Help Betsy Haug, Choreographer
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Betsy Haug, Choreographer (A.K.A. Betsy H. Ogden)
Guess I should explain that I am Betsy's husband and have been for over 10 years. Betsy is the most precious person in the world to me and after much encouragement from several of her close friends, I've decided to let friends, students and the world know what is happening to her.
Frankly, kids, I don't know what else to do or where to turn.
Betsy has servere Dementia and in the late stage of Alzheimer's. See www.alz.org
It runs in the family as both her Mother and her Grandmother passed away with it.
The monies I hope to raise will be for her care now and what may lie ahead in the future.
Besides the medical expenses incurred, (and not yet completly paid),
1) Betsy needs new dentures. The recovery center that she was in for 13 days lost her upper implant plate. Although they agreed they were lost while she was in their care, no monies has yet been received. Our dentist said the lower ones need to be replaced as the current ones would not match new ones.
2) Professional Care Givers. Betsy needs help 24-7 and I'm the only one she has and we don't have the monies for outside help and they are expensive.
3) Due to her bad knee, getting into a slippery tub and bathing is a real challange, so installing a "walk-in tub" would help.
4) Climbing the stairs is also a challange and very painful for her. We soon will need an electric chair lift.
5) Savings for a professional extended term care facility.
Besty has no other benefits other than Medicare and no insurance or other income from any other source and it's tough!
Her story, (our story) has been nearly 20 years in the making and it has been bitter sweet.
Those of you that studied under or worked with Betsy were very fortunate. The only time I saw Betsy dance was during a class she was teaching to high school students in Ellensbury, WA.
For those that don't know Betsy, you can find info at www.imdb.com/ . That's the international broadway data base.
One of Betsy's favorite career highlights was landing a role and Dance Captain in the Broadway Hit "Promises, Promises", a play by Neil Simon starring Jerry Orbach with music by Burt Bacharach. She later traveled the world choregraphing the play in Europe, Australia and Japan.
She also choregraphed the "splash" sceen in the movie "Flash Dance".
She had a dance studio above the Ed Sullivan for 20 years where she gave lessons to many inspiring dancers and also worked with many famous stars, most notedly, Liza Minnelli.
In addition, Betsy choregraphed many shows in Las Vegas, Alantic City, on cruise ships and at resorts all over.
*******
After her son Jamie, graduated from High School then University of Washington, we moved to Oregon. One day several years before we moved, she told me that she slipped and fell while excersing at an old friends' studio in Seattle.
After that, although she religously did her daily splits and streching routinue, she never danced again. That was sometime around 2002. As the years passed and with little excercise her legs got weaker and her right knee gave her a lot of pain. She did the chiropractor thing, body massages and even acupuncture. I finally managed to convince her to see a doctor. X-rays revealed that she had bone spurs on her right knee which caused her leg to swell half again as large as her left leg. He gave her a serious of shots but it didn't help much. Her next option was to have a knee replacement. That was not the option Betsy wanted.
When we moved to Oregon, Betsy opened a Rare Book Shop and I bought a T-shirt Shop and a Coffee Shop. We were o.k. until the Great Recession hit. Nieve as we were, we poured all of our monies into the shops hoping brighter years were just around the corner. It was a long block. Betsy closed her book store and I moved all her books home. A couple of months later, I was lucky enough to sell my shops and we became offically retired.
In our effort to get out of debt incurred during the Great Recession, we stared downsizing by selling our collections and antiques on eBay. We did pretty good and 90 percent of her perfume bottle collection sold. After Betsy got sick I was forced to sell her beautiful illustrated books to a local dealer. After a couple of garage sales, I concluded that the treasures we have left have is of little value and no interest to anyone but us. We are trying to keep our head above water and managed to dodge foreclosure once, but I'm not sure how long we can hang. With Betsy in her current condition, selling our home is not an option. New surrondings to her would be inviting even more confusion and stress. Besides, the legal loops I would have to jump thru to achieve that are expensive and time consuming.
Although I had noticed very slight forgetfullness once in a while before we retired, it wasn't until we were together all day when I begin to see a more profound change in her behavior.
It started with getting the names and sex of the dog and cats mixed up, then forgetting the recipe for her favorite dinner and so on. As I have never known a person with Alzheimer's and it doesn't run in my family, I was totally unaware of the signs.
It was less than 18 months into our retirement when one day Bety didn't have the strength to climb the stairs to the upper level and need to be transported to the hospital. They told me that she was dehydrated and wanted to keep her overnight. Then it was 3 days. During those 3 days Betsy slipped into a different world. Don't know why. Maybe the medication, maybe something else, but I lost my girl. Those 3 days turned into 26 between the hospital and a recovery center.
That was 2 and a half years ago and even though I thought myself to be the Super Husband, it's time to acknowledge that I'm not. I'm only human and a tired one at that. Betsy demands (not by her choice) close watch 24-7. She can not be left alone for any significant time at all. Although Betsy can not read much anymore, by the most part she is calm and enjoys our pets. However, usually at least twice a day her demenor will change without notice and she will become a different person. She will argue and not cooperative in any way. She will think I'm someone else and go from room to room calling for her sister, Peggy. Then, at the flip of a switch, she will be calm again.
But, she will never again be the dance instructor you once knew.
No need to get into more detail. I'm sure you get the picture.
Guess I should explain that I am Betsy's husband and have been for over 10 years. Betsy is the most precious person in the world to me and after much encouragement from several of her close friends, I've decided to let friends, students and the world know what is happening to her.
Frankly, kids, I don't know what else to do or where to turn.
Betsy has servere Dementia and in the late stage of Alzheimer's. See www.alz.org
It runs in the family as both her Mother and her Grandmother passed away with it.
The monies I hope to raise will be for her care now and what may lie ahead in the future.
Besides the medical expenses incurred, (and not yet completly paid),
1) Betsy needs new dentures. The recovery center that she was in for 13 days lost her upper implant plate. Although they agreed they were lost while she was in their care, no monies has yet been received. Our dentist said the lower ones need to be replaced as the current ones would not match new ones.
2) Professional Care Givers. Betsy needs help 24-7 and I'm the only one she has and we don't have the monies for outside help and they are expensive.
3) Due to her bad knee, getting into a slippery tub and bathing is a real challange, so installing a "walk-in tub" would help.
4) Climbing the stairs is also a challange and very painful for her. We soon will need an electric chair lift.
5) Savings for a professional extended term care facility.
Besty has no other benefits other than Medicare and no insurance or other income from any other source and it's tough!
Her story, (our story) has been nearly 20 years in the making and it has been bitter sweet.
Those of you that studied under or worked with Betsy were very fortunate. The only time I saw Betsy dance was during a class she was teaching to high school students in Ellensbury, WA.
For those that don't know Betsy, you can find info at www.imdb.com/ . That's the international broadway data base.
One of Betsy's favorite career highlights was landing a role and Dance Captain in the Broadway Hit "Promises, Promises", a play by Neil Simon starring Jerry Orbach with music by Burt Bacharach. She later traveled the world choregraphing the play in Europe, Australia and Japan.
She also choregraphed the "splash" sceen in the movie "Flash Dance".
She had a dance studio above the Ed Sullivan for 20 years where she gave lessons to many inspiring dancers and also worked with many famous stars, most notedly, Liza Minnelli.
In addition, Betsy choregraphed many shows in Las Vegas, Alantic City, on cruise ships and at resorts all over.
*******
After her son Jamie, graduated from High School then University of Washington, we moved to Oregon. One day several years before we moved, she told me that she slipped and fell while excersing at an old friends' studio in Seattle.
After that, although she religously did her daily splits and streching routinue, she never danced again. That was sometime around 2002. As the years passed and with little excercise her legs got weaker and her right knee gave her a lot of pain. She did the chiropractor thing, body massages and even acupuncture. I finally managed to convince her to see a doctor. X-rays revealed that she had bone spurs on her right knee which caused her leg to swell half again as large as her left leg. He gave her a serious of shots but it didn't help much. Her next option was to have a knee replacement. That was not the option Betsy wanted.
When we moved to Oregon, Betsy opened a Rare Book Shop and I bought a T-shirt Shop and a Coffee Shop. We were o.k. until the Great Recession hit. Nieve as we were, we poured all of our monies into the shops hoping brighter years were just around the corner. It was a long block. Betsy closed her book store and I moved all her books home. A couple of months later, I was lucky enough to sell my shops and we became offically retired.
In our effort to get out of debt incurred during the Great Recession, we stared downsizing by selling our collections and antiques on eBay. We did pretty good and 90 percent of her perfume bottle collection sold. After Betsy got sick I was forced to sell her beautiful illustrated books to a local dealer. After a couple of garage sales, I concluded that the treasures we have left have is of little value and no interest to anyone but us. We are trying to keep our head above water and managed to dodge foreclosure once, but I'm not sure how long we can hang. With Betsy in her current condition, selling our home is not an option. New surrondings to her would be inviting even more confusion and stress. Besides, the legal loops I would have to jump thru to achieve that are expensive and time consuming.
Although I had noticed very slight forgetfullness once in a while before we retired, it wasn't until we were together all day when I begin to see a more profound change in her behavior.
It started with getting the names and sex of the dog and cats mixed up, then forgetting the recipe for her favorite dinner and so on. As I have never known a person with Alzheimer's and it doesn't run in my family, I was totally unaware of the signs.
It was less than 18 months into our retirement when one day Bety didn't have the strength to climb the stairs to the upper level and need to be transported to the hospital. They told me that she was dehydrated and wanted to keep her overnight. Then it was 3 days. During those 3 days Betsy slipped into a different world. Don't know why. Maybe the medication, maybe something else, but I lost my girl. Those 3 days turned into 26 between the hospital and a recovery center.
That was 2 and a half years ago and even though I thought myself to be the Super Husband, it's time to acknowledge that I'm not. I'm only human and a tired one at that. Betsy demands (not by her choice) close watch 24-7. She can not be left alone for any significant time at all. Although Betsy can not read much anymore, by the most part she is calm and enjoys our pets. However, usually at least twice a day her demenor will change without notice and she will become a different person. She will argue and not cooperative in any way. She will think I'm someone else and go from room to room calling for her sister, Peggy. Then, at the flip of a switch, she will be calm again.
But, she will never again be the dance instructor you once knew.
No need to get into more detail. I'm sure you get the picture.
Organizer
Betsy Ogden
Organizer
Depoe Bay, OR
