OT: This Year Isn't Starting Off Any Better . . . .

In August, we lost our dog to cancer.

In September my DH lost his oldest sister to cancer.

In October, my DH lost his oldest friend to liver failure.

In November we lost another friend.

In December we lost a puppy.

On Christmas Eve, Dad called from Wisconsin (we're on the east coast) and told me that he wasn't feeling well. That was the beginning of the end. Between then and January 10, he went to the ER 6 times, was admitted to two different hospitals a total of four times, and then spent 15 hours in a nursing home "to recover his strength". He hadn't been eating because he hadn't been feeling well, and lost approximately 30 pounds since I'd last seen him at Thanksgiving. One night in a nursing home was enough. On January 10, he suffered a massive stroke, obliterating the right hemisphere of his brain. He also suffered a heart attack at the same time. I managed to get home in time to be at his bedside when he passed away peacefully in the wee hours of January 13.

As I've shared with some of you, Dad was the primary care taker for my mother, who has Alzheimer's. Because he wasn't feeling well and wasn't hungry, he wasn't cooking, so Mom wasn't eating, either. Neither of them were taking their meds. Mom also lost roughly 30 pounds and much of what remained of her memory. In addition to burying our father, my sister and I were forced to find a place for my mother, who has always adamantly refused to leave Wisconsin, and for her 3 house cats and half dozen feral "barn cats." It's been a grueling couple of weeks.

We found a LOVELY assisted living facility for Mom and although she insists that she doesn't want to live in "a home", she's now installed there where she's warm (Dad was heating with wood, and Wisconsin has not had an easy winter) and fed and getting her medication. I found homes for the house cats and someone to continue to feed the barn cats through the winter. And I'm home.

I haven't had time yet to grieve, but it's as if I've lost both my parents. Dad died, but Mom is gone, too. I haven't slept since I left the east coast -- between feeding the fire every two hours and keeping an ear open for my mother who wandered the house all night and tends to run outside without coat or shoes (at -35 degrees that's a real problem), I've managed to snatch only a few minutes of sleep here and there. And now I'm too tired to sleep, if that makes any sense.

There's still much to be done with the house and the property, but for now, my mother is safe and cared for.

Ruby, back on line

.

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