The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I haven't written much about my folks for the last couple days, but I'm worn out tonight and they're still on my mind, so I thought I'd mention what's been going on.

The Good: The folks were transferred today, together, to a nursing facility. From what I understand, they are both Medicare approved and if they exceed the maximum covered stay, their supplemental insurance will kick in. I've reported the auto accident to their insurance company, and the property damage and auto inspection/disposal aspects are being resolved; my dad has med pay which will help with any medical expenses that are not covered. My mom seemed alert and in less pain the last time I talked to her. I'll be going up to see them tomorrow. The neighbors in the retirement community where they live are just wonderfully helpful with everything, and I'm very grateful for that.

The Bad: I'm told the healthcare people expect my folks to be in the nursing facility for quite possibly more than 100 days. 100 days! And I was anticipating two weeks! I had to deal with the phone company's automated phone system THREE times before I managed to get my folks' telephone transferred to the nursing home. Have you ever talked to an artificial man-voiced robot who asks you questions about stuff like ZIP codes that you can't answer, and when you say, "I don't know," he says, "I'm sorry, I didn't understand your response. Please repeat that number slowly, one digit at a time"? Grrrrr! I really wanted to give him one digit in particular, but I'm sure he wouldn't have understood my response! My folks need a TV--21" I'm told. Not sure where to get one, and the rental centers don't seem to have anything under 27", so I don't know what my dad's going to stare at until I can get a TV to them. He likes to turn on CNN and watch the headlines. And complain about the Republicans. Since he's hard of hearing, he talks really LOUD and his political opinions are frequently punctuated by swear words. (Yep, that's my dad; they're gonna love him at the nursing home! 100 days? I bet it's more like the two weeks I was expecting!) My brother seems to think the folks might have a TV in their home that's the right size; the only one I remember is the GIGANTIC set we bought them for Christmas the year before last. I didn't see a smaller one when we were there the other night--probably because of the sweat pouring down my face, plastering my hair to my eyeballs. But I'll look again tomorrow.

The Ugly: Me. I'm feeling like the guy on the right in the photo above LOOKS. I'm also getting really tired of being asked about my dad's medical history, explaining that he has dementia, and having people say, "And he was driving?!" Yes, he was diagnosed in the fall as having mild dementia and was on medication to slow the progression; this is the first indication that driving might not be such a good idea, and he'll never do it again--I promise! I kind of feel like I should have done something BEFORE the accident, but most of you probably know that getting your parents to change their ways may well be harder than convincing a 15-year-old kid! LOL! No quilting time tonight, which is liable to make me real ugly too. I need my fabric fix! And now it's time for bed--gotta get my ugly sleep.