Sometimes it feels like we're being punished. This mess actually started last year and it hasn't ended yet.
My father turned 90 on December 1st and said to me that he wasn't going to live much longer. He was going blind, felt as if he was losing his mind, wasn't eating as much and had some odd behaviors including hallucinations. I had scheduled a neurology appointment but he never made it.
Shortly after Christmas, his legs swelled due to not elevating his legs as his GP directed and the blisters got infected and required treatment. After consulting his GP, I was told to take him to the emergency room (A&E) instead. He was admitted, much to his chagrin, where he stayed for a week. My brother and I drove 10 miles each way multiple times a day and saw him resist treatment and fight the nurses. He went as far as to throw his food, pull out intravenous needles, and refuse his normal medication. They released him and sent him to a nearby rest home and rehabilitation center to gain strength enough to come home, sadly he didn't make it.
While at the rest home, he contracted Covid-19, ended up back at another hospital for 5-days and returned to the rehabilitation center to continue to get strong enough to come home. Again, he refused to eat and threw his mediation around.
On February 22nd, he Facetimed with my sister, who was in the hospital due to an ongoing sepsis infection. She passed that afternoon. We had to tell him because if he came home, he would've looked for her and we would have to tell him anyway. After that, he closed his eyes and kept saying both girls are gone - we lost another sister in 2017, and that was it. He passed away on February 1st after not eating or drinking for the prior week.
It's been one horrible mess that never ends. My sister's ex-husband absconded shortly after their marriage. My niece, who just turned 18, had to sign the papers for her mother's care, can't retrieve her from the hospital because Ex-hubby is still the next of kin. Contacting Ex-hubby has been a fruitless effort so far, so my sister is stuck in limbo.
Let's hope after this elephant-sized hump is out of the way, things fall into a near-normal routine again.
My father turned 90 on December 1st and said to me that he wasn't going to live much longer. He was going blind, felt as if he was losing his mind, wasn't eating as much and had some odd behaviors including hallucinations. I had scheduled a neurology appointment but he never made it.
Shortly after Christmas, his legs swelled due to not elevating his legs as his GP directed and the blisters got infected and required treatment. After consulting his GP, I was told to take him to the emergency room (A&E) instead. He was admitted, much to his chagrin, where he stayed for a week. My brother and I drove 10 miles each way multiple times a day and saw him resist treatment and fight the nurses. He went as far as to throw his food, pull out intravenous needles, and refuse his normal medication. They released him and sent him to a nearby rest home and rehabilitation center to gain strength enough to come home, sadly he didn't make it.
While at the rest home, he contracted Covid-19, ended up back at another hospital for 5-days and returned to the rehabilitation center to continue to get strong enough to come home. Again, he refused to eat and threw his mediation around.
On February 22nd, he Facetimed with my sister, who was in the hospital due to an ongoing sepsis infection. She passed that afternoon. We had to tell him because if he came home, he would've looked for her and we would have to tell him anyway. After that, he closed his eyes and kept saying both girls are gone - we lost another sister in 2017, and that was it. He passed away on February 1st after not eating or drinking for the prior week.
It's been one horrible mess that never ends. My sister's ex-husband absconded shortly after their marriage. My niece, who just turned 18, had to sign the papers for her mother's care, can't retrieve her from the hospital because Ex-hubby is still the next of kin. Contacting Ex-hubby has been a fruitless effort so far, so my sister is stuck in limbo.
Let's hope after this elephant-sized hump is out of the way, things fall into a near-normal routine again.
