So, after ten days of being here, I finally unpacked. I've been living out of a laundry bag full of clean clothes during all this time and today I finally got sick of it and took everything out and put it away in the dresser.

If it's not already evident from this symbolic gesture, I've also accepted being here. I've been really resisting everything about what I'm doing since he came home but something finally gave way and I feel ready to do this thing, to see it through, no matter the outcome.

Something that's probably helped the situation is that today we signed with a caregiver agency and from now on, there will be a woman, named Judith, coming to babysit my Dad while I get away from time to time. Tonight I am going back to that restaurant to do my second review. Should be exciting, it being Saturday night and all. Abby is holding good on her promise - I'll let you know if she's get hospitalized from riding the bull.

The weirdest thing happened today. I was on Craig's List and, because I was really bored, I started reading through the personals. (I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who does this.)Anyway, so I'm looking through the missed connections section and I see this, totally out of place, post:

Help Needed. FATHER VERY ILL - any advice would help

So, of course I click on it:

I'm not exactly sure where this should be posted, so I'll try here (if there's a better forum, let me know). My father has recently fallen VERY ill. In the last 2 months he's been in and out of hospitals about 8 times. The doctors seem like a bunch of fucking quacks who prescribe the wrong medication and don't know their heads from their asses (and never return phone calls). He's been losing blood consistently but they have no idea why (after countless tests). He's deteriorating to the point that he can barely get out of bed and- we (his kids) are trying to help as much as we can but we can't be around 24/7 because of work. He has Medicare and gets very little money from Social Security. We (his kids) barely make enough to keep a rough over our heads. My question is this- are there any social programs that offer in-home nurse-care for such situations? (Doesn't have to be round the clock, maybe just 1 or 2 hours a day). Or even low cost (but high-quality) in-home nurse care. I keep getting the run-around when I call the Social Security and Medicare offices and his doctors are absolutely no help. We're really worried that if he doesn't get some help soon.... Anyway. Thank you very much in advance to anyone who has advice.

I mean, what the fuck?! Contrary to popular belief, I rarely read the personals and to top that off, today, of all days, is when we've finally gotten some help in here ourselves.

So of course I send an email. I send the phone number for The Council on Aging. Does anyone under 30 even know what the COA is? It's a pretty fucking great resource. Apparently there's one in every county in the country and they just provide information and counseling for any kind of situation having do with senior citizens. Example: I called them and told a very nice lady named Linda all about my situation with my Dad. She said nice things like "Oh, sweetheart!" and "Oh, my dear. You shouldn't be doing all that on your own!" And then she gave me 5 phone numbers for different agencies that provide the kind of assistance we're looking for.

So, anyway, I got an email back from the person with the sick father but it was kind of disappointing - I was really perked up by that weird "connection" and all I got back was a mass email, saying thanks to all those who wrote back with advice. I did get a personal shout out in the p.s. but the whole experience wasn't nearly as gratifying as I was hoping for. God, Orange County is boring.

Oh - and if you have a minute, check out Paulapalooza's kick-ass post from today.
12:26:48 AM     comment []