Family
My Uncle Joe is in the hospital. He is my father's sister's husband and I can't say we are really close. We talk 3 or 4 times a year, send each other Christmas and birthday cards and he comes to my summer cookouts and occasionally Christmas dinner. He hadn't called me for my birthday which I found odd but I figured at 84, he just forgot. The next day, my phone rang and his name came up on my caller ID. Except it wasn't him calling but his landlord instead. You see my Aunt Margie died in 2006 and we all thought Uncle Joe was doing okay. Turns out he wasn't. Besides developing a penchant for ordering every electric and mechanical device he could find from infomercials and catalogs; he was actually struggling to get over the loss of my Aunt and putting up a good front. One of the things he likes to do is order food from Omaha Steaks. The landlord finally decided to check on him when his latest delivery sat in the hall for two days. When they found Uncle Joe, he was sitting in his living room chair with a couple of empty wine bottles on the floor and my Aunt's ashes in the chair next to him. He hadn't moved from the chair for at least 3 days. Besides being elderly, Uncle Joe is also diabetic and his feet were discovered completely covered in ulcerations. He hadn't shaved or gotten a haircut for months. So, when they found him they asked if he wanted them to call anyone and he said "Call my niece". They called us and we made them call 911 and Howard pulled strings to get him into the hospital he wanted. We've put in a call to his social worker but seeing as it's President's Day we probably won't hear back until tomorrow.
Joe finally got a room late last night after being in the ER for about 36 hours. When I asked him what he was doing in the house like that he said "I was waiting for nature to take it's course". So sad. Well, now we wait and hope he gets better. His kidneys are starting to shut down, his potassium is high and we don't know what's happening with his feet yet. I guess the next step is to work with the social worker and get him into a nursing home. He told me yesterday he was glad he had me. The rest of his family, a sister-in-law and a couple of nephews, don't seem to interested in him anymore he feels. I'm glad he has me too.
Joe finally got a room late last night after being in the ER for about 36 hours. When I asked him what he was doing in the house like that he said "I was waiting for nature to take it's course". So sad. Well, now we wait and hope he gets better. His kidneys are starting to shut down, his potassium is high and we don't know what's happening with his feet yet. I guess the next step is to work with the social worker and get him into a nursing home. He told me yesterday he was glad he had me. The rest of his family, a sister-in-law and a couple of nephews, don't seem to interested in him anymore he feels. I'm glad he has me too.