I started the Clapotis in Tuscany Lion and Lamb yesterday, and have barely been able to put it down to do anything else. I have used one skein and I'm about a third of the way into the second. (This is a four skein project for me, not three as called for in the pattern.) I didn't go to work today - I had to wait for the delivery of the washer and dryer, and wait for a call to go see my father. Then it was 2 in the afternoon and nobody was really looking for me with anything urgent, and I took this as a sign that I deserved some down time. I'm going over there one day this week, maybe Thursday, to take care of some business. I had 4 hours of sleep last night. I had to do laundry.
My mother is holding up pretty well, she alternates between freaking out and being very calm and organized. She wants me to come over to go to the bank (I believe this is to get to get the will, etc., but she can't bring herself to say it out loud yet.)
She's still in quite a bit of denial, and I had to do the Hospice Lecture for the umpteenth time. I'm not sure my father will be going home to the house or if he'll need to be somewhere with 24 hour nursing staff, but I am absolutely positive that she has to have hospice services if she's going to insist on taking him home. She's still resistant. She is afraid that if he knows he's on hospice he'll give up. Not to be too cold about it but this isn't a situation where the mental game is going to turn it around - he needs to be comfortable and cared for and so does she.
I pointed out that it's perfectly okay to fudge the details, home health and hospice come out of the same organization. Why draw those lines if they aren't something he wants to think about? I'm more worried about her than him at this point, he's getting all the care that he can get, but she is 80 years old and less than 5 foot nothing and she needs 8 hours of sleep at night. Been there, have a collection of the round the clock single-handed caregiver of a restless and confused patient t-shirts . It damn near killed me, and I did it at 45. I can't imagine pulling that duty at 80. She has got to have hospice help. It's non-negotiable, and I will force it upon her with guilt and manipulation if I must.
The new washer and dryer are heaven. It's like going from the Flintstones to the 21st century - even though these are "basic" machines, they still have 10x as many features as the old ones.
And the Camera Arrived Today! And by the time it did I didn't have the energy to do more than hold it up and admire it. In all of my random-non-knitting stories I didn't recount my adventures with my XP Professional Upgrade with the corrupted files on the CD, but Microsoft's customer service really was top notch, even if the CD's quality control was highly dubious. A replacement CD is on its way to me so I can fix the mess. But I don't want to load the camera software until I have the Windows issues fixed, because no good can come of it.
The camera is very sexy. It will keep me amused for months.
And then I wandered over to Chez Casuelle and saw that Carla is adding Euroflax!! Okay, I am set for yarn and camera fun for at least the next 2 months. Labor Day - no yarn until Labor Day weekend. Seriously.
I know you know this, but hospice won't take him unless it's terminal. I think if she knows that the River in Egypt might change it's mighty course.
ReplyDeleteShe knows that. You have no idea of the power of this particular river. But actually, my husband was on hospice twice and signed himself off it once in the course of his disease, when he turned out to be not so terminal and went into a stable disease period that lasted the better part of a year. I've pointed out to her that if they get ahead of the infection and he stabilizes they could do the same thing. I don't for a minute believe that is going to happen, but I would be glad to be wrong.
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