Montana Grandma

This has been a crazy week. Monday afternoon I get a phone call from my brother letting me know that my mom is in the hospital getting ready to go in to surgery. Earlier in the day she had taken my dad to the dentist. When they got home my dad fell getting out of the car and when she went to help him he passed out and because he had a hold of her she fell down on the cement garage floor and broke her hip. Oh boy...

My mom is my dad's caregiver. He has parkinson's disease and requires 24/7 care. So now what do you do when the caregiver needs care? I'm so grateful that 2 of my brothers and my sister live close by and so they kicked into high gear and got things arranged to stay with my dad around the clock. I'm so grateful for them and I'm so grateful for my BIL and 2 SIL's that didn't miss a beat! My sister left that morning for Texas to spend the week with her daughter and so my BIL is left to care for his family as well as help with my parents. Today I'm eternally grateful for family who help each other no matter what the reason! Thanks Donnlee & Ann, Bradlee & Suzanne and Joela & Brent for all you do for our parents!

So that is not the end of the story...mom is doing well after surgery to put 2 screws into her hip - she is now on the rehab floor and doing okay. It will be a long recovery I think. Chapter 2 - finds my dad having a severe nose bleed on Thursday night which requires a trip to the hospital to have it coterized and as they are getting ready to release him to go home he has another seizure type thing (which he has frequently) and they see it and won't let him go home. He is admitted to the hospital for tests and observation. So mom is in one room and dad is around the corner in another - they can't be together in the room because mom's is a rehab room and my dad is in one that they monitor really closely. Oh boy! What a circus!

The positive in this is that my SIL gets a good night's sleep last night because being with my dad all night is kinda like having a baby that doesn't sleep through the night.

I am flying to Utah on Tuesday to spend some time and help out. It is a really really hard thing to have aging parents that aren't healthy! My mom is such an angel. She does such a great job caring for my dad - now I wonder what will happen! I think there are some really hard decisions to make in the next couple of weeks.