This is just a quick update as I haven’t posted much the last few days.

My mother was hospitalized yesterday morning with heart complications. Fortunately it was not a heart attack. We are not entirely sure what the issue was/is though doctors are certain it was stress induced.

Mom is doing okay now, she is home and resting.

More updates soon, for now we all just need to rest.

Just completed less than an hour ago. Dedicated to my mother. Considering the pain and frustration she’s going through, she’s holding up astoundingly well.

Inner Strength by ~genlisae on deviantART

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My mother had a meeting with the arbitration board this morning regarding her disability. They remain firm on their decision regardless of the case presented by her Advocates outlining the finical impossibility of the position taken by the Ministry of Social Services in regards to their denial of disability.

I have never seen my mother look so defeated as she did when she arrived home. Her entire face was a study of exhaustion, defeat, and hopelessness. I didn’t really need to ask her how it had gone, the answer was evident. I did ask though. Her answer: “A complete waste of time.” I suspect at that moment my own facial expressions probably matched Mom’s and we shared a look that was more of an acknowledgment of the question we were both thinking: ‘what do we do now?’

I can’t help thinking that the whole situation is perfectly clear and logical. To me it is a simple matter of ability. A person either can or can’t. They either are disabled or they are not. Mom is disabled. Period. My brother either can or can not afford to move and/or buy out Mom’s one third. He can not afford any of the above as he is disabled himself. Done. The world doesn’t operate by my definition of logic.

Oddly, this brought to mind my daughter’s ambition of being “an Evil Dictator”. Read the rest of this entry »

I would like to thank everyone who has read this blog so far for your incredible support. It means a lot for myself and my family.

The most common question I am asked is “How can I help?”

I have thought about this quite a bit. What can anyone else really do? I finally decided that there were a few ways that other people can help. First, and probably most important is really easy:

Tell Your Friends

Situations like my mother’s happen all the time. You just don’t hear about them very often. People are caught in bureaucratic ‘red tape’ all the time. They are usually the elderly or disabled who don’t know how to ‘work the system’.

No one should have to ‘work the system’. These systems are supposed to be in place to help. All too often those that really need that help fall through the cracks. They get caught up in ‘procedure’ and ‘regulations’ and ‘applications’. The applications are particularly difficult to understand.

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