Dad Update

The picture above is from April 2010. The picture below is from Jan. 29, 2011

You can definitely tell a difference in how well he's doing. People always say he looks great but he's not great. The infection he had a couple of weeks ago really wore on him. He's so sunken looking to me in his face and he's very moody and lost. That's the only way I can describe his mind. Lost.... He was more like a little boy this past weekend. I hate dementia. He's cheery (a little) when we're up there with Mom but when we leave them alone he always gets angry with her. While I think they need a few minutes alone together I think she's reaching a breaking point where we won't be able to do that anymore. She's so sad after we've seen Dad too. She puts up a good front but you can tell if you know her like we do. So he's better physically, not great, but better and mentally I think he's definitely worse.

Goodbye Girl

I've been putting off writing this post. Last Tuesday (25th) we took our sweet Perdy (Perdita Marie) to be put down. She was the most wonderful dog in the world. We got her from a farmer 12 years ago when she was only a couple of months old. She was half black lab and half blue heeler. It wasn't until she started graying that you could see the blue heeler spots on her at all. She loved water of course and never wanted to be anywhere but her backyard. She only barked when someone or something came into our front yard. My kids can't remember a time without her and I don't look forward to a time without her either. She's spoilt us to having another dog. I'm sure we'll get one eventually and we do still have our Ginny who's 6 but she's nothing like our Perdy of course. Ginny is a little dog. She's half chihuahua and half Carolina dingo. She's a great dog too don't get me wrong but I always felt safe knowing that if Perdy barked I could check outside if needed. It got to the point that I could tell her different barks apart too. No need to check if it was just a cat bark but when she would let loose with a long string of barks I would know that someone was going to be knocking on the door in a minute. I'm going to miss those warning barks. I'm going to miss that dog so much.

So Far...

So good. We found out that Chris will be getting a new partner. One closer to him in age, married with children and he wants to be home on weekends too. Whew! What a relief. It'll be next week before they start up but that's okay. Fun day today. We spent most of the day at the car dealership. Great people there. We were never bored that's for sure. We ended up with a Silver 2010 Dodge Journey. It's very similar to the Dodge Durango but a little smaller and lower to the ground. It's like the Dodge Caravan and a Dodge sedan got together and had a baby. LOL. It's very nice and only had 150 miles on it when we left the lot this afternoon. I sure don't want the car payment but my peace of mind is well worth what that is going to be. :D

Nothing to See Here.....

It's just another craptastic Friday. Chris's partner called and wow he's being sent to the office to work until April while one of the people is out. He's acting like he just found out but I don't believe it for a minute. Chris is supposed to get another partner til then and hopefully it'll be a good match and he'll tell this guy where to go finally after 10 years of missing 2 or 3 months every year. I'm in a dilemma though because we were supposed to see about getting a new to us (used) car but I'm not sure I want a car payment with this thing hanging over our heads. We definitely need a newer vehicle with our KIA being 10 years old especially but I sure don't want a car payment if its going to be hard to make them. I'm guessing I'm going to end up with a hoopdee but as long as it runs and I don't have a huge car payment it might just work until next year. I'm pissed and I still don't believe that this guy just found this out. @@

::::shhhhh::::

LOL. Sorry. Couldn't resist. There's not much going on. My Dad is doing well. He's pretty much over being ill but of course he'll never actually be well really. Anyway, there's nothing much to post about. Today was my Mom's birthday. She turned 69. She didn't really want a celebration but we had a small family party for her at her house. Chris and I gave her a new blanket for her bed last weekend when he was home. I don't know what else she got because I forgot to ask today. We had hamburgers and birthday cake and they were both really good. :) Oh, I made a few tshirt quote graphics. You can go to my graphic page to see them.

Update

We got a call on Thursday that my Dad was very sick. They wanted to know if my Mom wanted my Dad left in a hospice situation or sent to the Temple VA for more aggressive treatment. My Mom will not ever tell them to take my Dad to Temple for treatment after last year when the doctor there told her that he only had 6 weeks to live. Come to find out that doctor does it a lot when it comes to dementia patients because they do not know how to take care of them there. So the Waco VA just did bloodwork (no way to do xrays) and said he has an infection and it was probably pneumonia. We finally were able to get up there on Friday afternoon and see him and considering how sick he was he looked pretty good. Now looking good doesn't mean he's doing good and I wish extended family would realize that. Anytime my Mom posts on our facebook family page about him or somebody asks if she says good they think that means he's doing great. Like with my brother Patrick he's very ill yet they think he's lying or playing up his illnesses. Yes illnesses. He's had major heart problems since he was 38 years old and now has all kinds of other stuff that goes along with that plus diabetes. Anyway, my Dad looked good but when asked how he felt he said pretty good but that's because he doesn't remember being sick. Just a few more weeks and we'll hopefully have a second car and I'll be able to take my Mom about twice a week to see Dad. I hate having to get into another car payment but with the KIA being iffy I'd rather Chris have to deal with it at work. Hopefully next year we'll be able to use the tax refund to fix that wiring harness and a few other problems it has. It only has about 120,000 which isn't bad for a 2001 KIA and if we can make it last long enough it could be Nicky's first car.

Long Time, No Posting

Christmas vacation was really good. It went by way too fast though. We went to my sister Kelly's on Christmas eve and then spent a couple of hours with my Mom and other siblings on Christmas morning. We gave my Mom Chris's old laptop for her to get online with now. She's loving it so far. It's easier for her to sit at the table than to sit at a small computer desk like she was doing. Cheryl and Patrick and then Kelly and Anthony got an XBox 360 with a game and extra controller for each set of them. Chris wanted to do it and we already told them there won't be big presents for any of them again. LOL. My niece Amanda got a $25 phone card for her phone and we gave my nephew Todd and his fiancee a $25 gift card to Denny's. He said they ate burgers there but got chinched on the fries. I told him they should have eaten breakfast instead. We gave Chris's Mom a $100. She finally cashed the check yesterday. Our other nephew John came down on the 29th (his birthday) with his fiancee and her 4 kids. They're really good kids and all 7 and under. They're cuties too. He could do worse but I think he'll be a good stepfather for them. There'll come a time when they probably won't even remember he wasn't there. We gave him $20 and a fancy gun shaped cigarette lighter that has a laser light in it too. The littles got zoo pets which are like pillow pets but less than half the price. I gave Chris a Magellan GPS which he's been wanting and he got me a Nikon Coolpix. I knew I was getting a camera but never expected a Nikon. I thought it'd be a Kodak of some kind. Jessie got a laptop. Yeah I know but it'll be of use when she starts having to write reports and look stuff up for school online. Nicky got a PSP and a bunch of games. They're both happy with it and that's all that matters. I didn't intend to get on here and write about what we got/gave for Christmas. The kids went back to school on the 4th and they haven't been griping about having to get back in the routine of a 5:30 alarm. At least not yet that is. LOL. It took me a few days to get used to it but at least I have the option of a nap if I want one. My Mom went a few more times and saw my Dad after the Christmas party. He was still moody. I know it comes and goes but I hope he doesn't have bad days even when we don't get to see him. Our car is being iffy or I could take my Mom up there like planned on Mondays when I take Chris to work. We're going to have to take some of our tax refund and use it for a down payment on something. I don't know what yet but I know it won't be brand new. We'll see what we get when we get it.