Dad's Back in the Game... Again
Wednesday, December 14th, 2022 09:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioSo, completely out of nowhere, today... Dad was suddenly 100% lucid! Full cognition. No slurring of speech, wide awake and alert!.. like he hasn't been since Friday the 2nd, right after the fall.
And it was just in time for the discharge meeting!
Okay, so, their shooting to discharge him, on Christmas Eve (Saturday the 24th) back home, with home care agents to follow up with him for at least a month.
That's ten days away, and they feel that he'll be able to resume his normal activites downstairs by then... at least well enough for the home care team to take it from there.
And I might've had my doubts, but... with his miraculous return to lucidity today, I think this just might work!
Dad was extremely relieved that he wouldn't have to go to a nursing home, and could return home instead. He was also very happy to have the target date of Christmas Eve, and he promised to work as hard as he can to be ready by that day.
They told me the main challenge for him has been that he struggles to lift himself up to stand, and lower himself down to sit.
And they weren't sure if it was due to lack of upper body strength or to the pain, so they've been working on both.
His doctor wanted to start giving him two Tramadol a day... in addition to the Tylenol, to keep the pain in check, but asked Dad if he'd rather just request the Tramadol himself if he thought he needed some.
Dad said he'd rather be asked.
I said, "No, you have to give it to him twice a day, because he'll never ask for it, even if he needs it."
She agreed with me, and since I have power of attorney... he was overruled by the two of us.
He's 88, and yesterday I thought, for the second time this week, that he was about to die so... I'm NOT concerned about him getting addicted to pain killers!
At his age, he can have all the painkillers he wants!.. the worst possible scenario... that he'd overdose at home and die in bed... is WAY BETTER than him dying in a nursing home... where they'd probably just overdose him on painkillers anyway!
But Tramadol is not that serious.
I'd much rather he take the maximum painkillers, so that he can get back up and moving again. Because the more he's up and moving, now, the less pain he'll be having in the long run.
------------{=0=}------------
And yes, I feel like I have whiplash now, because every time I write him off for dead, he has a big breakthrough the next day.
I just wrote last night that it was unimaginable that he could ever come home!
--<>--
STILL... the doctor DID point out, that he WILL NOT be allowed to drive again, without a written consent form from his general practitioner!
His license was not renewed on the 2nd, and now... he cannot get it renewed without his doctor's okay!
And to me, this is good news!
I used to be proud that he could still drive, and glad that he could get out and run his own errands, so that I didn't have to do it.
But as of August, he started getting a little out of control, just going out to buy shit every day that he didn't need... like two bags a day of Good 'n Funs for Yvette, but also stockpiling beer and cigs needlessly.
At one point he had enough Guinness and Newports for over a month, but just kept going down to the liquor store every day and getting more... simply for an excuse to get out and be Mister Independent!
And that was killing our budget, causing overdrafts, and now, apparently we've missed a payment (or two?) on the home equity loan, in all the mayhem.
--<>--
But now I have the authorities on my side!.. his license is not valid, and it won't be until his doctor gives him a green light.
And he can't be bitching about being stuck at home either... because he damn near went to a nursing home, forever, this time around!
His keys, and the dog leashes will be hidden away up here by the time he gets home, and his old shoes will be in a landfill too!
I'm gonna tell him to count his goddam blessings that he's back home where he can smoke, drink his Guinness, and hang with his dog. And then he'll have two long months of bite-ass winter to cool his jets!
Next spring... after I've had a good long chance to balance our budget... with absolute control over the purse strings... and the prescriptions too... like, no more hiding his prescriptons, because I'll be picking them up...
Erm... then, we'll see about him walking the dog, and also driving.
But if he IS miraculously allowed to drive again, his debit card is gonna be the one I've been using... so that I can keep him on an allowance. He'll only have so much to spend per week, and if he blows it on an excess of dog treats and beer, too bad!
But I'm gonna do my damndest over January and February, to make sure we're making ends meet, with a little to spare every week. And once I've got that down to a science, I'll know how much to allow him, to keep him from throwing a wrench into the works next spring and summer!
--<>--
Okay, I guess that's enough of a rant for one night.
I'm glad he's coming home, but... this is NOT gonna be a repeat of last summer! I'm done playing fucking games, old man!
------------{=0=}------------
I'm more or less done with the Seven Hearts' Victorian doorknob, as of day four. So I thought I'd show you a before and after...
I think it's pretty startling how much you can do with a 20-year old bitmap editor!
We'll see if I can get the flower basket done before the week's out, but that part of it starts tomorrow.
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
And it was just in time for the discharge meeting!
Okay, so, their shooting to discharge him, on Christmas Eve (Saturday the 24th) back home, with home care agents to follow up with him for at least a month.
That's ten days away, and they feel that he'll be able to resume his normal activites downstairs by then... at least well enough for the home care team to take it from there.
And I might've had my doubts, but... with his miraculous return to lucidity today, I think this just might work!
Dad was extremely relieved that he wouldn't have to go to a nursing home, and could return home instead. He was also very happy to have the target date of Christmas Eve, and he promised to work as hard as he can to be ready by that day.
They told me the main challenge for him has been that he struggles to lift himself up to stand, and lower himself down to sit.
And they weren't sure if it was due to lack of upper body strength or to the pain, so they've been working on both.
His doctor wanted to start giving him two Tramadol a day... in addition to the Tylenol, to keep the pain in check, but asked Dad if he'd rather just request the Tramadol himself if he thought he needed some.
Dad said he'd rather be asked.
I said, "No, you have to give it to him twice a day, because he'll never ask for it, even if he needs it."
She agreed with me, and since I have power of attorney... he was overruled by the two of us.
He's 88, and yesterday I thought, for the second time this week, that he was about to die so... I'm NOT concerned about him getting addicted to pain killers!
At his age, he can have all the painkillers he wants!.. the worst possible scenario... that he'd overdose at home and die in bed... is WAY BETTER than him dying in a nursing home... where they'd probably just overdose him on painkillers anyway!
But Tramadol is not that serious.
I'd much rather he take the maximum painkillers, so that he can get back up and moving again. Because the more he's up and moving, now, the less pain he'll be having in the long run.
And yes, I feel like I have whiplash now, because every time I write him off for dead, he has a big breakthrough the next day.
I just wrote last night that it was unimaginable that he could ever come home!
STILL... the doctor DID point out, that he WILL NOT be allowed to drive again, without a written consent form from his general practitioner!
His license was not renewed on the 2nd, and now... he cannot get it renewed without his doctor's okay!
And to me, this is good news!
I used to be proud that he could still drive, and glad that he could get out and run his own errands, so that I didn't have to do it.
But as of August, he started getting a little out of control, just going out to buy shit every day that he didn't need... like two bags a day of Good 'n Funs for Yvette, but also stockpiling beer and cigs needlessly.
At one point he had enough Guinness and Newports for over a month, but just kept going down to the liquor store every day and getting more... simply for an excuse to get out and be Mister Independent!
And that was killing our budget, causing overdrafts, and now, apparently we've missed a payment (or two?) on the home equity loan, in all the mayhem.
But now I have the authorities on my side!.. his license is not valid, and it won't be until his doctor gives him a green light.
And he can't be bitching about being stuck at home either... because he damn near went to a nursing home, forever, this time around!
His keys, and the dog leashes will be hidden away up here by the time he gets home, and his old shoes will be in a landfill too!
I'm gonna tell him to count his goddam blessings that he's back home where he can smoke, drink his Guinness, and hang with his dog. And then he'll have two long months of bite-ass winter to cool his jets!
Next spring... after I've had a good long chance to balance our budget... with absolute control over the purse strings... and the prescriptions too... like, no more hiding his prescriptons, because I'll be picking them up...
Erm... then, we'll see about him walking the dog, and also driving.
But if he IS miraculously allowed to drive again, his debit card is gonna be the one I've been using... so that I can keep him on an allowance. He'll only have so much to spend per week, and if he blows it on an excess of dog treats and beer, too bad!
But I'm gonna do my damndest over January and February, to make sure we're making ends meet, with a little to spare every week. And once I've got that down to a science, I'll know how much to allow him, to keep him from throwing a wrench into the works next spring and summer!
Okay, I guess that's enough of a rant for one night.
I'm glad he's coming home, but... this is NOT gonna be a repeat of last summer! I'm done playing fucking games, old man!
I'm more or less done with the Seven Hearts' Victorian doorknob, as of day four. So I thought I'd show you a before and after...
I think it's pretty startling how much you can do with a 20-year old bitmap editor!
We'll see if I can get the flower basket done before the week's out, but that part of it starts tomorrow.
°¦}
