Tons and tons of rain, I mean 4 inches an hour rain in some places, but not much wind and even at landfall not much damage, even the overdramatized "severe weather center" storm reporters couldn't make this one too sexy. And that is a good thing. We like blobby, heavy raining storms without a lot of wind. We needed the rain and we were happy dancing around the office for the past two days. It wasn't so much fun when the power went off in half the office for a couple of hours, but Progress Energy got it up again. (That should lead to some interesting Google hits.)
Dear Internet: If you are afraid to drive in really, really heavy, blowing, blinding rain, do yourself and us a favor. DO NOT move to Florida. We just can't take that kind of chickenshit behavior around here. Seriously. I ran out to the bank at lunch and got behind somebody in a minivan, creeping along at 20 miles an hour with hazard lights on. It was raining hard - granted, raining hard by Floridian standards isn't like raining hard in many parts of the country, but still, it was Just Rain. There were no 70 mph wind gusts (drive in a hurricane for six hours on the interstate, then we'll talk). We were on a four lane road with only a 35 mph speed limit and there were FOUR cars on it! Three of us swore at the driver (at least I did) and went around Blinky the Chickenshit. I mean, seriously - my 80 y.o. mother was on the road in this today! She got where she was going and was just fine when I talked to her.
My father is not so fine, and that's why my mother was on the road. He's in the hospital again, transported by ambulance this time. She called after he was there, they think he has pneumonia again (when you can't swallow, the saliva goes down the wrong way). They'll put him on IV antibiotics again. Dr. Dipshit did talk to my mother about bringing in hospice, and just to prove that I did not misjudge him and he really is a dipshit, told her that I'd called him. What a clueless asshole. I called him to ask if there was a reason he wasn't suggesting it, not to tell him to tell them that it was my idea - though I'm glad it was done, no matter who pulled the trigger. My mother told me that he said I'd called, so this cowardly asshole with an MD passed the buck on his responsibility as a doctor to the patient's daughter, and yes, I'll take it. Just get the damn services in place, I'll be the evil daughter who said he was dying. Obviously the doctor wasn't man enough, so I had to be.
Thanks for all the support on the Asheville Idea - it's more than a dream but not quite reality just now. Boy will go first, I'll go up there after he's settled, maybe in the fall, and I'll take it from there. Like it or not, I do have a responsibility for my mother, I can't leave her on her own, I wouldn't leave a strange old lady (poor choice of words) I wouldn't leave an old lady I didn't know on her own and helpless, so that has to be addressed. I absolutely know I can't live with her, so that has to be sorted out.
The only thing that would change my mind at this point is a relationship that makes it worth staying here. Tapping foot impatiently...Okay Florida, let's see if you can do it.
Are there any potential relationship-ees in the picture?
ReplyDeleteI hope everything comes together in all the different aspects you are working with right now, and that whatever you decide you want to happen, happens. Now, how is that for a really convoluted sentence!
Asheville is still something you should keep on your radar screen.
ReplyDeleteYou're right--that MD IS cowardly. He's really going to have to learn how to handle the families of dying patients.
When my grandmother was dying, WE were blunt with the doctor. We made it clear that we knew she was dying. Grandma wanted no resuscitation, no "heroic measures". She had made that very clear.
Only when our family had made it clear that we knew the end was close did the physician suggest "palliative care". We told him he could call it what he wanted... just give her drugs for any pain she has so she can rest comfortably until she dies.
On the other hand, some people do not handle well the idea of death or dying. I've seen people with a relative who is clearly dying, insisting that the relative will pull through. I recall one in particular who became enraged when it was suggested to her that her elderly father might not "recover", and made a huge, wailing scene in the office when he had a "relapse" and died.
So I can kind of see why a doctor would hesitate to even imply a patient is dying and nothing can be done.
What a wuss! You should call him on his unprofessional behavior!
ReplyDeleteMy cousin and I have both talked to my mother about bringing in hospice, more for her benefit than his - she needs the additional support if she is going to care for him at home. She is convinced he's going to recover - or at least she's trying to convince herself that this is the case. I keep telling her that you can quit hospice services when the patient improves (not that I think this is going to happen) and I hope that she lets them help her.
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