June 4, 2016
JW had a really bad fall this past week. Mother called us at 10:00 p.m. and said that JW had fallen and could we come and help. I sent James down only because I was still sleepy and not fully coherent. When James came back he suggested that I go downstairs and help Mother because JW was bleeding pretty heavily. It is a good thing that I got over the reflex of "I am going to throw up and leave the room at the sight of blood" phase. JW had fell in their bedroom and hit his head on the chest of drawers. Peeled the skin back in 2 places on his arm and rug burned 2 places on his leg. All on the right side. Mother said that she was glad I came down because apparently I am in charge of all wounds. Well, we cleaned and bandaged the arm, put an ice pack on his head and bandaged his leg. JW has become so fragile that I was really scared of internal bleeding in his head. I laid down next to his air mattress and held the ice on his head for quite awhile. He wasn't talking very much but I think he was in shock. It was a bad fall. James said should we take him into the hospital and I said I didn't think so. As long as he was not falling into unconsciousness or nauseous then I thought that he would be ok. A part of this whole mess is learning when the situation calls for a doctor. Mother and I sure have learned to do alot of things that we were never required to address in the past.
The one thing I have learned is I have acquired a back bone that I never knew I had. The things that are most important to me, not necessarily in this order, are my husband, my parents, my brother and his family, my son and his family, my close friends and GOD. I learned this quite a few years ago when I purchased a cell phone. Seems the salesman at this establishment thought that it would be a good idea to put my cell phone in someone else's name. When I called to add minutes to the telephone I was told that the phone was not in my name. Well, James took the phone back to the point of purchase and said that he wanted his money back because the salesman had put the phone in someone else's name. The salesman then proceeded to tell James that he would not refund the purchase price because I had not told him the phone had to be in my name. First mistake, just because I am a woman does not mean that I am dumb. Second mistake, in my career I have worked with many government agencies and know that if you tamper with telephone lines it may not be ok to steal services. Third mistake, I was as angry as all get out and this person stole money from me. I called the police to file a report and I explained to the police officer that if I did not get my money back the salesman was going to have more trouble than he ever had in his whole life. Thirty minutes later I had my money refunded to me. After that little episode I learned that if I don't stand up for myself and my family than I will always feel like "I should have done or said something."
The whole point of this long winded story is my Father has Alzheimer's, I am his voice now. I am his health proxy and basically I make the decisions for his medical care. I don't pretend to know everything about medicine but I do know that before I have made decisions about his health I have had meetings with teams of physicians to come to the best conclusion for his health. I have had to face alot of legal issues over the past 7 years and I don't take that position lightly. I have called in lawyers to confer with me over issues that my Father cannot deal with any longer. He was a wonderful artist, with showings all over the eastern United States. He was a singer with 3 albums to his credit. When Alzheimer's took him I became his voice. I will continue to make choices for my Father that he cannot make. Please understand:
This object is closer than I appear.
Peace ~
Phyllis
No comments:
Post a Comment