Roselvr: If you sent an email, it did not arrive. I had the phentolamine test about a year ago. Since it has to be done in an OR setting, that may be why more drs. don't do it. This was a double-blind test. The nurse administering the drugs thru IV injection was the only one who knew what drug was given and when. I can't remember the name of the other drug they used. Since I had a remission, I did not have to go thru the nerve block procedure. As it is, there are five nerves that control the foot and they run down the spine against the vertebrae. Hitting the wrong nerve could have left me with more damage than what I had. I'm so thankful that I didn't have to go thru it. Since pain is a subjective issue and your pain level is different from another's, doctors are cautious when it comes to treating it, especially back pain. With RSDS, the brain reroutes nerves and blood supply around the injured area. That's why it is so difficult to treat. Once the brain goes into repair mode, it can rewire other simple injuries. It is a very strange situation. Upon reflection, my ankle was the second episode for me. The first was after a breast biopsy and I thought the pain I experienced for months was from scar tissue forming. Both surgeries required metal implants of some sort. The biopsy required a wire to be implanted prior to surgery to mark the abnormal tissue. With the bunion surgery, I had a steel pin projecting from the instep into the bone they severed to shorten the big toe. I had to deal with that for seven weeks. I am senstive to all metals except gold so I wonder if that triggered the rewire response. As for the situation here, the population has thinned out dramatically. The caregiver's last day was last Friday. Dad flew to Montana the next day. It is so quiet around here now. I have a ton of work to do to get the place back in shape, but I don't have to deal with "them" anymore. No more insurance or employer paperwork, no more go-fer runs to the pharmacy or dr. appts 35 miles away. I may have one casualty : my tv is on the fritz. Probably not used to being off so much! Had two appointments with different real estate agents to try to put the property on the market again. One had to turn down the opportunity. Don't know the reasons yet. The other is waiting to set an appointment with my infamous vanishing brothers. To top it off, Lil Bro almost blew himself up when a can of black powder he uses for his home-made cannons blew up in his face. I don't know the full extent of his injuries. I offered to help and he got nasty so I removed myself from the situation. I wonder if I'm living in a soap opera! H&K's to all! Carol

I don't know. I poked around the internet a little and found a couple of items that referred to bills of assurance. They sound a little POA-ish, but are not the same thing. The first thing I found was a city council meeting in which someone asked the mayor of Jacksonville what a bill of assurance was. It says, "Mayor Swaim related that a Bill of Assurance is an agreement among the individuals in a subdivision and the City does not have enforcement authority. He clarified that the enforcement belongs to the residents and is not an authority given to City government." The other record I found was from a court case in Arkansas in which an issue related to a bill of assurance was being challenged, and one of the things it noted was that "any restriction on the use of land must be clearly apparent in the language of the asserted covenant." Both in Jacksonville and in Arkansas, the issues seemed to be related more to zoning and structures being built on properties than on creating a common area thing, like a security gate. Also, neither one actually cost the property owners anything--neither issue had to do with paying assessments or dues of any kind. And I think that Christopherh is right in saying that they can't just decide to create their own little gated community on their own-- I think the city would have to give permission. So the bottom line is that I still think that your neighbors are trying to get away with something that they can't actually do. I would still do what I said originally: do nothing if they don't send you something official on paper. And if they send that, then I would get a lawyer to send them a letter saying that legally they can't do it.

This is a subject so terribly fraught with spectres of greed, avarice, controversy that it's often difficult to be really honest when discussing it. I tip my hat to Nancy in Mich. for stepping up to the mike and asking me WHY my brother and I arrived at the decision we did. It's important that those questions be asked and that they be answered. I worry a lot about this. I worry that Mum will deteriorate to such an extent that she cannot remain with me or my brother, in a setting that is familiar to her, surrounded with things and pets that she "remembers". I have seen the interior of nursing homes and "rehabilitation" facilities 3 times. Only one of the 3 was "acceptable", the other two were so pathetically inadequate I wouldn't send a hated enemy there. And it wasn't for lack of funding... (heaven knows Mum was a "cash cow"! spry, pleasant, and cooperative)it was for lack of QUALIFIED staffing. Those workers "in the trenches", were largely immigrant, working for minimum wage (probably without any benefit package, too), and barely able, with their broken English, to communicate with wards barely able to comprehend the spoken word, let alone that spoken with a thick accent, no matter how affectionately! THEY were the real treasures! they were attentive, affectionate, and virtually ignored by more "educated" staff. The most PATHETIC employees were the vaunted RNs, PTs... no kidding! I have, NEVER, in my life met a more arrogant, selfish, unwilling cadre of "caregivers". I was embarrassed for THEM; they were nearly universally unwilling to do ANYTHING that remotely required "hands on" work. "I'll call an aid"; "I have other duties to attend to...". "Could you call me later?" (needless to say they didn't "do" e-mail). Oh, I've heard it all. And that's why Mum is with me and my brother and NOT in one of those hell-holes. $60-80K/yr. for THAT? I rather think not. But families willing to do the work to keep them at home can't be compensated? HUH?! Welcome to life, corporate America runs this country, make no mistake about it. But consider this: you wouldn't have wanted to be the RN on "duty" (eating her doughnut behind the counter at "reception"!) when my brother arrived at 11:30 AM on Saturday morning, the day after Mum was transferred. She was lying in bed, soaked in urine (failed urostomy appliance), unfed. He coolly told the RN to get her ass in the room and take care of it. He went next to the administrator's office. From that day on, he and I went to visit Mum EVERY SINGLE DAY for 5 weeks to "check up" on her care. I HAD TO TEACH THOSE RNs HOW TO CHANGE AN UROSTOMY APPLIANCE. (Wingate) There is one level of employee I hold in greater contempt, though. And that's the SOCIAL WORKER. Never, in my life, have I seen a greater waste of payroll than they. I have had the (dis)pleasure to deal with 7 in the past 3 years. ONLY ONE of them was helpful in any meaningful way. Frankly, the other 6 could have been nicely replaced with a WEBSITE. The one that was helpful is someone with whom I still maintain contact. She has remained a tried, true, and good friend. When you find a good one, stick with them! Am I angry? You bet. Why? because the whole system is set up to milk families of their assets even as they "tell" families they can't possibly "take adequate care" of much loved elders. The entire system is stacked against those of us who are willing to care for our families. Mark my words, this is the coming battleground and I'll be well finished with it in a few short years. Me? I've joined the Hemlock Society!

I'll continue to update for the benefit of future searchers looking for advice. House appraised lower than Aunt thought (no surprise there). There was some sort of falling out with the buyers, now renting the house. They still can't close until they can cover closing costs, and now they have had a significant change in income. And they're not happy the house is going on the market. Oh, did I mention they were allowed to paint, carpet, etc before even renting! Yeah, I didn't have a say in that. Or any of this. So to sum up for anyone still following: inherited house to be sold to "good friends" that made an offer and were in the process of getting paperwork through. Without input from anyone else involved, buyers allowed to rent house. Before lease in effect, buyers allowed to paint, carpet, etc. house didnt appraise, so need new offer. Now situation has changed for them financially. Things are not good between buyer and Aunt (us). Plus they are upset about money they put into house already. How many out there think this will end well?....anyone? I just hope things don't end up with an eviction process and a trashed house. An the plus side, thanks in part to GW, when the work started before the lease, once Mom found out she was able to put her foot down and insist on paperwork about what happens if they don't buy, and insist all work stop until an insurance policy was in place. Plus a formal rent agreement and consult with their attorney. So thanks GW!