Sister In Law To The Rescue!

Arf, I'm so exhausted! Yesterday I took the day off to take Jess to the dermatologist for her eczema.  The only appointment we could get was for the middle of the day and it took us a month to get that. Trevor was at my mom's so the girls and I planned for a little girl day of sorts. We went to the Dr, then went and saw my cousin and her baby. Went to Applebees, Target and Wal Mart. At Wal Mart we ran into my aunt and my other cousin who is pregnant. I think she's MAYBE 19 or 20. She looks like she's 12, she's an itty bitty thing. I can't believe I had a kid at the age of 20, it seems like such a baby age to me now.

After that we went and picked up my mother in law to take her over to the hospital. When we got to the hospital my father in law wasn't in the room. They said he had been sent over to the "care center" place, which is where he was to go for a few weeks to get his physical therapy. When we got there, we quickly realized that this place is actually an old folks home. You know, one of those places they put you away to slowly die while no one you love comes to visit you.

We went to the room they said he was in and found him laying in his hospital gown (everyone else had clothes on but we didn't even know he was there to bring him clothes) staring at the ceiling. He had a roommate who was watching tv. But my father in law was just laying there flat on the flat bed staring up at the ceiling. One of the first things he said to me was that he wanted to go home.

I sent the girls over to my in laws house to get him some clothes. They weren't gone too long. When they got back I looked at my mother in law, who was totally fixated on the people in the halls and other rooms. She looked a little pale. I asked her if she was ok and she said no, that she was going to go outside. We visited a bit more than the girls went out to find her and take her home.

But when they got out there, she was gone! They came in and said that they couldn't find Grandma. I went out to help find her and had Jess drive the car around on the route she would have had to take to walk home. She came back and still couldn't find her. My cell phone was dead and Jess didn't have her Grandma's cell phone number in her phone so we called Scott to get it. When we called it it went straight to voice mail so it wasn't even on.

I got in the car and drove the route again, still no grandma. I didn't want to go up to the house and knock on the door because my sister in law that lives there gets really upset about things. We got back to the care home and I called the house and she FINALLY answered.

I immediately told her that I was going to give her a spanking! She said "no you're not!!" She apparently just felt the need to get out of there and high tailed it home. I don't know how she got home without us ever seeing her walking!

After we found her I took the girls over to hang out with her for awhile and went back to the care home. I asked someone in social services what I had to do to get my father in law out of there. They acted all surprised and wanted to know why I would want to take him out of there. I told her how he is very sharp and he's laying there listening to people moaning and he's so upset and thinks he's been brought there to die. How he needed at least a tv for a distraction and how I really thought he could just go home and we can take care of him there. She said she'd see what she could do and a nurse also talked to me about why he needed to stay there. All things I know he can still have with some home care.

I ended up staying there for hours, I was so afraid to leave him. They did bring him a tv. When Scott finally got there I left, and he stayed there for a couple hours until visiting time was over. Apparently we were both on the same wave length at the same time because we both sent messages to his sister telling her we needed to talk to her. I called her later and she said she'd make some phone calls and arrangements to come stay here for awhile.

This morning I got up and went to the care home instead of work to once again talk to someone about getting him out of there.  I told the woman there that just for a heads up my sister in law is coming and she is way meaner than me! I also hung out in his room with him and got to see his "physical therapy". He was supposed to get "occupational therapy" later in the day but he said no one ever showed up.  I stayed a few hours and then went to work for two hours and then went and picked up my sister in law at BART. We went straight to the care home where she checked on all his medication, told the nurses that she in no way wanted to come in and find her dad laying slumped over in a chair like so many of the other residents. She got him a nebulizer treatment and gave him lots of hugs and kisses.

Can I just say how extremely happy I am that she was able to come? I feel like a tremendous weight is off my shoulders. Although she has to go back to work on Sunday if she can't get some leave time from work. Let's all pray.