(no subject)

Well, I can't sleep so far, so while I am waiting for the 2nd ambien to kick in (that actually means the 2nd half of the same ambien, since what I normally do is break a 10mg tablet in half) I will regale you will snippets from my day. Not the whole day - that would be entirely too much for me and probably for you, too. Just bits.

I have now seen my mother's will. Art brought it up to the hospital because he thought they might need to see it because of the power of attorney thing, and then he gave me that copy (it's not the original) because I am - unfortunately - the person most likely to need to know exactly what it says. It is a book - well, a binder, anyway - nicely organized with the numbered Avery Indexes and everything.

Among other things, it contains:
1. the will, of course
2. Durable Power of Attorney - this seems to be for financial stuff
3. Medical Power of Attorney
4. Declaration of Guardian
5. Directive to Physicians (part of this seems to be what people refer to as the "DNR")
6. HIPAA Release - this means they can release her medical records to me
7. Anatomical Gift Statement
And then there was some stuff about funeral arrangements that mostly seem to be blank, and a checklist, and (I was rather amused at this) an FAQ. Which I think is a damn good idea, actually.

So pretty much every one of these has my name at or near the top of the page. Executor of the will? Me. (Everything is divided equally between me and my sister, a procedure my mother has scrupulously kept to all of our lives. Power of Attorney? Goes to me. Guardian? Me. Me, me, me. (Oh, also, all of these me-me-me's are referred to by the birth name that I never ever use and which doesn't even appear on my driver's license. I hope that's not going to cause problems.)


And the thing is, test 1 of the Power of Attorney system was not exactly a resounding success. I wil have to tell you that lovely story later, though.