while the caregiver takes care of these things. She seems to find some sense of security in that.

I’m also grateful for the numerous people who have sought to make my life less stressful during the past two weeks or so. These interactions have included Kate’s doctor’s office (a great geriatric practice), the hospital’s doctors and nurses, the Home Health agency personnel (especially their nurse and the physical therapist who did an initial assessment), our church, the friends and family who have called, written, or dropped off a meal, three different servers at restaurants we have frequented over the past few years (one of whom brought us a Thanksgiving dinner) as well as a host of Twitter friends who have expressed their concern and support including one who phoned me twice from New York and the AlzAuthors management team who in addition to their emails and Twitter messages of support gave me a gift certificate for Panera. My experiences with each one have reinforced something I already believed in – the basic goodness of people. I’m a rather self-confident and self-reliant person who has been lucky not to have needed such acts of kindness before now, and it has made quite an impression on me. I think I will be “paying it forward” for a long time to come.

In the midst of this largess of support, a few glitches have occurred. Both of the agencies who have had to work quickly to provide the help I had requested made mistakes on the schedule I had asked for – 8 hours a day starting at noon and ending at 8:00. One agency provided help between 1:00 and 7:00, the other between 11:00 and 7:00. In both instances, it wasn’t a misunderstanding. Those were the hours they were able to work out with their CNAs. I called one of them to say that on Monday I have a Rotary meeting at 12:30 and would like someone at noon. They corrected that right away. I talked with the other agency about their schedule of 11:00-7:00. I wasn’t rigid about the schedule I had requested and agreed to try theirs to see how it worked.

The next issue wasn’t anyone’s fault. The caregiver that had been coming on Monday and Wednesday and was my favorite declined to return after the first day because she has a back problem. She felt moving or changing Kate was going to be a problem. I was disappointed, but I could hardly blame her.

The day after I received that news I was eagerly awaiting a visit by the physical therapist at the Home Health agency who was to train me on the Hoyer lift. It turned out there had been a communication problem between the social worker at Kate’s doctor’s office and someone at the Home Health agency. The social worker at that same agency was scheduled to come to the house late that afternoon. She simply got tied up with other cases that day. I was assured that she would come late the next afternoon. It was 6:30 before she arrived, and she was here close to an hour and a half. It became obvious to me that she takes a lot of time learning about her clients’ situations and needs. She liked her, and I never said a word about her not coming the day before.

The following day I received a call from my other in-home care agency letting me know that the CNA who was to be with us that day was sick, and they hadn’t been able to find a replacement on such short notice. Before I could feel any disappointment, the person who called asked about the most important things I wanted to the caregiver to do that day. I told her it was changing Kate, getting her on her side, feeding her lunch, and changing her again late in the day and giving her dinner. She said she would come over and take care of those things for me. I thought that was going beyond the call of duty but accepted her offer. It turned out that although she works as the scheduler in the office, she is also a CNA and very skillfully handled her responsibilities with Kate. I was liked her too.

Given the stress I had been under, I might have been upset (frustrated? disturbed? angry?) by any one or a combination of these glitches, but I didn’t feel that way. I was simply too moved by how much everyone was working to make my life easier that I couldn’t be upset. There will always be bumps in the road. These won’t be the last ones.  It’s important to keep them in perspective even when we are stressed.

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Thanksgiving and the Day After

Because of the pandemic, I had expected our Thanksgiving would be different, but I had no idea that we would be so directly affected by COVID. As it turned out, however, it was a Thanksgiving for which I was truly grateful. Kate’s coming home from the hospital made all the difference in the world. The bonus was that she was much stronger than I expected and appeared quite rested.

I will say that her return didn’t go exactly the way I hoped. When I spoke with the doctor that morning (Wednesday), she said that Kate would probably leave around 3:00 or 3:30. I conveyed that to the agency. They said they would have someone at the house by 4:00. At first, I thought that might not give me as much time as I wanted to brief her before Kate’s arrival.

That turned out not to be a problem. At 4:30, I received a call from the hospital saying they were about to release her. It’s a 20-minute ride from the hospital to our house, so I was confident they would be here by 5:00 or shortly thereafter. She didn’t arrive until 7:30. The CNA was scheduled to leave at 7:00 but stayed until 8:00. My uneasiness about Kate’s getting home so much later than expected was immediately forgotten when I saw her.

Once she was in bed. I played YouTube videos that she enjoyed until after I had showered and was ready for bed. It was a lot like our lives before she left for the hospital.

Thanksgiving morning she was awake at 8:30 while I was in the middle of my morning walk. I went to the bedroom and found that she wanted to rest a little longer, so I finished my morning walk. Then I went to the bedroom where I spent the next two hours with her until 11:00 when the  CNA arrived.

Although Kate had met her the night before, I reintroduced her. Kate received her as she would a guest in the house. I told her that I thought we would need more help now and that Tisha was a nurse whom I had asked to be with us while she was recovering from her stay in the hospital. She accepted that without question and agreed that we would need the help. I don’t think, however, that she really had any concept of why Tisha was here.

I was especially pleased when we were able to get her out of bed about 1:30. By this time, she was tired and back in bed before 2:30. We put her back to bed where she remained the balance of the day.

She didn’t sleep much, however. She dosed a little but was awake in bed most of the afternoon. I thought she would go to sleep easily that night, but she was concerned about something she need to do and wanted me to help her. I could never understand what she was talking about, but her concern lasted a good thirty minutes or more. I took the approach of simply comforting her. I told her I would help her, and it might be better if we did that in the morning. I took her hand and told her I had missed her and was very happy to have her back with me. I talked about the fact we had been together so long that it didn’t feel right when we are apart, something with which she agreed. That conversation diverted her attention from whatever was disturbing her.

The next day (yesterday) she was wiped out. She rested the entire day except for those moments when Tisha changed her or tried to move her to a different position.

Two different nurses came by for intake interviews. One was from the new home care agency we are using. The other was from the Home Health agency. Apart from the information they gathered from me, they took Kate’s vitals. Neither was bothered by the fact that she was resting/sleeping so long and said we should let her rest through the day. Tisha and I did just that.

Kate was awake when Tisha left, and we spent a couple of hours watching opera videos on YouTube. It was a nice way to end the day. I was afraid that Kate would be awake all night, but that turned out not to be a problem. She went to sleep easily and slept through the night.

Today we have a new person who will be helping us. I hope she is as good as Tisha and that Kate will be awake a little more. As we’ve been doing, we’ll take it a step at a time and adjust accordingly.

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A Day of Anticipation That Ended in Disappointment

Yesterday began with a meeting with the owner of the new (to us) agency that is providing the help this week and in the future. This will be in addition to the three days a week now covered by our current agency. We had a good meeting. I feel very comfortable with them. That is especially true after my interaction with three of his staff last week. He was here about an hour. During that time, I gave him background on Kate and showed him the key areas of the house with which he and his staff should be familiar. He had a CNA prepared to be at our house at noon, but we decided I should call him as soon as I heard that Kate was being released. The nurse and the CNA were to head to our house for a brief orientation and to be present to greet Kate upon her arrival.

In the meantime, that gave me time to make a few preparations. When Kate’s mother lived with us, we had bought a steel ramp that we used to make it easy for her CNAs to get her down the two steps from our family room to our patio. Her mother passed away in 2005. It has been stored in our garage since then. Although it is very heavy, I was able to slide it across the floor of the garage and lift it in place on the top of two steps into the house.

Word about Kate’s hospitalization had gotten around, and I received a number of phone calls and emails offering support. This is the first time I have ever been in this position. I quickly learned something that I had only thought of before when it was someone else in our position. Some people hesitate to call because they may catch me at a bad time. My personal feeling as a recipient of such calls is that they are welcomed. I did have to cut short two or three when I received a call from the hospital or someone else with whom I was coordinating Kate’s return. I found the conversations themselves to be therapeutic. They also filled my day as I was somewhat nervously, but eagerly, waiting to see Kate for the first time in six days.

Shortly after 3:00, I received a call from Kate’s doctor at the hospital. She began by telling me it was her first time to see Kate and was trying to get a clearer picture of her “baseline” before COVID. I filled her in on the fact that she had been declining recently but had been able to stand and walk and was eating well. I explained that COVID had pushed her over the edge, and she had been very weak.

Then she told me that one of the things they had been monitoring involved a measure of muscle tone or strength. I wasn’t too clear on this, but it related to her ability to walk.  The measure had gone up to 700 from 200. The doctor thought it might have something to do with hydration. Kate has been on an IV to keep her hydrated, but she pulled it out the night before. They want to try again and see if they can improve the numbers before releasing her. She went on to convey that she didn’t want my expectations to be too high for her immediate recovery.

This was a gut-wrenching way to end a day of anticipation of Kate’s being back home with me. Perhaps, I will get better news today.

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Good News

I’ve made no secret of the fact that Kate and I have faced serious challenges during the past 10-12 days, but we are beginning to see rays of sunshine. My conversation with Kate on Sunday afternoon was one of those. Yesterday, I continued to see a few things falling in place that will ease our burden significantly.

Yesterday morning, I received a call from the new agency with which I have been arranging additional help for this week and in the future. They confirmed that they have someone who can be with us today through Friday and then again on Sunday while they continue to locate a person for Saturday. They will be here from noon until 8:00 p.m. each day. I chose that time period because those are the hours that Kate is usually awake. She rarely gets up before noon these days and is normally in bed by 7:30 or 8:00. As with so many other things we have faced, flexibility is essential. If this schedule doesn’t work out, I’ll change it. I also contacted our existing agency to increase from four hours each visit MWF to eight.

Of course, the best news is that Kate is coming home today. I suspect that will be this afternoon. They are supposed to call me regarding a time. She will be coming home by ambulance.

When I spoke with the hospital yesterday, they said they are recommending the full plate of services for Home Health Care paid by Medicare. I don’t know that Kate will need or qualify for all of them. We will learn about that after her assessment. I spoke with a representative yesterday. He is awaiting my call to tell him when Kate is coming home.

So, how am I feeling about all this? The truth is that I am hopeful and a little sad and apprehensive about what lies ahead. I want to think that Kate’s strength will eventually improve to her pre-COVID level, but I am not confident since she had been on a steep decline in the preceding weeks. The fact that she has been bedridden for nine days is of concern as well.

I am also uneasy about her overall mobility. Will this experience be the catalyst that makes her wheelchair bound? If so, that will be a dramatic adjustment for both of us. It would obviously make if more difficult for us to get out and about. That doesn’t mean we can’t do it. I see people in wheelchairs almost everywhere we go. If others can adapt to it, we will as well. I am confident of that.

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Follow-Up to Previous Post on In-Home Care

I closed the previous post with an expression of optimism regarding our new Monday/Wednesday sitter. That was right after both of her regular visits last week. Thursday, I got a call from the agency that our Friday sitter couldn’t make it and that Cindy, the M/W sitter, was able to come. I thought that was good since that would mean Kate would have three consecutive visits her. Although she can’t remember her sitters by name, she does sense some familiarity over time.

That visit went especially well. When Kate heard her say goodbye, she looked sad and said, “You have to go?” Cindy told her she would be back next week. Then Kate said, “I love you.” I usually refer to all the sitters as “friends” when I mention them to Kate. I am hopeful that Cindy may truly be one.

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An Update on In-Home Care

Five weeks ago I reported that the stability of my three-year arrangement of sitters for Kate had suddenly come to an end. I lost the person who came on Monday, and the person who came on Wednesday and Friday had some changes in her life and dropped Wednesday.

On top of that COVID-19 has made it hard for the agency to find replacements. That led me to contact someone we had met at our music nights at Casa Bella. She started a business providing services for seniors about a year ago. I gave her a call, and she came to my rescue on a day when I had an ophthalmologist’s appointment.

Wouldn’t you know it was also a day when Kate didn’t want to get up. As it approached time for the sitter’s arrival, I gave up and decided to let her sleep/rest. This was a time I hoped she would sleep be in bed until I returned. Our friend isn’t really in the business of providing personal care, and I didn’t want to put her in the position of getting Kate to the bathroom and dressing her. Since I knew that Kate would not remember her, I was also concerned about her waking up and not knowing who this person was.

As it turned out, Kate wanted to get up before I came home. I never got the story from our friend, but she had taken care of everything. They were chatting happily when I arrived. I regretted that both of them had been put in this spot, but they seemed to have gotten along fine. Since then, I have used the friend on two or three other occasions. It is especially nice that she does not require a minimum time. Twice she has been here an hour and a half. The agency has a four-hour minimum.

Next, the Monday/Wednesday sitter had to leave her position as a result of a back injury; however, we had a stroke of good fortune. One of the agency’s regulars had an opening for those days. Coincidentally, I discovered that I know her husband. He is an ex-banker turned farmer. For several years, he has dropped by our office in a truck loaded with fresh produce. I have also encountered him at the American Red Cross. He is one of, if not, the leading donor in our area. He is nearing his 1000th donation of blood or platelets.

The best news is that she is the best sitter we have had since I first brought in help three years ago. Having said that, I did run into one issue that seems to have been resolved. I thought she was great because she took more initiative to engage Kate in conversation and other activities. The only problem was that she seemed to move too quickly for Kate. Each of the first two times she was here, it appeared they had gotten along fine. When the sitter left, however, Kate’s eyes rolled. One of those times, she said, “What’s going on here?” On another visit, the sitter brought her iPad to play some children’s audiobooks for Kate. I suspected that was going to be overwhelming, and it was.

When I returned from another visit, Kate was asleep on the sofa. That gave me an opportunity to talk with the sitter. I told her I was very pleased that she was now our regular Monday/Wednesday sitter. Then I asked if she had heard of The Horse Whisperer? She hadn’t, and I went on to explain his approach to breaking horses by very gradually gaining their trust. She confessed that she was a little hyper but would try to approach Kate more gently to establish her relationship.

She has been back twice since then, and the visits have gone very well. Kate had rested a short time during her last visit. The rest of the time they had looked at photo books and read stories. I took it as a good sign that Kate didn’t express any concern when I left, nor did she seem to be relieved when I returned home.

I am optimistic about the future with her. Her hyper nature has a positive side. She has taken more initiative to help me with the laundry, replace bed sheets, and looks for other things to lighten my load. She also has a touch of OCD. I notice that in the way she folds clothes and makes up the bed. If she can stick with us, our in-home care will be the best ever.

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Issues with In-Home Care

It was almost exactly two years ago that I first engaged sitters for Kate. Except for a handful of exceptions, the schedule has remained the same – four hours a day Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon. We’ve been fortunate to have few changes among the sitters themselves. One of them has been with us the entire time except for the first week or two. That has been especially helpful since, until recently, she came two afternoons a week. We’ve had three or four sitters for Monday, but two of them were with us less than a month. I believe the continuity has been beneficial for Kate.

The past few months have been different. We lost our Monday sitter the first of June. Fortunately, the person who replaced her was a woman who had been with us forty weeks during our first year and quit to take care of her own health issues. I was glad to have her back.

Then our Wednesday/Friday sitter gave up her Wednesdays. She has been in great demand by the agency. That has been especially true during the pandemic. She was moving into a new house with her mother. She needed a break, and I understood. It turned out the Monday sitter was able to take the Wednesday slot. That has worked well.

After that, I had my own mini-crisis with respect to my blood pressure that was no doubt related to the increasing stress of caring for Kate. That led me to make a few changes. One of those was to add a sitter for Thursday. At first, it looked like that might be a problem. When I talked with the agency, I learned that they have been impacted by the pandemic. They don’t have as many people who are willing to accept assignments, and it is more difficult to recruit new ones. As it turned out, they were to arrange for our Monday/Wednesday sitter to add Thursday as well.

Over the weekend, the agency called to say that she had injured her back and would not be able to come on Monday. They called back that morning and told me they could not locate anyone else who could. Unfortunately, that was my day for Rotary, so I missed that.

It was also a day when I had a 2:00 appointment with my ophthalmologist. That meant I would have to take Kate or find someone else to stay with her. At first, I thought I might take her with me. I have done that on other occasions; however, she is bothered by wearing a mask. It is a challenge for me to get her to wear one from our car to a restaurant. Knowing that we might be there over an hour, I preferred to leave her home.

That prompted me to call someone we had met through our music nights at Casa Bella. Last fall, she started a business providing services to seniors. I know someone who uses her as a driver, but she does a wide variety of other things. I put in a call to her. She was available and came to my rescue.

I know that Kate didn’t remember her, but she must have seemed familiar. We sat together many times over the past five years. At any rate, they got along well, and Kate didn’t object when I left. She was resting when I got home two hours later, but according to my friend, things had gone well. I am glad I called her. She is an appealing person in whom I have confidence. If I encounter another situation like this, I won’t hesitate to call her.

The question now is “Will the sitter who injured her back be able to return soon?” I have no idea nor does the agency. Yesterday afternoon, I received another call from the agency saying they had been unable to locate anyone for today or tomorrow and are working on a replacement for next Monday. In the meantime, I placed a call to my friend who is available if the agency is unsuccessful. I have a dental appointment a week from today and told the agency about it. I plan to call my friend today to see if she could be a backup for that day as well.

Suddenly, my rather stable in-home care arrangement is no longer stable.

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A Change in In-Home Care

Until sheltering came into our lives, we have had the same schedule for in-home care for the past two and a half years. One sitter comes at noon every Monday and stays until 4:00. That allows me to make my regular Rotary meeting, go to the Y, run errands and attend occasional meetings for the balance of the time. Another sitter comes on Wednesday and Friday between 1:00 and 5:00.

I have always preferred the 1:00 time for both sitters, but that wouldn’t allow me to make Rotary. Our club suspended its meetings in April, and I took advantage of the change to request that the Monday sitter come at 1:00 until the resumption of our Rotary meetings. I thought that had worked fine, but last week the Monday sitter showed up at noon just as Kate and I were getting ready to leave to pick up a takeout meal from Panera. It turned out that she had thought that we had made the change only for the month of April.

In our conversation, I discovered that she has other commitments after 4:00 and had only been staying until 5:00 to help me out for a short time. As it turned out, I haven’t felt the need for her during this time. I continued the service for two reasons. First, she has been with us over a year, and I didn’t want to risk losing her if I temporarily discontinued the service. Second, I didn’t want her to sacrifice the income in case she couldn’t find something else until we started again. When I finally understood the situation, I told the agency not to send anyone on Monday until Rotary begins its regular meeting schedule.

So, for the month of May, I only have a sitter two days a week. Ironically, I feel good about this arrangement. While sheltering, I have only run sporadic trips to the grocery or pharmacy and taken a short walk around the neighborhood. I’ve spent the bulk of the time at home. As a result, I haven’t worried about getting Kate up as early as I had been. Quite a few times, we have been eating our lunch when the sitter arrived. She would take a seat in the family room until we finished eating. After that, Kate usually rests for the balance of the afternoon, and I have worked on other things and made phone calls without any interruptions. I think Kate has been comfortable with the arrangement as well. This means there is never any abrupt time when I am leaving for an extended period of time. I generally say something like, “I’m going to run to the grocery and will be right back.” That is something she has been able to accept without any problem. Thus, I have felt more relaxed during our sheltering.

The question now is what is going to happen when Rotary begins. As it stands, the agency will return the same sitter when I tell her it’s time to change back to the noon to 4:00 schedule. That assumes that the sitter has not been assigned to someone else. I am wondering about the possibility of changing sitters even if the same one is available. I have never felt as comfortable with her as I do with the other sitter. On the other hand, Kate doesn’t require a lot of attention. She rests most, and sometimes all, of the time the sitters are here. Like most changes of this nature, I can’t be sure that the replacement would be better, perhaps not as good. Of course, I could try another one or several, but that would mean introducing Kate to more than one new person. I am leaning toward accepting the same sitter if she is still available, but I have almost two weeks before I have to make a final decision. We’ll see what happens.

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Update on In-Home Care

It’s been a while since I’ve commented on Kate and her sitters. That’s a good sign. Everything has been going well. Yesterday was a good example. Kate was up much earlier, and we returned from Panera about 10:15. She was tired and made her way to the sofa as soon as we walked in.

The sitter, Cindy, arrived about 11:50. She is always early. I like that because it gives me a little more time to get to Rotary before 12:30. I met her at the door and walked with her to the family room. Then I walked over to Kate and said, “Guess who’s here? Cindy. And she’s taking you to lunch.” Kate immediately sat up and with a big smile told her she was glad to see her.”

When I got home, I walked into the kitchen and said, “I’m back.” I heard Kate say enthusiastically, “Good.” She was happy to see me, but it didn’t seem like she was greatly relieved. That kind of departure and return home is what I like to see. I want her to feel comfortable with her sitters. The more comfortable she is the better I feel about leaving her.

That has taken a long time. In fact, it has been two years and two months since I first engaged the sitters. It is only in the past 4-6 weeks that I have felt good about leaving. Sometimes she still asks, “What are we going to do?” (as she did yesterday) when I am ready to leave, but she doesn’t seem uneasy about my departure. On Mondays, I tell her that Cindy is taking her to lunch. That seems to take care of any concern she has. Sometimes she says, “I don’t have any money.” I tell her that Cindy can pay with a gift card I bought.

I started with two sitters, one on Monday and the other on Wednesday and Friday. Each visit is four hours from noon until 4:00 on Monday and 1:00 until 5:00 the other days. When I began, I fully expected to increase the number of days and/or the amount of time they are here. I haven’t because I don’t feel the need. Our insurance covers eight hours a day. That gives me plenty of room to increase Kate’s care at no cost, but I still enjoy being with her.

Having said that, I do find that my personal time is declining. That is true largely because I need to be more directly involved in entertaining her. That relates to her not using the iPad as much. Some of that is offset by her resting more, but I don’t want her to rest solely because she doesn’t know what to do. Given these changes, I may find myself open to adding more time in the next six months or so.

We have been lucky in that Mary, the Wednesday/Friday sitter, has been with us since almost the beginning. That continuity has made me feel better. I think it has been good for Kate as well. We have had several changes with our Monday sitter. Cindy, the current one, has been with us several months. I am comfortable with both of them and hope they will be around for the forseeable future.