aging grandparents
just talked to my parents. my mom's parents spent the day in the hospital again. for the third time in a week. apparently my grandma has a really bad cough but the tests they've done have all come back negative. she's always had allergies and she's in a different environment these days. my grandparents go to florida for the winter (january to mid-march) and have for about the last 20 years. my mom is trying to convince them to come home early, but she's reasonably certain that my grandpa will say "oh, everything is gonna be ok. we're not going anywhere".
i know he doesn't want to admit that he's getting older, but my grandpa is being shockingly irresponsible with his wife's health. as long as he's of sound mind he can do what he wants with himself, but i've never known him to be so caught up in denial of anything (in this case, his own aging) that he can't properly care for his wife. probably his denial of her aging is hinged on his denial of his own aging. if she's getting older, it's harder for him to pretend that he's not. seems like denial is what he's doing with a vengence lately. my mom and her siblings have had some rather interesting conversations with each other and with my grandparents about driving in the last couple years too. this year they pulled a coup and had my aunt ride/drive to florida with my grandparents. relations between my grandpa and my aunt are strained now, even though she's the peacemaker.
i have this sinking feeling that things are only going to go downhill from here.
i know he doesn't want to admit that he's getting older, but my grandpa is being shockingly irresponsible with his wife's health. as long as he's of sound mind he can do what he wants with himself, but i've never known him to be so caught up in denial of anything (in this case, his own aging) that he can't properly care for his wife. probably his denial of her aging is hinged on his denial of his own aging. if she's getting older, it's harder for him to pretend that he's not. seems like denial is what he's doing with a vengence lately. my mom and her siblings have had some rather interesting conversations with each other and with my grandparents about driving in the last couple years too. this year they pulled a coup and had my aunt ride/drive to florida with my grandparents. relations between my grandpa and my aunt are strained now, even though she's the peacemaker.
i have this sinking feeling that things are only going to go downhill from here.