7977. arkymalarky - 2/7/2015 12:11:27 AM With that outbreak in CA spreading to so many states, it is really looking like it's going to get worse. How old is your grandson? Does he go to daycare? 7978. robertjayb - 2/7/2015 1:15:59 AM Happy birthday to Adam...
One year this month. Plans are to start preschool in September. 7979. robertjayb - 2/7/2015 1:21:08 AM Oh Canada!
Canada's Supreme Court has ruled that doctors may help patients who have severe and incurable medical conditions to die, overturning a 1993 ban. (BBC)
A good and humane move. 7980. robertjayb - 2/9/2015 5:21:56 PM Sorry. Missed the point, No, no present daycare hazard for Adam and at 12 months he can get the vaccination. 7981. robertjayb - 2/9/2015 5:27:05 PM Measles 101
Transmission: Measles is highly contagious and can spread to others through coughing and sneezing. It also can live for up to two hours on a surface or in an airspace where an infected person coughed or sneezed.
Common symptoms: High fever, runny nose, cough and a rash all over the body. For most people, measles is miserable but not life-threatening.
Complications: Pneumonia and encephalitis. Measles also can cause pregnant women to have premature, fragile babies.
Deaths: Before the vaccine, about 450 to 500 Americans died from measles each year.
(Associated Press) 7982. robertjayb - 2/9/2015 5:45:39 PM What would Jesus do?
Running through a list of Houston area schools it seems that "religious" schools have the highest percentages of non-vaxxers. 7983. wabbit - 4/19/2015 1:16:10 AM Venting...
My mother has cirrhosis and a maybe a probably 40% functioning liver. The most important thing to do when you have a compromised liver is POOPING. When she gets constipated, she has episodes of hepatic encephalopathy. I've been begging my siblings to get involved since December, and except for my youngest brother, it's been like pissing in the wind.
My mother just spent a few days in the hospital after her latest episode and crashing her car, something she has no recollection of doing. She is no longer able to drive or to work. She's 82, so it's about time, but it breaks my heart that now she is stuck being home with my father. That's a book in itself.
The older of my two younger brothers (heretofore referred to as Sunshine, since the sun shines out his ass) has had his eldest daughter, age 25, installed in my parents' home for the past 3-1/2 years. Ostensibly this is to keep an eye on them, but the reality is she is there to keep an eye on my mother's jewelry and the household stuff that might be worth something and therefore might be something Sunshine wants. She does not help out around the house, she is rarely there. During this latest episode, it took my youngest brother to call for an ambulance while this clever girl stood around getting all teary and dramatic about her grandmother's health. God damn, I hate phoney drama. Fucking hypocrites. And does she bother to make sure her grandmother takes her meds? Hell no. But when three doctors, a PT and countless nurses say she should not be going up stairs, it's fine to move her bed back up to the second floor because that's what makes her happy. Stupid assholes never bother to think ahead, too intellectually lazy and selfish. She doesn't like taking her meds either, is that ok if it makes her happy? They are looking at their watches, waiting for their meager inheritances to kick in. Vultures.
My sister (aka Princess) has been bitching about this situation for a long time, about how our parents are supporting this grandchild under false pretenses. She does not mention that HER youngest son has been subsidized to the tune of $500/month for at least 18 months that I have seen. 7984. wabbit - 4/19/2015 1:16:31 AM My parents have finally made out wills. Guess who is left in charge? Me. Guess what is going to happen next - the gravy train is OVER. No more handing Sunshine's daughters $50 because they run the vac for 15 minutes. No more paying Princess's son's rent, he can take out loans like most college students do. Both my parents are retired, on limited income, and have thrown tens of thousands of dollars at their favorite two children for decades, while my youngest brother and I have done the heavy lifting. Now he is second after me in charge of everything in their wills and it's all over for Sunshine and the Princess.
And do the parents want to move in with either of the two vultures? No. They want to live with me. I will sell my condo and buy a ranch and have them move in. But Sunshine is going to have a rude awakening. No more showing up whenever, getting drunk off his ass on MY dime and expecting a free meal. OVER. If my sister's kids want to visit, they get to live with MY rules, they do NOT dictate when dinner is served just because they have deigned to bless us with their presence. And they can buy the Jaeger on their own dime. Even better, they can stay with Sunshine and whine about what a selfish bitch I am, have at it. This is exactly why the parents want to live with me. They have never said no to these two children or their spawn and are counting on me to be the bad guy. I'm happy to do it.
Unreasonable of me? I don't give a rat's ass anymore. 7985. wabbit - 4/19/2015 1:17:24 AM There is SO much more, but I'm sure everyone here gets the jist of things. And thank you for letting me vent. 7986. PsychProf - 4/19/2015 3:09:43 PM I love posts that tell truth Wabbit. Thanks for that. 7987. arkymalarky - 4/19/2015 3:52:50 PM Several of us in here have elderly parents, and it's evident from the posts that it's rarely easy. I went shopping with my mother yesterday and had a great time, but the glimpse I got last year when Dad fell and what I've seen Stan and Wabbit and Wombat and 3i going through, it's just hard, and unfortunately family can make it worse. Stan says I will soon see first hand, but that thinking is pointless. I'm going to be happy and grateful now and I really feel for my friends trying to ease their parents through their last stage of life with minimum physical and emotional suffering and family turmoil. It's a very helpless feeling. I don't know what to say, even to Stan, beyond just being a sympathetic ear. The Mote is great for that. 7988. wabbit - 4/19/2015 11:21:42 PM Most of he time, a sympathetic ear is what I most need. I love you folks, really. And Arky especially for giving me a week off a few years ago when I desperately needed one.
When my mother was in the hospital last week, she spent the first night being very unhappy and uncomfortable. I spent the next two nights there with her. Bless them, the nurses got me one of those chairs that open out to a bed. I got up every hour or two to get mom onto the port-o-potty and then get her cleaned up and back in bed. I made sure she had warm blankets, water and took her meds. The floor nurses and assistants loved me, one less patient they needed to worry about. In fact, I was also keeping an eye on her very elderly roomie, another sweet woman who didn't like to complain or ask for anything.
When mom went home, I spent the first two nights there. Meanwhile, I'm doing an hour drive each way every day to my own home to take care of my cats. Did anyone offer to do the overnight shift, even for one night? No, they all had to work...wtf do they think I do every damn day?? And they live ten minutes away.
When my parents are gone, Sunshine will never hear from me again. And that is no loss for me, but will be for his two daughters. They just don't realize it yet.
Needless to say, Arky, I won't make the Gathering this year. 7989. wabbit - 4/19/2015 11:26:13 PM Hey PP! I was just talking about you the other day, about how college baseball is so different from college basketball and football. Hope you and the family are all doing well.
Unrelated, but I just printed "Sidd Finch" out for my father, I have that SI issue tucked away somewhere (I hope). 7990. arkymalarky - 4/19/2015 11:36:06 PM I hate to hear that wabbit, but you know you come down here anytime summer winter spring or fall and spend however long you need or want to. Our doors are always open to you. Even if we're not home. In fact, you might prefer it that way. ;) 7991. alistairconnor - 4/20/2015 3:41:48 PM Commiserations, Wabbit...
Now that my mother is dead I no longer have to feel guilty about not helping, while my little sister did ALL the work, practical, administrative and moral, over the ... ten years when mum was no longer autonomous. With little or no help from our brothers. At least I had the practical excuse of distance.
Now, it's Madame whose parents are coming into that difficult age. Telling her dad that he can't drive any more... trying to get her mother to take her diabetes medication... organising and paying for the maintenance of the house (which she will inherit)... They are only three hours away by plane, after all. She'll be spending three weeks with them from next week.
I have never met these good people, it never turned out to be the right time. It took me years to realise that it never would be. I am destined to remain the unacknowledged son-out-law. Her dad was a progressive in his younger days, but will never acknowledge a non-Muslim member of the family.
(But every time Madame comes home, her mum sends tins of home-made pastries for me.) 7992. thoughtful - 4/23/2015 9:05:49 PM wabbit, I'm sorry that you have to go through all of this but delighted that you will be taking control of the situation. Even though it means acres more work, at least you will know that they are being given the best care possible and that the leaches will no longer be able to suck them dry. Good for you! It's going to be a long tough road, but well worth the journey on so many levels. 7993. judithathome - 4/29/2015 10:01:24 PM Okay, I know this is probably useless advice because no one here would DO this but I just now almost STABBED myself in the gut! I was holding a 4 pack of Perrier in my hands and also, a pair of scissors...one bottle fell out the "pack" and I bent over to retrieve it and felt a sharp poke in my middle....luckily, I had on a "thick" shirt but had I been wearing something thinner, I would have injured myself GREATLY....
Just a ditzy move...I felt like an idiot...and immediately went into all sorts of explanations of what I'd have said to the EMTs and the cops... 7994. judithathome - 4/29/2015 10:01:59 PM Well...looky here... 7995. judithathome - 4/29/2015 10:02:12 PM Can I... 7996. judithathome - 4/29/2015 10:02:49 PM Can I...possibly...
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