[nagdu] Listening in the Wings

[cheryl echevarria]

Toni:

Good Bless you and your husband. I did have one question in reference to your insurance.  And, please send e-mail off list.  Does he have Medicare?

Reason I am asking, as you know I still hold my certification as a Medical Insurance Specialist and hope to maybe find a better option for you, or anyone for that matter that might need someone like me as well.

My information had been posted in one of the Braille Monitors as well as a story in the November issue, and Dr. Maurer has also mentioned my services in one of his Presidential month addresses.

Cheryl Echevarria 
Independent Contractor
www.Echevarriatravel.com<http://www.echevarriatravel.com/>
1-866-580-5574
blog.echevarriatravel.com
Reservations at echevarriatravel.com<mailto:Reservations at echevarriatravel.com>
Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Toni Whaley<mailto:blind_treasurer at verizon.net> 
  To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'<mailto:nagdu at nfbnet.org> 
  Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2010 2:39 AM
  Subject: [nagdu] Listening in the Wings


  Hello!

  Although I've been reading all the messages and have found many of the
  threads very interesting, I haven't had the time or energy to respond. Two
  months ago my husband had 12 hours of heart surgery to repair a whole
  between the ventricles in his heart. Fortunately, the surgery was
  successful. Unfortunately, many complications have slowed down his progress.
  These include: fluid on the lungs, extreme physical weakness, inability to
  swallow food. He is unable to speak above a whisper, an this speech is for
  the most part unintelligible.Sometimes he's able to communicate through
  child-like writing which doesn't helpp me unless someone is there to read
  it. Until last week he was still in the cardiac-pulminary ICU. He was, and
  still is, too weak to participate in strenuous physical therapy of the type
  given in most nursing facilities. Yet he had made enough progress so that
  the insurance companies wouldn't pay for him to remain in the ICU. So he was
  transferred from a hospital about a mile from my home accessible by taking
  one bus to a rehab hospital 21 miles from my home accessible by taking three
  buses. Fortunately, I can get to this hospital by using paratransit. 

  At this writing my husband's condition has changed very little. His
  inability to do much for himself makes him extremely anxious. This causes
  his speech to be fast and choppy, increasing its intelligibility. The speech
  therapist and I have created a speech board in braille and print which
  contains his most frequently requests. This is helping some. 

  Hazel has done well spending long days in the hospital, and we're educating
  a lot of people at both hospitals. She has also provided several occasions
  of amusement to me. One day I was walking with one of the surgeons back to a
  conference room. As we passed a man walking in the opposite direction, Hazel
  quicklly took a sniff of his crotch. Of course, I corrected her for this.
  But the surgeon showed some understanding of dogs by saying, "I guess you
  can't take the dog out of the guide dog." All of the nurses in the ICU
  enjoyed Hazel. Indeed, they were extremely disappointed on those few days I
  didn't bring her to the hospital. The staff at the new facility are now
  getting to know us as well.

  Toni



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