Weekend at Dad's

Well, I made it through.

Dad seems to be going downhill quickly. Some days are better than others. Saturday was a pretty good day. He is getting worse about asking the same questions over and over ... Sometimes back to back.

I was surprised to see Vivian sitting up and getting around like she was. After having a breast removed, I expected her to be in the bed at least a couple of days following the surgery, but she was up doing her normal routine. All I really had to do for them is go to the store a couple of times.

Friday morning, first thing, I took hootie to the vet to look at those welts that were on her. The vet said they were caused by fleas. Also, the found high levels of coccidia (spelling?) in her feces, and went ahead and got her annual vaccinations. Everything was about $140.

On the way up, the car was acting up - skipping. Patrick changed the plugs/wires and it is running much better, although it is still not exactly right.

Vivian showed me a diary that she is keeping. He threw a fit on her one day wanting to know where Mae was. She siad he does that a lot. Even though I dont really care for her too much, I do feel for her. Patrick made a point that she married this man, not realizing that she was going to be a caretaker. She told patrick that she feels like hired help more than his wife. Im afraid that if this breast cancer is fatal, it will really put dad over the edge. Patrick and I have talked about moving in with him if it comes to that and try to take care of him as much as possible until we can't

While Patrick was working on that, we let hootie out of the fence. She stayed right with us until a chicken showed itself, then it was on. She chased those chickens all over the place, and almost got her a rooster. She was within inches of it. After about 15 min of chasing, we finally caught her and put her back in the fence. I don't like taking her there because dad's two dogs are infested with fleas.

Saturday afternoon, Donna brought little Mike over. Its good to see them talking and getting along. Mike mentioned he wanted to learn guitar. Dad brought his out and started playing - never missed a lick. I think he should play regularly, who knows, maybe actively thinking may slow down and combat the disease.

Sunday, we went to Donna's to work on Dad's truck. Supposedly, the cylinoid switch on the starter is bad. Donna had the part, but it was the wrong part, so we had to call the parts store and order another one. We will be back up there next Sunday to try again.

When I called dad to see if he was ready to come over here, He ask if he was supposed to. He had completely forgotten about it, and we had talked about it all morning. After getting back to his house and picking him up, he was trying to tell me how to get there and was way off. Also, before getting out of the driveway, he was already clenching like I was driving 100 mph. He complained the whole way that I was scaring him. On the way back, he was bragging about what a good driver I was. When we got to her house, he got out of the car, and I could tell he was very confused about what he was supposed to do. He was standing there and said to me he was getting feeble. I walked over to him and just said, "come on", and he followed me into the house.