We are writing a book: Paying for Long Term Care

We are working on a book that has a ton of resources for seniors and their families.  It’s called Paying For Long Term Care, but its more than that.  It is designed to be a resource not only for figuring out how to pay for long-term care but everything that goes along with it.

Here’s a brief outline

• Senior Care we might need
• Services and resources that can help
• Attorneys
• Care and living options
• The cost
• Medicare and Medicaid
• Financial resources
• Paying for care
• Strategies for making decisions
• Plus a whole lot more, much of what we have posted on this website.

Beyond the outline, we have been working on the cover and I think we finally got it put together – we had fun spending an hour with Irvine Tucker, Don’s dad.  Lots of credit to Diane Tucker, our daughter in law who snapped a few shots for us.

Here are some that just didn’t make the cut:

We really thought you ought to get to know Irvine, so here’s what’s going into “the book” to tell you a little bit about Irv.

Dad, Grandpa, Great Grandpa – Irvine Tucker has had a very long life.  At a spry 94, he has seen and done a lot in his many years.  Spending the first half of his life as an over-the-road trucker. Dad was gone a lot yet still made it home several nights a week and most weekends to spend with his wife Anges and their kids.  As Dad, there are many great family stories about long camping trips.  It seems they were part of a camping club that brought 1500 people to a town when they came.  There was the time they took over a tiny town in Wyoming. The year they went to see hippies in California. There was the Grand Canyon Trip, Fishing in Canada, and then the everglades in Florida.  And the Eisenhower Tunnel story where Dad had to drive over the tunnel instead of through it because Agness had claustrophobia.

After retiring from Trucking, Irv transitioned to Grandpa, when he Agnes moved to the Lake of the Ozarks.  There they enjoyed the lake life.  Watching the sunrise on the water, fishing, and keeping the grandkids out of the main channel in the little paddle boat.  Grandpa Irv, well he still had a need to drive, so his second career was as a school bus driver and trainer for the local bus barn to help keep all those drivers safe.

In 2004, when we first noticed that Agnes was having issues, they moved back to Kansas City.  Here, Irv became the caregiver.  He was able to help care for Agnes’s brother who lived next door and then Agnes as they both struggled with Alzheimer’s.  At the same time, he still found time to still be Grandpa, helping his now-adult grandchildren and helping them with woodworking projects and teaching them the craft of the spiral potato string and making good BBQ.

After turning 90, he then transitioned into Great Grandpa with the addition of his first great-granddaughter, and just last week he added twins.  This cover photo was taken at the most recent Christmas gathering at Irv’s house with his son Don and daughter-in-law Kim.  He was quite excited when asked to be on the cover of our book.