Come home soon

I spoke to my dad last night and he sounded great and was in good spirits. Imagine my surprise when I got the call this morning that he was giving the staff a difficult time and they wanted family members to come and calm him down!

I left work in a hurry and picked up my mother and off we went to the hospital. Upon arrival we did not find the man we know and love. Instead we found an angry and paranoid man and it was very distressing.

Apparently, this is not an uncommon condition for an elderly person, especially one that just suffered a heart attack. We spent the day with him trying to get him to eat and drink (we only had a little success) and take his meds. He would not let the medical staff near him as he no longer trusted any of them. It was scary to see him acting this way. He is usually a very good patient, as he was the day before.

It was hard for my mom to see him that way and although I knew it was the condition talking and not the man it was difficult to have patience with him. I just wanted him to snap out of it. At one point he hit my hand and knocked the meds out of it.

He was begging us to get him out of the hospital because they were holding him prisoner.

Later this evening my sister and her husband went to visit and they were more successful getting him oriented to what he was supposed to be doing. So it was good that they were able to get through to him. I was able to get one med into him in the afternoon, so by the time they got there it may have kicked in.

Since this happened to him today, other people have shared stories about similar incidents with their elderly parents. It is good to hear what others have been through so it makes it all more bearable.

I am so lucky that I have my sisters and that we all share the responsibility of our parents' care. I know that isn't always the case with families. I count my blessings and hope that tomorrow will be a brighter day for my dad and that he will be well enough to come home soon.

A night in the ER or ED

Last night when we had my dad in the emergency room, he was out in a gurney in the hallway for 4 hours or so. They registered a record number of patients yesterday; a total of 187 by 6:00 P.M. They didn't have rooms available for so many people and so they were all lined up in the hallways. Some looked all banged up from accidents with neck braces and other wounds. I felt so badly for them because they did not have any privacy out there in the hall. And forget about HIPPA, as I heard so many names and medical issues being discussed.

The staff at the hospital work hard. I wouldn't want to do their job. But it is also difficult to be the patient waiting to be seen. My dad came in at 2:00 P.M. and no tests were started until after 6:00 P.M. My sister said they were so short handed that she cleaned up the blood from all over the floor from his bleeding hand.

There were also other snags that were annoying, mostly communication. They tell you one thing, but that doesn't happen so you have to be sure to follow up. You have to be assertive and self advocate. I feel for all the people who lack advocacy skills or close family members to advocate for them.

They are also treating him today for another problem that developed since he was admitted which they may have caused. They were in a panic and had to call a surgeon. Fortunately, things looked stable for today, but they are closely monitoring it.

So to bed early for me tonight to catch up on my sleep and to be well rested for more case management tomorrow.

Heart and garden

My dad fell today in his garden and could not get up. My mom called the ambulance and he was taken to the hospital.

To make a long story short, what we all thought was a fall from losing his balance trying to tend to the garden, turned out to be a mild heart attack. We were shocked.

My mom and sisters and I stayed with him in the hospital and then as it got much later, my sisters and I convinced my mom to go home to get some rest. She didn't want to leave him, but it was good that she went home. I have a feeling it will be a long week for her.

I stayed behind with him for a few more hours, but ending up leaving him in the ER before he was admitted. He was getting agitated that I wasn't leaving because he was worried about me driving home. He kept begging me to leave. I didn't want to leave him until he was admitted, but the nurse said it could be hours and that if he was getting agitated that I needed to take my cues from him. So I left and it was hard to go. Well, he doesn't know that I hung around in the halls for a while longer before I actually left.

Just Saturday we were all sitting under the tree having such a good time, and today he is in the hospital. We are thankful that he is resting comfortably and we will pray for good news for tomorrow.

Weekend update

This has been a very busy weekend.

First a graduation party for my niece. The weather was beautiful yesterday and the party was in the back yard under the shady trees. All the cousins were home, which is rare these days as everyone is so busy and on the go with their lives. The young adults bonded over a Nerf football and spent hours throwing that thing back and forth. Kind of fun to see them enjoying a good old fashion un-electronic game.

Today, another outside party for a relative's baby shower. They had a big tent outside for us and it was very pleasant. She got so many wonderful things for the baby. The mom did not want to know the baby's sex, which I thought was refreshing. All of the outfits were pretty unisex colors. I think sometimes it gets overwhelming with all the pink or blue if the sex is known.

Both good parties for happy milestones. Fun, family, food, and time together to reinforce the ties that bind. It is all good.

For my friends

On Sunday we took a drive up to Vermont to visit my son. He is working at the college this summer. It was great to see him and also to get up to the hills of VT.

Youngest son (age 23) had gotten a tattoo and although we had seen a picture of it from a short cell phone video, we were curious to see it in person. On the video it looked huge, but I thought it could have looked so big because she put the camera up close to it. When I saw how huge it was, my heart sank. He is certainly old enough to do what he wants to with his body, but as parents sometimes it is hard to remain non-reactive, when the gut is reacting! I told him it looked fine, but was curious to see it. (Fortunately when we saw it in real life, it was the perfect size. ) Whew.

What he had tattooed on his wrist was a song title; For My Friends. That was it. Plain and simple. He picked it for two reasons. First to to replace a rubber wrist band that he has been wearing in memory of his friend Nick who died of congenital heart disease a few years ago. He decided that he wanted something permanent to honor him.

He picked that particular song title because a close friend of his was in a band for 10 years and the band just broke up. His friend wrote the song for the all the fans that supported them over the years. My son was very close to all the band members and helped to promote them when they were starting out. He had a wonderful time during the whole experience. He made lots of new friends at the concerts and they all bonded and became very tight. He was sad as anything when the band had their farewell concert weekend, yet he could appreciate that the band members wanted to move on with their lives as some were getting married and wanting to settle down.

I was in awe that he put so much thought into his tattoo and knowing how much his friends mean to him, I understand how important it is to him. He was concerned that me and his dad wouldn't like it, so he was thrilled that we were supportive.

I have to say, I don't have any objections to body art within limits, but even if I did, how could I have not been thrilled with a son who isn't afraid to show his heart on his wrist?

Dancing queen

When ever there is a hot and humid day, I like to go to the movies to stay cool. This weekend I decided to see Mama Mia! The husband and I went to the same movie complex, but he went to see Batman. I have no desire to see Batman as the Joker has always scared me and I knew this Joker would be too disturbing.

I enjoyed Mama Mia! a quite a bit. The music, the scenery, the cast, it was all great. At the end of the movie the whole audience aplauded. I wanted to see a fun movie that was uplifting and it delivered.

Meryl Streep had a scene where she was jumping on the bed and actually did a split in mid-air. I was reminded how as a kid I LOVED jumping on the bed. My sister and I would jump on the beds and my mom would yell at us to stop. I was remembering how free it felt to jump like that and was thinking how now I would probably kill myself trying to do that. Not that I could even try with my knee the way it is.

I was loving the dancing scenes and feeling sad that I can no longer move like that. I have been having a bout of vertigo this week and watching Meryl swing her head all around without getting dizzy was making me jealous.

Only normal to miss doing what you used to be able to do, I guess. And I am so grateful for the things I can still do.

But, boy oh boy, I would enjoy jumping on the bed once again.

Butterflies and rainbows

A few weeks ago I was working on my vision board. A vision board is a technique from the Law of Attraction in which you cut out pictures of things that you would like to attract to your life and paste them up on board.

As I was flipping through magazines looking for pictures to put on my board, I came across a picture of a butterfly. I decided why not paste that up on my board because I would enjoy attracting more butterflies to my life. So I cut it out and pasted it.

The very next day I walked into a colleague's office for a meeting but she was talking on the phone and not available to meet right then. I sat down to wait for her and looked out of the window. On the bush outside her office, was a beautiful, big monarch butterfly! When A. got off the phone, I pointed it out to her and told her about pasting a butterfly on my board the day before. We both laughed and were just amazed that the law of attraction was working so quickly. We started our meeting and I kept an eye out on the window and noticed the butterfly did not leave the bush.

When we finished our conversation, I once again mentioned how the butterfly was still there. We decided we needed to take a photo of it and she grabbed her cell phone and off we went outside.

As we got closer to the bush, I started to wonder if it was indeed a real butterfly. So I get closer to it and sure enough... it was a fake butterfly that was stuck in the bush.

Oh well... I wanted to attract more butterflies to my life and I didn't specify that it had to be a real one. But the bottom line was that fake or real, it still brought the same experience. A moment during the day in which you stop and take in something beautiful and it fills your heart up with a peaceful feeling. (Just like when you see a rainbow.)

Speaking of rainbows... I think I need to go and find a picture of one to paste on to the board as well. :-)

And more

I love the beach roses that are all over up here. So pretty. Marconi Station pic in the center is the place where the first trans Atlantic radio transmission occurred. Marconi Beach is close by.

We just stopped at a small roadside place to grab some supper and they have WiFi! So just a quick post. The weather these past two days has been less humid and much cooler. The lighting is so much better for picture taking since the haze has lifted.

I can't wait to get caught up with every one's blogs when I get home. Tomorrow we head home. Can't quite believe a week has gone by so fast.

Ah... summertime...

We have been renting this house on the cape for 10 years. Sort of feels like a second home in a way. Kind of big for just the two of us now. Hopefully next year the kids schedules will work out and they can come visit for a few days.

We went to the drive-in movies the other night. (First photo on top) WallE was playing and I had read good reviews about it and well, when do you get the chance to go to a drive-in these days? I think we might have been the only car without children! Unfortunately, neither one of us cared for the movie. I think we like more dialogue. Good premise, but just didn't work for me.

Hot and humid at the cape these past few days, and the threat of heavy storms for today. Seems like the weather is like this all over the north east and then some.

There is no Internet at the house where we are staying, so I have to come to the library to post and read blogs. Seems like the air conditioning isn't on today and it is boiling hot in here!

It is nice to not be on a schedule and just go with the flow of the day to do what we want to do.

Spent yesterday in P-town. Besides the great crafts, art work, stores, and restaurants, it is most enjoyable to people watch. Here is Ms. Ellie. Ms. Ellie is a 76 year old man... living his dream. He has a beautiful voice and is very entertaining and a pleasant soul. He has a copy of his bio that he hands out to folks; seems he has always known he was a woman trapped inside a man's body, but tried to live the life everyone else expected of him, marrying and divorcing four times.

A few years ago, he decided to pursue his dream to sing and be who he feels he is on the inside.

I sat for awhile yesterday listening to Ms. Ellie, formerly Elliot perform. He/She has sort of a Frank Sinatra kind of voice and sings all the old ballads that I grew up listening to in my parents' home. He makes people smile and laugh, sometimes they are laughing at him/her, and sometimes smiling from the memories that the songs bring to mind. Ms. Ellie could care less that people are laughing at her/him, he just keeps on singing and posing for the cameras.

At one point a couple jumped up and danced to while Ellie was singing "I Could Have Danced All Night." They were happy to be dancing around on a summer evening and the rest of us were happy to watch them and applaud when they finished. Ms. Ellie's was beaming because she was thrilled that the music brought them to their feet to break out in dance. The crowd loved their spontaneity.

I love P-Town... people are comfortable to be just who they are and everyone accepts everyone else. No harm done, it is summer in P-town and all types of families come together to celebrate the season and true diversity.

Happy 4th

Happy July 4th to all.

I love July, probably because July 1 is my birthday. I usually take it off from work, but I didn't this year as I was trying to tie up all loose ends before we leave on Saturday for vacation.

On Sunday my husband brought a home made marble cake up to my parent's house and we celebrated there after Sunday dinner with my sisters and their families and my kids.

On my real birthday the husband took me out to dinner, and later my older son and his girlfriend stopped by. I didn't want the day to end. I love my birthday. I don't think about my age, why most of the time I have to stop and figure it out. What counts is that I got to celebrate another one.

I am having my parents and kids and my sister down today for a small barbecue in between packing up to leave for Cape Cod on Saturday. I feel like we have a good handle on the packing, so we should be just fine. My son is staying here to take care of the cat and other household stuff while we are gone, so Samwise is lucky she is avoiding the kennel.

I am off now to go grocery shopping now with the hopes that the day will clear up for a little while so we can spend some time outside today.

Enjoy!