Karnack, The Magnificient

Old Johnny Carson character. I went to Karnack today to do the referral. Frances called yesterday morning to say something had been wrong with the fax machine and the referral had been there but in memory. So, I went by yesterday afternoon and picked it up and called the family and scheduled an appointment for today. It was a long way over there and I couldn't really determine the rush. The lady has a provider five days a week, her son spends every night with her, she gets home delivered meals, etc. The nurse had indicated they wanted information about a Medical Power of Attorney. I took that but the son said it was his sisters who were talking about it and they live in Dallas. I could only leave the information and tell them to look it over and let me know if I could help them complete it. I enjoyed meeting this 87 year old lady. She was alert, friendly and I liked her. It was an expensive home visit for National...$47 for the visit plus over $50 for the mileage. I got home and had a messge about another referral. Now they are keeping me busy. On the way back from Karnack I went thru Longview and stopped at Mervyn's to look for some new walking shoes. I didn't find any I liked. Then I went on to Harley's thinking to get a couple of bottles of wine. I didn't see anything I really wanted. They did have some Rosa Regala from Banfi but it was a sparkling wine...champange like stuff so I decided I didn't want that. Might give me a headache like champange does. The drive from Karnack to Longview was really nice and brought back some good memories. That was my territory and I made that drive a lot from 1981 until about '94.. There has not been much change along highway 80....some new stores and a few new houses but generally it looked the same. I guess what really kept running thru my mind was the fact that I don't work for TDH anymore. I enjoyed the direct service aspect of that job....going to people's homes, helping them to get what they needed, working the system. I can't say I really enjoyed much of the administrative part of the job, especially the last 5-6 years. Peggy and I went to lunch yesterday. I suggested the soup and salad special at Olive Garden and she readily agreed. I got the Zuppa Toscana soup and she got the Pasta A Frigoli. Mine was really good and she said hers was too. She asked for a small bowl of the Zuppa but said it was hot and much too spicy. I told her she was a wimp. She told me she had looked at a few apartments. LQ has gone up on the room rates to $65 a night. I said she needed to start looking for a place when she found she was spending as much for a couple of nights at LQ as she would spend on an apartment. She wants some place with bills paid. Apparently what she has looked at was not in a safe area and wasn't very nice. I'll start keeping an eye out for her. I can't imagine spending 2-3 nights in a motel every week. I mailed Pat a check for Clint's gifts and a few pictures I had taken at Christmas. I enclosed a short letter including info about my part-time job. I'll have to call in a few days. If I don't they might decide I'm made about something.