December 6, 2019

Last week, the landscaper came to slope the sides of the newly repaved driveway. Attached is a photo. This was several thousands cheaper than retaining walls + with the wet soil here, will not have the issue of bricks coming loose like they have done to all our neighbors. I will post the receipt in my albums (it was $2140), and we are focusing on raising funds to cover it, as it was an essential component of the repave.

We are also focusing on insurance costs for 2020. We have a large increase in our premium and it could lead to losing insurance. We are hoping to get at least some of that increase covered each month as well as medications, genetic testing, MRI angiography, and a GI visit.

Other important plans for 2020: Chair lifts, a ramp, and access mods to the bathroom and kitchen–if we raise funds, of course!

September 23, 2019

Thank you so much for the support, everyone! RT’s, kind words, support and donations are all amazing! We are on the October schedule for a concrete contractor for half the driveway (all we can do for now on current budget–rest will come later).

So now the challenge is getting as much money raised toward the sloping as possible. The sloping occurs along the sides of the driveway where the re-grade will leave a lot more land exposed. We had looked into retaining walls, but they cost twice as much and the neighbors have had issues with theirs due to the wet and mushy land in this area. Luckily, a landscaping contractor across the street from us says we can do the sloping instead so that is what we will do. It’s an essential component of the driveway regrade/repave, but done separately since it’s not concrete. It will be approx. $3,000 (vs. $6,000 for retaining walls, yikes) so aiming to get at least $2,000 more in donations this week if we can! Thanks so much!

In the meantime, my appeal for coverage of my $3,000 genetic test was denied so that will be a large bill or payment plan and we will focus on that next if need be. I am still fighting it with the state.

Thanks for your support! It makes a huge difference, and I appreciate all of you more than I can say.

August 15, 2019

Thank you so much for all of your support so far! Between generous donations, RTs, Facebook shares, or replies of support, it all makes a difference.

I apologize for taking so long to write a thank-you note and an update–I wasn’t sure how to do it & then we had an intense and busy couple of months with my father in hospice. He passed away August 1st.

As for the house and my health … We had a contractor come back out this week and discuss ideas to bring down their bid with some changes to their initial plan. This would be for about half the driveway, to address the most pressing safety concerns with the grade and the shattered concrete. (The rest needs work, too, and is a problem for wheeled mobility aids also, but we have to get these pressing concerns addressed now & can do the rest later). It looks like we can get on that schedule! So that will begin in October.

To make things with the house go even better, I would love to see the fundraiser get to at least $6,000 as soon as possible because in order for the driveway to be done, we must also re-slope the lawn surrounding it, which is another $2,000-$3,000. Yikes! But it’s way cheaper than retaining walls & the neighbors did it with good results.

$10,000 even better so we can get going on chair lifts as well.

Once the driveway is done, we can start working seriously on the ramp out the back–with donations, of course! It didn’t make sense until we had the driveway plan in place since I would roll out and … be stuck.

Irony–when the contractor was here, they witnessed a fall off the step. It was almost like an exclamation point on how urgent this really is.

As for health, due to the pressing needs with the house, I haven’t been able to afford my imaging or appointments, though I do have a referral for a specialist in genetic neurological conditions as it appears I may have a second genetic condition that runs through my family as well. (More on that when I know more.)

My mobility has decreased and I’ve had injuries and falls, as well as increased pain. A big contributor to injuries and pain is the grade of the driveway, so it will be a huge relief to get it addressed.

That’s it for now. We will get some videos up soon. We were so busy with my father in hospice for Alzheimer’s that we didn’t have a chance to film any.