I watched the last several minutes of my son’s basketball camp on Tuesday, and when he ran the last drill he told his coach that he felt sick.  I assumed that he was belly aching, because his coach was working him really hard in this particular camp at the Y.  It taught him a lot, but he had to work to do it.  When he came home, he got in our bed, and my partner put a heating pad on him.  She and I went into the living room, and were talking about visiting my Mom when we heard something that sounded like a bunch of water was poured on the floor.  When we went back, he had thrown up on our bedskirt, part of the box spring, and all over our floor and under our bed.  I didn’t want to eat dinner.

Then, at about 2 am, my partner started throwing up.  It was New Year’s Eve (NYE).  I didn’t get it until NYE during the day, and I was worthless with horrible abdominal cramps, and diarrhea.  I’m not very good and throwing up, and I’m glad about that.  Less a little bit of dizziness, I feel normal today, but my partner still is nauseated.  The bad thing is that my Mom had called me on Tuesday night when my son was throwing up, and asked me to go check on my Dad.  She hadn’t seen him since Sunday.  I told her that my son had thrown up four times–it wound up being 8 total–and that my partner was at class (This happened in the evening before NYE.), and that my sister-in-law was at work, and I wasn’t going to leave a sick child at home alone while I drove across town.  I dispatched a welfare check from the police department on Wednesday morning, and my Dad didn’t answer his bell, but the Officer told me that his kitchen light was on.  My mother-in-law called and said that she was picking up our key and going over to the house.  Thank God for her.  I’m not sure how I got so lucky to marry into this incredible family.

My Dad was only in a t-shirt that was soaked with urine in the living room.  He couldn’t stand, and they couldn’t lift them; although my mother-in-law is a nurse.  His knees were bloody and skinned up, and he had likely been on the floor for a couple of days.  He is now at the first hospital that treated my Mom when she shattered her right shoulder.  Now, I have two parents in different places.  My Mom is still in the facility, and I have no idea when she’ll get home, and my Dad is in a hospital that isn’t even one that his insurance usually covers.  I always wanted them to pay for longterm care insurance, and I also wanted them to set up a trust for my son’s education, and now their money will be all gone probably within a year.  I can drive over 25-miles to visit them both on the east and west sides of town if that’s how I spend my free time.  I saw my Dad today, and all things considering, he is doing well.  He has flu, pneumonia, heart complications, and is so weak that he can’t move much and cannot walk.

My Dad has been off of his medications for sometime.  He called my Mom yesterday and wanted her, or someone to bring him some cash that he has hidden.  He told her that he wanted to eat, and they wouldn’t let him at the hospital unless he paid for it.  He told her that he had to get blood work, so he’d worry about his money later, and that he probably just needed his wallet.  He has his wallet.  My mother-in-law and her boyfriend got it on his stretcher when he boarded the ambulance on NYE.  My world is one of pass codes for HIPPA, confused parents in different hospital rooms on opposite sides of town, and realizing that coordinated care just moves slow.  My Mom broke her shoulder in mid-November and has her surgery at the end of January.  Originally, they’d told her it was going to be in March. My father is so weak that when he discharges, he will need intensive physical therapy for at least 3-weeks in a rehabilitation facility.  It is amazing to me how complicated things can get within less than two months.

There are some things that are just fun though, and are simple.  We learned a new game today and played it with my Mom in the nursing facility.  Remembering passing time with family helps me while so much that has been going on has been unpredictable and sad.