List Continues--My parents

3. My parents are 92 and 95. Back in 04, they were living in there own home and my Mom was taking care of my Dad. They had been in the same house where I grew up since 1957.

In 2006, my Mom begin to have some problems and was falling some. She was not as steady as she had been. I have one sister, Cheryl, who is 15 months younger than me. Both of us started trying to help my Mom and Dad more. My sister had started paying the bills and she would take my Mom to the grocery store. When my Dad turned 90, his drivers license expired and he decided to give up driving. My dad is a diabetic and had been using a walker for several years. Then he started using a wheel chair.

Well, the week before, Labor Day, I got a call from the Cockrell Hill police at 1230a. My Mom had fallen and hurt herself. My Dad had called 911 and the Cockrell Hill police had to break in there house. They took my Mom to Methodist hospital. I thought my Mom's speech and mouth was drawn some. They did an xray and found that she had hit her head. They transfered her to Parkland where they had a nuerosurgeon. She had broke her arm and a rib. They also found that she had broken a bone in her neck. She never did complain about her neck, but she ended up wearing a neck brace for almost a year. At Parkland they wanted to send her home like on the second day and she had not been out of bed and at that point was really out of it. She was thinking she was sitting on a ledge outside her window.

We put her in rehab where she stayed until the week before Thanksgiving. My sister was running between the nursing home and our home. I would go over every night and put my dad in bed. Luckily, that worked and neither of us stayed with him at night. We were very lucky.

When my Mom came home, Cheryl stayed over at my folks every night. I would go over and put my Dad in bed and help her when I could. My sister is a champ and did lots of things for my folks. She didn't have a life besides my folks. I tried to help her on weekends. My Dad had been taking insulin since 1992 and my sister was convinced that I could not do that. I would go over on the weekend and do there lunches. That gave Cheryl a break from breakfast to supper.

We did that until the summer of this year. My dad started having some problems. He was throwing up and having diarrhea. Started in May, we would have to take him to emergency and he would stay in Methodist for several days. At one point, my friend Hugh, said that we might start looking at our future options. The time would come where we could not continue like we were. Our health had held up pretty good. We needed to have an alternate plan for my follks.

Well I said something to Cheryl and we both realized that we couldn't continue to do what we were doing. So in June after my dad was in the hospital, we placed them in a nursing home, Lennwood, which is in DeSoto/Duncanville, close to where Cheryl lives. We placed both of them there because my Mom wanted to stay with Dad. Cheryl, was staying all day at the home and both of my parents hated being there. I knew that they would adjust and I could walk out of there and know that they would be taken care of. We didn't have that when Cheryl or I wasn't in there home. We didn't stay there 24 hours a day. Well my folks got the guilt trip to work on my sister and she took them out of the home.

I advised my sister that I couldn't continue to do what I was doing. I needed and she did to have our own life. She found a precious woman to come in and stay with my folks 24 hours a day for Sunday afternoon to Friday afternoon. That worked for like 6 weeks. Both of my parents called her that woman. I don't think they ever called her by her name. My mom didn't like having a stranger in her home. Well one Thursday, I got a call very early from Cheryl that the aid was quitting the next day. My dad had been in and out of the hospital a couple of times. I had been talking with them that my dad needed 24 hour a day nursing care, which we could not provide.

Well this long story needs to come to an end. We placed them both back at Lennwood where they had been before. Cheryl kind of back off in micro managing them. I know they both would rather be at home, but they realized that it wasn't possible any more. Well they are doing great there. I go to see them almost everyday. I haven't missed many days seeing them. We have been taking them out some. My dad is getting harder to get in and out of the car.

I guess one final thing for this post that I would like to say is. The great thing about having my parents around at this age and that I am very thankful for, is both of them basically have good minds for there age. They are both hard of hearing, but I can talk with them. They are aware of there surroundings. They do participate in events at the home. They had a bunch of Christmas parties. I have mixed emotions. I would like for them to be at home, but again when I walk out that door of the home, I do know they are going to be taken care of.

Lets Try this Again

Wow! It has been a while since I posted a blog. I am going to try to do this again. Maybe this time I can keep up and keep blogging.

In the last 4 years since I have blogged lots has happened. I am going to try to start a list and then see where it goes from there.

1. Job wise: I have changed jobs twice. I wanted to work where I would not have to drive my car to work. I got a job at a small travel agency where I could ride the Dart Train. I was there for 10 months and got laid off because they didn't have enough business. There is more to that story. I learned my lesson. 2 weeks later, I had a new job and will have been here for 2 years next April. It is a major travel agency and I am on a large account. I am 61 now. One of the things that attracted me about this agency is, if I retire after 10 years, I continue to pay my same rates for the health insurance. I am 61 now, so I can retire when I am 70. Getting there!

2. The Big Move: When I moved back to Dallas, I was living in Uptown. I thought I had the coolest place to live in Dallas. My lease was up this last January. Going over to my parents house, I would often go thru Downtown Dallas. Post properties where I lived also owned the Wilson Building Downtown Dallas. The building is over 100 years old and Post redid it back in 1999. I didn't think I could afford to live there. Well the day before I was either to have to renew my lease or give Post notice, I was checking there website. They had a list of apartments that was available. They had an efficiency small loft that was going to be available February 1st when I was going to move. The neat thing that it was less than what I was going to have to pay to stay in Uptown. So I decided to move. I had always dreamed about living downtown, but thought I could not afford it.

Well the week before, I was to move Post sold the building to Forrest City which was redoing the Mercantile in Downtown Dallas. I was the first person to sign a lease with Forrest City because the Mercantile had not opened. It was a learning process for both of us. I am getting some subsidized housing from the city of Dallas, for folks that can't afford the price of living in Downtown. I am loving living down there. If I get this thing to working again. I will tell you more about it.

My biggest fear since I got such a good rate was that they were going to jack the rent. Well for this next year, my rent will stay the same. I am not moving. That was a big relief. I started the process to get qualified back in September, so I finally could kick back and not worry.

Ok this post is long enough. Look for more and I really want to get back into doing this.