Fun with Parents*

*Not actual fun

I was down visiting my parents again this weekend. Last weekend was mom’s sister’s funeral. This weekend was checking in on them because of health concerns.

Last weekend my mom’s friends cornered me and expressed concerns about her. She seemed slower. Weaker. She has a bit of a hand tremor now. They were concerned that maybe she’s had a stroke.

So I needed to discuss that with mom.

She doesn’t think she’s had a stroke— and her speech is fine and she seems mentally ok. But still, something is off. It may be from her surgeries. It may be depression because her ankle is causing her pain all the time. We don’t know.

She’s been to the doctor and she’s seeing a physical therapist a few times a week to help build strength. I spoke to her about nutrition. And we also talked about when we need to get her ankle fused— which will probably mean an extended nursing facility stay.

It’s a lot to process.

And then there’s my dad.

While the chemo is working like a charm, he now has a heart issue. A potential blockage or some such. He goes in for a procedure on Wednesday. I’m really hoping it’s something solvable by angioplasty or a stent or something.

And while down visiting him, I learned that he and his girlfriend broke up a few weeks ago. Evidently she got tired of his bad attitude and they got into a big fight. She called him out and said, “You have every right to be sick, but you don’t have the right to be shitty to people around you.”

I totally get where she’s coming from. My dad is a pessimist and gets incredibly stressed about EVERYTHING. Even small things. He just blows them into dramatic events and he lashed out.

It’s frustrating.

And now I don’t have someone watching over my dad, and he’s getting more depressed and lonely. (He doesn’t deal well with being solitary).

So there’s that.

I guess I’ll know more after Wednesday. And in the meantime I’m going to be working on things like how to move my mother’s laundry upstairs for convenience.