This is how you remind me.. of what I really am...
So it came to pass, once again, that I was the person who had to be the strong one in every crisis. For once, I'd like to be the person who falls apart and everyone else has to shelter and take care of. But that's not my place in life, is it?
So it was last night that we got to figure out what was wrong with my father- we were watching South Park, and my mother called me in to see what was going on. I had to be the one to insist he take his temperature (which was 104.3 )and call the ambulence even though he was insisting nothing was wrong. My mother was (until the temeperature thing) just sort of letting him tell her that he was okay and such..
So they took him to the hospital and I drove my mother there while Aus watched the kids. We had to sit in the emergancy room (which smelled like urine and blood and death, incidentally) till about 3 in the morning or so. They found out that he had pneumonia, which was theoretically impossible because he had a pneumonia shot. And so it goes. Someone should have informed his body that it was impossible for him to get pneumonia before the germs settled into his lungs, becuase it did. Doctor said those germs that caused it "must have not been covered by the shot". And the point of getting the shot was...?
Well, said the doctor, it was an uncommon germ. It's like the evil form of winning the lottery, I suppose- getting a pneumonia shot then getting pneumonia from a germ not covered in the whole shotly goodness. Oh joy.
Today (after I finally managed to pull more than four or so hours of sleep in a night) we went to the hospital - I drove my mother up there. My father was better, and in a room with the grandfather of a girl I went to elementry and high school with. He was on dyalisis and had some form of dementia that prevented him from knowing exactly what was going on, but not quite the complete memory wipe of Altzimers.. (however you spell that) . It was strange to see someone who would conversationally talk to you about something, and then ask about something completely odd that had no bearing on life, and then just space out. His wife (who is 79) cares for him all by herself. She feeds him because he refuses to eat on his own, and washes and dresses him. That's love right there.
My father was rather grumpy, and seemed to want us to go away so he could sleep (which we eventually did). I'm pretty sure he was glad we were there, even though he was grumpy. That's as good as it gets sometimes. Tomorrow I have to get up to go to the chiropractor, then go to parent/teacher confrences, then back to the hospital. I'm exhausted all the time now.
The bright spot in the day was finding out that the hospital gift shop sells good used paperbacks 5 for $1.00 . They're all donated books. So now I've got a home for the boxes of books that we no longer want, and can make shelf space for some new books from the hospital, maybe. Muhaha, cheap books. That's a little tiny ray of sun. Not to meantion, I was worried about where to take the books in boxes- I didn't want to just throw them out . What a waste of litterature- that'd just be wrong. Now they can go to a good cause and hopefully some new homes.
So it was last night that we got to figure out what was wrong with my father- we were watching South Park, and my mother called me in to see what was going on. I had to be the one to insist he take his temperature (which was 104.3 )and call the ambulence even though he was insisting nothing was wrong. My mother was (until the temeperature thing) just sort of letting him tell her that he was okay and such..
So they took him to the hospital and I drove my mother there while Aus watched the kids. We had to sit in the emergancy room (which smelled like urine and blood and death, incidentally) till about 3 in the morning or so. They found out that he had pneumonia, which was theoretically impossible because he had a pneumonia shot. And so it goes. Someone should have informed his body that it was impossible for him to get pneumonia before the germs settled into his lungs, becuase it did. Doctor said those germs that caused it "must have not been covered by the shot". And the point of getting the shot was...?
Well, said the doctor, it was an uncommon germ. It's like the evil form of winning the lottery, I suppose- getting a pneumonia shot then getting pneumonia from a germ not covered in the whole shotly goodness. Oh joy.
Today (after I finally managed to pull more than four or so hours of sleep in a night) we went to the hospital - I drove my mother up there. My father was better, and in a room with the grandfather of a girl I went to elementry and high school with. He was on dyalisis and had some form of dementia that prevented him from knowing exactly what was going on, but not quite the complete memory wipe of Altzimers.. (however you spell that) . It was strange to see someone who would conversationally talk to you about something, and then ask about something completely odd that had no bearing on life, and then just space out. His wife (who is 79) cares for him all by herself. She feeds him because he refuses to eat on his own, and washes and dresses him. That's love right there.
My father was rather grumpy, and seemed to want us to go away so he could sleep (which we eventually did). I'm pretty sure he was glad we were there, even though he was grumpy. That's as good as it gets sometimes. Tomorrow I have to get up to go to the chiropractor, then go to parent/teacher confrences, then back to the hospital. I'm exhausted all the time now.
The bright spot in the day was finding out that the hospital gift shop sells good used paperbacks 5 for $1.00 . They're all donated books. So now I've got a home for the boxes of books that we no longer want, and can make shelf space for some new books from the hospital, maybe. Muhaha, cheap books. That's a little tiny ray of sun. Not to meantion, I was worried about where to take the books in boxes- I didn't want to just throw them out . What a waste of litterature- that'd just be wrong. Now they can go to a good cause and hopefully some new homes.