It�s Never Simple
2007-11-05, 4:25 p.m.

Day 1170a

To assuage the deep, searing pangs of guilt I�m feeling for messing up NaNoBloMo on Day 3 (yeah, right), I�m offering up another dose of blather for today. In the fortunate event that you missed the earlier dose of drivel today, go back and take a peek (if you dare).

Today�s second helping pretty much addresses the title (At least for now. It could change at the whim of a mad man � me!)

The reference to never simple? First, Ms. CL went to her former home Saturday morning. Because her daughters are still not liking her for leaving in the first place (something to pick at there), she was relegated to spending quality time in her husbands car, negotiating her return to servitude. As she relates it, he sat in the drivers seat, she in the passenger seat. The entire time he�s talking, she�s looking out the passenger window. She cannot bring herself to even look at him.

Last she told me this afternoon, she�s swung back to not moving back home. This isn�t going to go well for her, no matter what she chooses. I need to remember it�s all her choices, her responsibilities. Sounds like some 12 step stuff, doesn�t it?

Never simple #2. Cindy�s brother called me Friday three times within a half hour while I was sitting in the same meeting. Never left a message. I figured he was calling to brag about a deer he had just bagged. I�m not bow hunting this year and really didn�t want to hear about it. If it was something really important, he�d call me back again.

Well, it was so important, he called me back this afternoon (Monday). Friday afternoon he got a call from the director of the place where his Dad (my FIL, The Bob) is staying (The Legacy, just to make future references easier). Seems The Bob has been acting rather aggressive of late, hitting his door when he has trouble with the key, blaming everyone for stealing his keys, blaming everyone for stealing anything he can�t find at the moment, and in general acting very anxious and paranoid.

What prompted Fridays call from the Legacy was some aggression or accusations leveled at the kitchen staff. First time he�s directly accused the Legacy staff of anything. Of course, when we ask him about any of the events related to us by the staff he has no memory of any of it and thinks things are going along just peachy. Oh � the curse of Alzheimer�s.

Earlier last week, the staff at the Legacy asked us to �do something� about these outbursts. We had a follow visit to his GP doc scheduled for the 20th of this month. Figured that would do until we got the phone calls this latest info. Bob�s GP doc makes visits to the Legacy on a regular basis. Turns out he�s visiting there tomorrow. Guess who�s got an appointment with his GP tomorrow?

Not that I�ve been burning up the phone lines trying to arrange all this. I relayed the info Wayne related to me to Cindy and asked her to call her dad�s doc and see about getting his appointment moved up. There�s been some rancor between Cindy and her brother, to the point where he won�t talk to her at all. Some shit about something Cindy said about Wayne�s wife�s family. For the record, nothing was said � this is all third hand, overheard rumors and miscellaneous crap at best � and what was rumored to have been said is no different from what Wayne himself has said in the past.

Anyhow, Cindy finally pulled on her big girl britches, called her brother and told him that she is to be called with anything concerning their father�s health and living arrangements. No more of this running shit through me. She�s been pestering me to tell him this for a year and a half. I have, several times. But ya know � it really is her business and she needed to tell her brother herself. I�ve told her that for a year and a half as well. I�m glad she finally told him herself. Now when he still calls me with updates, etc. I can just say �See?�

We have it set up with the Doc that we�d like to talk to him out of earshot of The Bob before he sees him tomorrow. We gotta get The Bob on some tranq�s or some sort of anti-anxiety med that will calm him down. Unfortunately, I�m hearing that your run of the mill anti-anxiety meds may not work with an Alzheimer�s patient. Something about them not working on what�s causing the anxiety, or not affecting the proper brain chemicals or something.

There�s research to be done tonight, for tomorrow is going to be a fun day. I�d like to go into this knowing a little of what to expect.

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