Now Playing -
Springsteen.
Now Eating -
nothing.
Now Feeling -
I got a haircut. It helped.
Now Tweeting
- Melanie
then sometimes relatives are the weird kid who sits across the aisle from you in Chemistry class and hangs around your locker mooning over you and pleasedeargawddontlethimaskmetotheprom.
Mom is in rehab. Actually, Mom is in Rehab Lite, and she prefers it that way, because that means on hour of physical therapy as opposed to three, and Bingo games, and cookies on her unrestricted diet. Mom also does fun stuff like using her walker without assistance, and wheeling herself around in the chair even though she�s not supposed to. But the lower half of her body hasn�t fallen off yet, so I suppose things are okay.
However, Mom has a rash. And last night Mom had chills and a slight fever. The Head Doc of the Rehab Place thinks it�s a reaction to antibiotics given during her surgery. Her surgeon thinks that�s bull. Her surgeon does think that her incision may be slightly infected, and he may need to put her back in the hospital so he can do a little cleanup job. And Mom just wants to go home.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Dad isn�t sleeping because he�s worried about Mom. He has also managed to get my brother well and duly upset, because he called my mother at six o�clock this morning to yell about how badly the hospital is treating her. I said to Mom, �Aren�t you glad to know that I�ll never call you up at six in the morning to yell at you?�
Iamnotpartoftheirgenepool...Iamnotpartoftheirgenepool...Iamnotpartoftheirgenepool....
Dad also seems to be trying to give himself another stroke. Take today for example. My Husband (Who Is A Saint, by the way) took Dad to the credit union to deposit his Disability checks so he�d have oh, some money in the bank They tried to go Monday, but the bank was closed because they were updating the computer system. So they got on the drive-up teller line today. And sat. And sat. And my father�s pressure rose. And rose.
�I hate this place...I�m taking all my money out.�
[This from Dad, who had in the past praised the credit union to the skies. �You should really belong�they have great rates on loans and mortgages and it only takes fifty bucks to open an account....�
Not like we could use those fifty bucks for groceries, or something. And that the ONLY branch is TWENTY MILES AWAY FROM MY HOUSE.]
But now his hatred of the credit union burns with the fire of a thousand angry old Jewish men. And they�re blocked in the drive-up lane by two cars. Dad tried to honk the horn at the guy in front of them. He got out and went inside. He accosted a customer service rep, and probably royally pissed off the twenty people who were actually waiting in line like you�re supposed to.
�Can you help me with this?�
�Well yes, I can deposit it, but I can�t give you any cash back.�
�Fine lot of good you can do for me then.�
Stormed out, back to My Husband The Saint�s waiting car. Of course the guy in front of him moved once Dad had entered the bank, so he�d just pulled through the drive-up and parked. The latter of the two cars that had been behind him was now at the window.
�I hate this place...I�m taking all my money out.� Lather, rinse, repeat.
Huz suggested they try the drive-up again, and again (thanks to Dad�s Awesome Karma) they got stuck for aaaaages.
Gave up. Headed to the drugstore, a plan which was almost scrapped because Dad was all sweated up and sure he�d �catch pneumonia if he went into that freezing place.� Huz reassured him that with the a/c in the car on, he�d cool off sufficiently (Yeah. Right.) by the time they got there. They got him some drugs, but Dad did balk at picking up his dry cleaning.
So 1/3 of the mission accomplished. The toll on his blood pressure cannot be estimated at the present time.
Now, I�m not a big Freedom Rider on the Psychopharmaceutical Peace Train, but...XANAX, DO YOUR STUFF.
I honestly do not understand him. He�s always been scared of the world and convinced everyone�s out to get him, but now? A hundredfold. And it�s too soon to tell whether it�s a physiological or psychological effect of the stroke or just whether everything he�s been through has exacerbated the neuroses. But seriously, the man is gonna explode.
He bitches no end about my mom�s �quality of care.� He did this about his own while hospitalized. The nurses are lazy, no-one knows what they�re doing, they don�t know how to run the place at all�. But the thing is, hospital staff here on the Island of Lawn Guys is notoriously overworked/underpaid. There�s nothing that can be done about that. And bitching within earshot of the very people who are providing your care doesn�t seem to me to be the best way to handle things! If I may use a theatrical analogy, you don�t piss off the tech people. You�ll end up looking like shit, with no props, and at that point it might not even matter because you�ll be in the dark!
I guess he must be feeling so out of control that he tries to exercise control over the littlest, stupidest things. It�s something I can�t wrap my mind around. And his fear, his fear of everything. Don�t run, don�t drive in the rain, don�t go out in this heat, don�t go to the ATM at night, don�t carry too much cash, you look tired, are you sick, go home now...I don�t want you driving late at night. How does he get through the day?
Iamnotpartoftheirgenepool...Iamnotpartoftheirgenepool...Iamnotpartoftheirgenepool....
I can�t. I just can�t be that way. I�d never leave the frickin� house. You can�t go through life being afraid of what�s around every corner. Sometimes I just want to shake him and ask him what the hell happened??? It�s not like any one of us went through any dreadful disease or near-fatal accident. Up until the stroke/surgery double whammy, our life has been pretty damn benign. Of course, I�m sure Dad would rationalize that by saying all his pu-pu-pu-kinehora worrying has paid off. But what have you lost by sitting at home with the lights off and the blinds drawn? What have you missed?
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a very fine cat indeed - Friday, Jan. 17, 2014
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