Hello again. It’s been awhile since I posted anything, and I thought I’d take a few minutes to explain why. My 90-year old father had a urinary tract infection back in December. After he was released from the hospital he went through a month of therapy and then spent a few months in an assisted living facility. Thank God he recovered and is now back in his home and going on with his life as before, but this was an ordeal for my sister and myself. We went from thinking he was losing his physical and mental faculties to thinking he was dying to thinking he was going to live a few more years in assisted living to finally realizing that Dad was able to take care of himself for the time being. Every step of the process involved decisions that were made only to be altered or completely discarded. We were both stressed out. It wasn’t all for naught, however. I have learned so much about Alzheimer’s, dementia, and the elderly along the way. Hopefully I’ll be able to share some of this in the future, but for now I just want to return to blogging as I was doing last year. Thanks for understanding, and God bless.
Jew & Greek
Theology, Philosophy & Apologetics
Hey Rod,
My sister and I went through similar stress with both our parents, both of whom are gone now. I think we did a pretty good job overall, but even so its very hard not to look back and have regrets about some decisions no matter how pointless and illogical that is. At the time they seemed right and likely would again. Oh well. You can only do the best that you can. The medical community isn’t hugely supportive of such issues, though there are exceptions and some folks helped us termendously. When looking for people you have to be willing to keep looking till you find what you want. You have to be your own manager.
Be well, don’t sweat the blog.
-jrg
Hi John. Thanks for sharing. The saga goes on as Dad is now 91 and is having more problems. He fell and injured his hip. He lost his glasses. He lost his wallet. He couldn’t get the pilot light started for his heater back in the winter. He got behind on his bills, even though he had plenty of money in the bank. So in effect, we’re still dealing with the situation and it’s just a matter of time until he will need full time care.
As for the medical community, I’m not too fond of them. The doctor at the nursing home recommended that we put Dad in hospice as he probably had less than six months to live. That was nearly a year and a half ago. He also concluded that Dad has Alzheimer’s. While all people his age have some level of dementia, I don’t think he has Alz. He recognizes people and can carry on a conversation. In fact, we were watching Wheel of Fortune and he solved the puzzle before I did. He can drive and remember where things are, and he quit taking the Alz meds over a year ago. I have concluded that the nursing home/hospice industry is almost as much of a scam as the dinar.