In Sickness and in Health
Donation protected
Hello, I am Cindy, niece of Rene & Andrea Anderson. Judy is my Mother and Rene’s much older sister.
Together Mom & I created this fundraiser to give back to my Aunt & Uncle, who have always been generous of Heart, with their time and what little they have, a great example is Rene’s devotion to his beautiful wife.
Rene has multiple spinal issues. This causes the ligaments and tendons to harden and calcify. He has three bone spurs in his throat making it difficult to swallow. On top his coping courageously with his disabilities, he is the sole caregiver for the love of his life.
Both Mom and I live in distant states, too far from my Aunt and Uncle to help physically and sadly neither of us has the financial means to provide the supports they deserve.
We are asking for your help with donations to provide desperately needed respite care (wife sitter) at a cost of $32.00 per hr. for 16 hrs. per wk. (the minimum allowed) for a six month duration, equaling ,$13,312.00 (16 x 32.00 =512.00 x 26 = 13,312.00).
With this amount of support Rene could choose to sleep through the night twice a week or walk Rollie their rescued Great Dane or take time to clean up that beard!
Below is the result of a combination of many short interviews done by myself and my Mother, (Rene has no time for lengthy interviews) so here’s what’s going on according to Rene:
On August 8th 2019, my wife Andrea collapsed to the floor with a massive ischemic stroke, leaving her paralyzed and unable to speak.
She was in ICU for 10 days. After leaving the hospital, my dear wife was in a five-star rated acute rehab facility.
What I found while there 12 hours a day was an overworked, under paid staff that didn’t even have time to offer to brush my wife’s teeth even once while she was there. Disgusting hygiene care.
Andrea contracted a urinary tract infection and a yeast infection while she was treated by this rehab facility. I am proud to say she has had no infections since in my care.
They wanted me to put her into another facility, and I said no. So, I took her home. I discovered my insurance (We pay very high premiums) does not cover respite care. No insurance will.
They do cover an aide to come give two sponge baths a week, for now. This will be ending in the next few weeks. Then I take over. I don’t know how I can possibly manage that.
I start my day at 5:00 am, up to clean and change my wife, though by then I'll have already been up at 1 am, and again at 3 am.
Three diaper changes down, another nine or ten will occur throughout the day. I'm disabled, so it takes me about 20 minutes to complete this task each time.
That means I spend approximately four hours a day cleaning up my wife. Since my wife is completely incontinent, I do several loads of laundry per day.
I brush her teeth, and comb her hair. I trim her nails and keep them clean. I maintain and dispense the nine medications she must take multiple times per day.
I spend an hour a day on vocabulary lessons and (4 sessions) doing range of motion exercises with my wife. Hand exercises with putty. Arm exercises with stretch bands. Leg lift exercises and turning to her side in bed.
It takes several hours to get her in and out of the wheelchair as she can tolerate it. I use a manual Hoyer lift to get her in and out of the chair.
We are vegan, so I cook all of our meals from scratch. Needless to say, I do all of the cleaning, too. I am paying our bills for the first time. My wife always took care of that. She always took care of us.
Andrea must be closely monitored when sitting up. She suffers from dysautonomia, so she passes out at random times, and must be rushed back to bed to bring her back to consciousness.
At times it causes her to have seizures. An event happens every time she is put in the wheelchair. It’s frightening. Paramedics have been called several times.
As things are, Andrea is bedridden 90 percent of the time. She needs to be turned every two hours to prevent bed sores, and changed frequently throughout the day and night because she is incontinent.
She has two physical therapists that have been working with her with much improvement. Recovery from a massive stroke is a very long process. I believe in Andrea! I am committed to helping her regain her independence, dignity, and the ability to enjoy all that life has to offer her. I just need some help now to get her there.
I am determined to help her regain her independence, dignity and the ability to enjoy all that life has to offer.
I have been disabled for some years. My wife Andrea (65, recently retired from the State of California) has been the one to take care of me.
Some of my diagnosis are Congenital Spinal Stenosis, Defused Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis, my spine is fused together between my shoulders and other issues including growing random bone spurs.
This all makes it difficult to care for my wife but not impossible, however I am concerned about her level of care declining due to my health issues and not having the time to take care of myself.
I want to thank the following people for their continued support!!
Inge – for feeding her Grand-dog, Rollie every month, always checking up on us and giving me time to walk her now and then! Andy and Tracy - for going above and beyond since the beginning! And for all the lovely flowers that never fail to make me smile. Judy and Cindy for the emotional support and love. Candace – for the visits, phone calls, moral support, and PIZZA! Kaiser Home Health Care Team – Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, and bed baths that Andrea enjoys so very much!
I thank you in advance for your help, anything will help! Please pass this to everyone you know and post it. If everyone helps this will be a burden to none!!
Together Mom & I created this fundraiser to give back to my Aunt & Uncle, who have always been generous of Heart, with their time and what little they have, a great example is Rene’s devotion to his beautiful wife.
Rene has multiple spinal issues. This causes the ligaments and tendons to harden and calcify. He has three bone spurs in his throat making it difficult to swallow. On top his coping courageously with his disabilities, he is the sole caregiver for the love of his life.
Both Mom and I live in distant states, too far from my Aunt and Uncle to help physically and sadly neither of us has the financial means to provide the supports they deserve.
We are asking for your help with donations to provide desperately needed respite care (wife sitter) at a cost of $32.00 per hr. for 16 hrs. per wk. (the minimum allowed) for a six month duration, equaling ,$13,312.00 (16 x 32.00 =512.00 x 26 = 13,312.00).
With this amount of support Rene could choose to sleep through the night twice a week or walk Rollie their rescued Great Dane or take time to clean up that beard!
Below is the result of a combination of many short interviews done by myself and my Mother, (Rene has no time for lengthy interviews) so here’s what’s going on according to Rene:
On August 8th 2019, my wife Andrea collapsed to the floor with a massive ischemic stroke, leaving her paralyzed and unable to speak.
She was in ICU for 10 days. After leaving the hospital, my dear wife was in a five-star rated acute rehab facility.
What I found while there 12 hours a day was an overworked, under paid staff that didn’t even have time to offer to brush my wife’s teeth even once while she was there. Disgusting hygiene care.
Andrea contracted a urinary tract infection and a yeast infection while she was treated by this rehab facility. I am proud to say she has had no infections since in my care.
They wanted me to put her into another facility, and I said no. So, I took her home. I discovered my insurance (We pay very high premiums) does not cover respite care. No insurance will.
They do cover an aide to come give two sponge baths a week, for now. This will be ending in the next few weeks. Then I take over. I don’t know how I can possibly manage that.
I start my day at 5:00 am, up to clean and change my wife, though by then I'll have already been up at 1 am, and again at 3 am.
Three diaper changes down, another nine or ten will occur throughout the day. I'm disabled, so it takes me about 20 minutes to complete this task each time.
That means I spend approximately four hours a day cleaning up my wife. Since my wife is completely incontinent, I do several loads of laundry per day.
I brush her teeth, and comb her hair. I trim her nails and keep them clean. I maintain and dispense the nine medications she must take multiple times per day.
I spend an hour a day on vocabulary lessons and (4 sessions) doing range of motion exercises with my wife. Hand exercises with putty. Arm exercises with stretch bands. Leg lift exercises and turning to her side in bed.
It takes several hours to get her in and out of the wheelchair as she can tolerate it. I use a manual Hoyer lift to get her in and out of the chair.
We are vegan, so I cook all of our meals from scratch. Needless to say, I do all of the cleaning, too. I am paying our bills for the first time. My wife always took care of that. She always took care of us.
Andrea must be closely monitored when sitting up. She suffers from dysautonomia, so she passes out at random times, and must be rushed back to bed to bring her back to consciousness.
At times it causes her to have seizures. An event happens every time she is put in the wheelchair. It’s frightening. Paramedics have been called several times.
As things are, Andrea is bedridden 90 percent of the time. She needs to be turned every two hours to prevent bed sores, and changed frequently throughout the day and night because she is incontinent.
She has two physical therapists that have been working with her with much improvement. Recovery from a massive stroke is a very long process. I believe in Andrea! I am committed to helping her regain her independence, dignity, and the ability to enjoy all that life has to offer her. I just need some help now to get her there.
I am determined to help her regain her independence, dignity and the ability to enjoy all that life has to offer.
I have been disabled for some years. My wife Andrea (65, recently retired from the State of California) has been the one to take care of me.
Some of my diagnosis are Congenital Spinal Stenosis, Defused Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis, my spine is fused together between my shoulders and other issues including growing random bone spurs.
This all makes it difficult to care for my wife but not impossible, however I am concerned about her level of care declining due to my health issues and not having the time to take care of myself.
I want to thank the following people for their continued support!!
Inge – for feeding her Grand-dog, Rollie every month, always checking up on us and giving me time to walk her now and then! Andy and Tracy - for going above and beyond since the beginning! And for all the lovely flowers that never fail to make me smile. Judy and Cindy for the emotional support and love. Candace – for the visits, phone calls, moral support, and PIZZA! Kaiser Home Health Care Team – Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, and bed baths that Andrea enjoys so very much!
I thank you in advance for your help, anything will help! Please pass this to everyone you know and post it. If everyone helps this will be a burden to none!!
Organizer and beneficiary
Cindy Haflich
Organizer
Sacramento, CA
Rene Anderson
Beneficiary