The snowy road to freedom
It would stand to figure that the worst weather day we've had all season would be the day my grandfather gets released.
The date was set a few weeks ago, back before we had any idea today we'd have a blizzard. As the past week went on, it became clear that today would not be pleasant, and the closer we got to Sunday, the higher the snow total predictions went. On Friday, dad mentioned to mom that perhaps she should leave on Saturday; she'd been planning to go this morning. She said she'd wait until Saturday to decide that. So, yesterday morning comes along, and we're encouraging her to go since the storm was going to start somewhere around 6-9 PM, and she's nonchalant about the whole thing. My mother, who generally flips out at the mere hint of snow if she has to go to work. Okay, so watch the weather report. She turns on the Weather Channel and goes, see, they're only predicting 3-5"! ...Yes, for Saturday. They're predicting another 5-8" on Sunday that's separate from Saturday's total. ...Oh. Yeah, so ultimately mom left at 4 PM yesterday for her mom's, where she was already planning to spend the night tonight. My grandfather has a doctor's appointment tomorrow at 10:30 and mom, who's on vacation this week just in case, will go with him.
As I mentioned last night, the snow wasn't too bad for a while, but it was starting to pick up around 10 PM. This morning, we woke up to about 5" of snow. It hasn't stopped falling. And, now, we're legit under a blizzard warning until at least tomorrow morning due to the wind. We were so happy she'd left last night, because she may have had a hard time getting there; the news was saying, if you don't have anywhere to go today, stay home. Dad and I happily are following that, though we're waiting until after the football game to tackle the snow. This may end up being a terrible idea, but oh well. He has a snowblower. It'll be fine. Oh, and mom took along one of our shovels in case she needed it at her dad's place, and it's the shovel I typically use, so now I'm stuck with this other shovel that's more for pushing snow instead of scooping it. I don't really care for that shovel, but what are you going to do.
Dad was concerned about physically moving my grandfather. My uncle, I believe, arranged for an ambulance to take him from the facility to his home, so at least there were people to get him in and out. My grandfather could barely get up the stairs when the weather was halfway decent; I wouldn't have wanted him to try in this weather. Dad had wondered why they didn't just move him yesterday, but again, this date has been planned for several weeks, so if other family members had stuff going on, it might be hard to rearrange schedules. Luckily mom called about a quarter to noon to let us know that he got home, and they'd been there a while. Since grandma lives only a few miles from the facility, they were able to get there pretty quickly, and they left the place for my grandfather's house at ten to 11, mom said. It was her, her mom, and her younger brother with my grandfather, and I could hear grandma making lunch in the background, and I think I heard my grandfather say something or make a noise as well. At least they're safe, though considering they're on a side street in Chicago, there's no telling when they'll get out. But they did get him home, which is a relief, even though we don't really want him there. We don't have a choice--his Medicare ran out. There is someone scheduled to do home care this week, and her first day is tomorrow in the afternoon. My grandfather seems to think he'll only need her for a week. Yeah, right. I hope she realizes that we want her to stay, even if he should tell her she doesn't have to.
The date was set a few weeks ago, back before we had any idea today we'd have a blizzard. As the past week went on, it became clear that today would not be pleasant, and the closer we got to Sunday, the higher the snow total predictions went. On Friday, dad mentioned to mom that perhaps she should leave on Saturday; she'd been planning to go this morning. She said she'd wait until Saturday to decide that. So, yesterday morning comes along, and we're encouraging her to go since the storm was going to start somewhere around 6-9 PM, and she's nonchalant about the whole thing. My mother, who generally flips out at the mere hint of snow if she has to go to work. Okay, so watch the weather report. She turns on the Weather Channel and goes, see, they're only predicting 3-5"! ...Yes, for Saturday. They're predicting another 5-8" on Sunday that's separate from Saturday's total. ...Oh. Yeah, so ultimately mom left at 4 PM yesterday for her mom's, where she was already planning to spend the night tonight. My grandfather has a doctor's appointment tomorrow at 10:30 and mom, who's on vacation this week just in case, will go with him.
As I mentioned last night, the snow wasn't too bad for a while, but it was starting to pick up around 10 PM. This morning, we woke up to about 5" of snow. It hasn't stopped falling. And, now, we're legit under a blizzard warning until at least tomorrow morning due to the wind. We were so happy she'd left last night, because she may have had a hard time getting there; the news was saying, if you don't have anywhere to go today, stay home. Dad and I happily are following that, though we're waiting until after the football game to tackle the snow. This may end up being a terrible idea, but oh well. He has a snowblower. It'll be fine. Oh, and mom took along one of our shovels in case she needed it at her dad's place, and it's the shovel I typically use, so now I'm stuck with this other shovel that's more for pushing snow instead of scooping it. I don't really care for that shovel, but what are you going to do.
Dad was concerned about physically moving my grandfather. My uncle, I believe, arranged for an ambulance to take him from the facility to his home, so at least there were people to get him in and out. My grandfather could barely get up the stairs when the weather was halfway decent; I wouldn't have wanted him to try in this weather. Dad had wondered why they didn't just move him yesterday, but again, this date has been planned for several weeks, so if other family members had stuff going on, it might be hard to rearrange schedules. Luckily mom called about a quarter to noon to let us know that he got home, and they'd been there a while. Since grandma lives only a few miles from the facility, they were able to get there pretty quickly, and they left the place for my grandfather's house at ten to 11, mom said. It was her, her mom, and her younger brother with my grandfather, and I could hear grandma making lunch in the background, and I think I heard my grandfather say something or make a noise as well. At least they're safe, though considering they're on a side street in Chicago, there's no telling when they'll get out. But they did get him home, which is a relief, even though we don't really want him there. We don't have a choice--his Medicare ran out. There is someone scheduled to do home care this week, and her first day is tomorrow in the afternoon. My grandfather seems to think he'll only need her for a week. Yeah, right. I hope she realizes that we want her to stay, even if he should tell her she doesn't have to.