Aunty and the good looking Gas Co boys

Aunty has gas, always has and probably always will.  Stove, water heater, dryer.  Since global oil prices have come down, our gas bill has dropped from $70 to $40/month.  We also have solar panels that save us big bucks on electricity every month.

We could switch completely to just electricity since new appliances are now more energy efficient, but cooking with gas is quite nice, our gas dryer works on a standard 110v electrical outlet, and in cases of power outage, we still have hot water – a necessary luxury, in Aunty’s book.  Unfortunately for our neighbors, we are the only house with gas, so the entire block is affected when the lines are checked or upgraded.

Just recently, we had to have our gas line relocated because of a new carport that we were having installed (for a later post).  Two days before the Gas company was scheduled to arrive, road signs up and down our street were erected – NO PARKING, Subject to Tow.  Painted lines were drawn on the street near our gas line and property.  The neighbors were a bit huhu – “You da one making the trouble!” – they said good-naturedly (or at least Aunty hoped they felt good natured).

“Sorry, so solly, my bad” was the only thing Aunty could say, because Aunty did feel bad.  For the first time in decades, our street was in beautiful shape after the City had recently dug, graded, and repaved with 2 layers of quality asphalt.  Having our gas line relocated could mean tearing up the gorgeously perfect road in order to run new lines and then getting a patch job weeks later.

The day of happening

Early on the scheduled day, our street became packed with various trucks and vehicles for the gas line relocation job.  The supervisor on the job was an old friend and nemesis (from high school soccer), Adolph Samuels.  If there was anything that was out of place on that day, it was seeing Adolph emerge from a small nondescript Toyota Corolla that looked like it belonged to a little old lady.  He used to match the green Gas Company macho trucks that anyone could spot around town.  It was like seeing a rooster wearing an apron, so Aunty had to laugh, so solly.

Cones were lined up and a traffic control person directed the almost non-existent traffic on our very slow street.

The existing gas pipe was located and trenched with shovels as well as a little hop toe digger backhoe trenching even deeper close to the street on Aunty’s side.  Across the street, a big square hole was cut open with a powerful super bladed machine operated by a specialist from a concrete coring sub-contractor.

Four more people arrived from Hawaii Gas, and Aunty called them the white people because they were fair and did not look like they were there to dig.  These were from the company’s safety division, to make sure that safe and proper practices were in place.  Two of them were company attorneys, all of them wearing safety helmets, all of them really nice and easy to talk.  It felt very comforting to know that safety comes first and that it is taken very seriously with this company.

It was a very exciting busy day as well as a very fortunate day because the street did NOT have to ripped open.  The new replacement gas lines were blissfully threaded through the existing old pipe deep under the street asphalt and re-routed so that they were completely out of the way for Aunty’s new carport.  Booyah!  This was all done without a single hitch or unexpected problem, and after the lines were run, they were strapped, and reattached to our gas meter.  The water heater was started up, stove and dryer checked, and all was well.  They even cleaned up the yard so it looked even better than before!

The bill

This was a really big job with a lot of people involved, all of them skilled and good at what they do.  If Aunty had to hire the various jobs out it would have cost thousands of dollars and extra careful coordination.

Instead, because Aunty is an existing Hawaii Gas customer, it was $Free, nada, zippo, gratis.  The only expense of the day was providing bentos from Kokorotei (another post one of these days) for lunch, which is what Aunty likes to do whenever we have construction going on at our house.

Aunty also got the chance to pass out her logo magnets with the Garlic Mayo Shrimp recipe and 5 rules of wealth during their lunch break.  The “boys” were all good natured and good looking and put up with Aunty popping in and out to see how the job was progressing.

New gas

New customers will have to pay for their gas lines to be installed, as well as having to pay a plumber to run the gas lines from the meter to their appliances.  Most of the neighbors that Aunty spoke to were happy enough with just electricity.

If, however, in the future, they do decide to have gas like Aunty, the Gas Company will give rebates towards the purchase of new gas appliances as well as give Aunty referral fees.  How can the company afford to do that when they only collect $40/month from Aunty?  Aunty was worried but reassured by the boys that the company is in good shape because most of their business comes from commercial accounts such as hotels.

Aunty was very pleasantly surprised at the super job the good looking Gas Company boys did.

If you decide you want to join with Aunty and Jumping Jack Flash (it’s a gas-gas-gas!), then call Aunty’s pal Sharon Shigemoto at (808) 535-5933 and the job will be set up by Adolph Samuels in his leetle Toyota Corolla.

Also, if you get stuck with cold water only in the case of electrical power outage – remember we had one whole night one time kinda long time ago? – you can come take a bath at Aunty’s house, in the dark.  Bring your own towel though, okay?

Uncle fought a battle against cancer and blockage from when he was first diagnosed in November of 2013 with stage IV appendiceal cancer after surgeons at Queen’s Hospital performed a right hemicolectomy.  In the ensuing months, which turned into a year, Uncle was in and out of the hospital for various reasons.

We left Queen’s for the last time under the care of Hospice Hawaii.  This is Aunty’s review.

In the beginning

The initial support and attention as we prepared to leave Queen’s Hospital was top notch.  Dr. Liane Tokushige, the director of Hospice Hawaii, came to meet us and go over what could or could not be provided, with some wiggle room for options.  She is a petite beautiful woman with MD qualifications in various fields.  Very humble, very sweet, very caring.

We left the hospital the day after that with a specialist accompanying us to a waiting transport service, all arranged by Hospice Hawaii.

Any necessities such as a wheel chair, suction compressor, oxygen, walkers, hospital bed, etc. would be provided and set up at home.

Home at last

The first evening home was a big transition, figuring out a new IV system as well as learning about different drugs to provide Uncle comfort.  We had visits from 2 nurses, one who did the “admission” procedure and later another nurse who dropped off more bags of saline for Uncle’s IV drip.

At this point in time, we were not giving up, and we continued with alternative means of getting nutrition into Uncle despite his blockage (which seemed to be clearing) as well as receiving natural treatments for his cancer.

Two days later, nurse Oma, came to check in on Uncle as well as see what else Uncle might be needing.  Oma became Uncle’s case manager.  She had a gentle touch and we were glad to have her on board.

A social worker, Mimi, came by to offer help if needed.  Very soft spoken nice lady, easy to talk with, respectful of our hopeful beliefs.  It was a busy beginning.

On call if needed

Hospice Hawaii has a 24/7 system.  On the 4th night home,  Uncle was in discomfort and having a hard time and we weren’t quite sure what to do.  Send him to the hospital?  Call 911?  We called the Hospice Hawaii main line for advice.

The hospice on call nurse came to our home and told us to dose him with the pain and anxiety meds, which took a little while to kick in, but helped somewhat.  We were informed that going to the ER or hospital would mean giving up all Hospice Hawaii services.  The hospital would do emergency procedures, tests, and constant hustle and bustle versus dosing Uncle with hospice drugs at home to make him comfortable.

His dressing was changed, taking much longer than we were used to.  Although this first on call nurse was very nice, he did not instill confidence in his abilities with us.  We were used to the high professional and quality standards of the nurses at Queen’s Hospital.  The main thing though, was that Uncle was in less pain now.

At the end

With each passing day, Uncle became weaker and weaker, and thankfully in less discomfort as time went on.  His body was shutting down and after a week of being home, Uncle gently passed on, very peacefully, at home.  We called the Hospice Hawaii hotline and a very capable and caring nurse came out to check Uncle’s vitals and call for his final arrangements.

To hospice or not to hospice?

On a prior discharge, Uncle went home on “home care”, which meant that we were still able to see doctors, have tests done, be on IV nutrition, aggressively seek treatment if desired.

When Uncle was discharged on hospice care, test, treatment, doctor visits, etc. were not covered.  The goal and purpose of hospice was to provide comfort, period.

Hospice provided us with on call nurses, a case manager, support staff, and setting up the home with whatever (i.e. bed, walkers, oxygen, etc.) the patient needs.  This was a great service and the biggest difference between hospice and home care was being able to call someone, at any time, for whatever reason.

“Home care”, which is a regular discharge from the hospital, provides the patient with whatever he needs, i.e. nutrition, follow up visits, and treatment for the ailments.  The only option for professional help in Uncle’s case was once a week visits from a traveling nurse who drew blood for lab tests, took vitals, and changed Uncle’s dressings.  It did not cover the costs of a hospital bed and other items of support unless the doctor prescribed them.

The best of both worlds, Supportive Hospice

To have the staff, meds, and equipment needs met by the Hawaii Hospice organization was great.  Being able to also have lab tests, doctor treatments and therapies would be even better.  This is supportive hospice.

Supportive hospice is a brand new program that is now covered by HMSA.  It is not yet covered by the awesome HMAA (our health insurance plan), so we did not have this option.  If we coulda, we woulda.

Aunty hopes you never have to go through the trials and heartache of your loved ones in or out of the hospital.  However, if you do, Hospice Hawaii provides a transition bridge between the hospital and home.  It is a great service.  Mahalo to Hospice Hawaii.

Back in November 2013, Aunty attended the first HIMA meeting, not really knowing what she was getting into.  Aunty went just to support Randy Fujinaka’s new venture because Randy is such a good guy.

George Del Barrio and Thomas Trentz were the main speakers.  Tom’s presentation was good – high tech power point slides and how to reach and utilize the internet to help market ourselves.  Geebz’s (George Del Barrio) was much more informal and spontaneous, using social media as the springboard.  Both were experts in their fields, and Aunty learned tons!  The following month’s meeting featured Kristen Robinson – a powerhouse in social media marketing.

For $10, HIMA provides a nice meeting at the Manoa Library (lots of parking), food (!) and water, and dynamic experts on timely topics sharing their techniques and wisdom.  After that first meeting, Aunty gladly signed up for her annual membership of $100 with HIMA.  We even got door prizes, and Aunty met so many others in the room by networking and talking story.

On the first Tuesday of each and every month, we get treated to great speakers that can help ANYBODY who has a business or a need to get their needs out.  These meetings are events that get the light bulbs popping on in our head.  They help us find our genius, our roadmap, our growth.

Here is a link to the March 4th event, starring the owner of Big City Diner (yum!) and how he incorporates Twitter into his business model, as well as other business insights: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hawaii-internet-marketers-association-march-4th-event-with-lane-muraoka-tickets-10652681457

Hope to see you!