Drained on Friday

So it is Friday and I am trying very hard to wrap myself up in my plans for my 25 year reunion this weekend. It will be nice to see some old friends but I am kind of drained. I had some not so great news I felt was coming the other day when I spoke to my sister after she spoke to the doctor currently treating mom with the "Radial Therapy" it would seem that according to the doctor we are going to be on a downward spiral after this. Now, mind you, I am still hopeful but it doesn't look great and as such I need to plan accordingly so. She will be finishing up treatment in Spokane, and then flying here to stay with her Mom. She is doing some chemo every week as well and both are touted as basically the last treatments we can do. I have made arrangements for her sister and her husband to fly from Tennessee to Spokane on the 8th of August and then the three of them will leave on a flight out on the 11th. Once here, they will all stay at my grandmother’s house in St. Petersburg. I had a long talk with her yesterday to make certain she understood the circumstances, and to find out what she would like to do. I think we are going to have a nurse stay at the house full time and my Gram will use my Mom’s half of my Gram’s inheritance to her to pay for it. This will continue for awhile until my Mom basically slips mentally away and then we will move her into hospice for her remaining days where she will undoubtedly need special care at that point. I will need to see if we can get a continuation of her cobra care when it expires in September and if we can then great if we can’t then I don’t have a clue. I am going to call Ceridian this morning and see where we stand with that and go from there. Mom doesn’t turn 65 until December 28th and right now that seems like a long way away…

*Sigh*

Well, I planned to go see Batman yesterday in IMAX to have a bit of escape from reality if you will, and since I am really short money from all that is going on one of my best friends paid for Kim and I to go, and agreed to take us out for dinner afterward, more on that later. I had called Mom as I always do in the morning (her time) to check up on her sleep and to tell her to have a nice day and she sounded really slurry with her words. As I recollected she also sounded a bit slurry the day prior when she had told me she had not slept because the place she was staying, "Manor Care" in Spokane had trouble with their air conditioner. I had contacted the Director (Jamie Miller) of the building and felt like he was being genuine when he said he would send a maintenance person down to investigate. I was obviously misguided. Last week when my mom had misplaced the call button and had placed a call to me at 5am because she needed to go to the bathroom and no one was answering her calls I spoke to a very nice reassuring woman (Sheri Kubu) who was the "Administrator" answering my email by phone and she had the nurses pin the call button to mom's pillow so that she could locate it readily. Unfortunately her director is obviously not as responsive and the overnight nursing staff even less so. I received a  total of 3 calls from my mom's cell phone while I was in the movie after the 3rd call I got up to call back as typically she will call and leave a message knowing that my phone is my work phone and I may not always be available immediately. When I called it was strange to have Beth (My sister) answer. She sounded hurried and agitated when she explained that she was checking mom out of the facility that last week when she checked on her Mom was fine but today was an entirely different story, I explained that since I was 2000+ miles away I trusted her judgment to be the eyes and ears to make the decision on the situation. She explained that Mom had been neglected and without going into details, did not appear to to have been cared for the night before. Beth said she had informed the nurses that she would be checking Mom out and that she would work everything out at home. She seemed determined. After the movie, which was great BTW however the sound in the theatre was horribly balanced, I called Mom back to get details. Beth and her family had already brought Mom back to he home and she was getting a bath when I called. *Sigh* Well, I have always been a firm believer in the "everything happens for a reason" theory so hey, this must be part of the scheme. My group of friends and I headed around the corner to a Mexican restaurant and had really bad service and okay food. We chatted small talk about the movie, special effects, acting jobs, plot lines etc. Afterwards, we parted and Kim and I headed home. At home we were restless and decided to watch Batman Begins before bed. After the movie I called my mom's cell again to say good night and it went to voicemail. Then I tried my sisters home phone, and finally her cell and all voicemail. I must admit I was a bit paranoid at this point but I attempted to contain myself. I lie in bed for about 20 minutes and attempted to call the numbers again. I finally got a hold of my sister who explained she had taken Mom out for some fresh air on a walk. (in her wheelchair) I was relieved and spoke with Mom and Beth for a few minutes then after saying goodbye I attempted to sleep again. For obvious reasons sleep did not come readily and after much thought and attempts at head clearing I finally did sleep exhausted. Today I am very thankful that my work, and my bosses are all very understanding friends and co-workers and that my situation at work is what it is as this gives me the time to compose myself and do things like write this letter to you my other friend to share my world and get it off my chest. I hope you have a great day.

Posted newly painted house photos

I finally got around to resizing and posting up the photos of my freshly painted house. http://www.weirdave.com/library/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?albumid=86&useralbum=1

I had waffles this morning. I only eat breakfast on the weekends now. Some of it is budget, some of it is time. I woke up in the middle of the night last night and had to take a sinus pill my sinuses never recovered from my friend Tracey's cats. I had my eyebrows done last night. Today I have to work on some stuff for work and then go to my grandmother's house to assemble the furniture she bought for my Mom's return. I am skepticle about this as we may have to put my Mom in some sort of nursing home becuase my grandmother will not be able to lift her up out of bed to get her around the house and Kim and I have to work. I don't particularly like the decision I must make regarding that but I really can't see a practicle alternative. On Sunday we are going to see the new Batman in IMAX Drew's treat! That should be fun. That's pretty much it for my weekend plans. Oh I almost forgot I have ot mow my grass....

Time

Spent some time today linking my facebook, aol journal, amazon wishlist, aol photos, and plaxo together. Payed some bills, called Mom twice and left messages. Went to work and routed tomorrows jobs. Came home and fixed one drain gutter during the deluge we had and realized I have to fix two more tomorrow or soon before they just break. I can't wait for the house to be painted next week (http://burke-painting.com). I am also getting a new back door this week to replace the rusted one we have that goes from the garage to the yard. The new dog door arrived today and it looks great. I got it from Care Free Pet Supplies (http://www.best-pet-door.com/) I spoke with the owner on the phone before my purchase as he uses a yahoo cart and he was very nice to direct me to a good quality door for a resonable price. I'm getting ready to have bbq chicken with bbq sauce from some place up north that is actually a cherry bbq sauce that is damn good. I'll get the website and post it later. Then it will be a rousing round of Monday Hearts. I should have Jim, Drew, Louis, and Brian tonight and maybe Bill later if he gets out in enough time. Catch ya later

Tags: facebook, plaxo, aol photos, amazon wishlist, mom, dog door, house painting

Vinyl Ripping has begun!!!

I have started ripping my vinyl collection and just when I was getting a groove my project got placed on hold to start ripping someone elses vinyl! Crazy, but hopefully I can make a little bit of money for the project.