'Tis Better to Laugh Than Cry Sometimes

I was getting ready or fixin' to write a sob story about my in laws when Ellen (tv on and Ellen show on tv)showed some really funny commercials! Oh my goodness.



followed by this one. I'm really enjoying these and laughing so much.



And then this one.



Somehow it just seems better to laugh this morning than cry about something I have no control over. Hubby is having to move his dad to the Alzheimer's side of the place. Actually they moved him yesterday, but now hubby has to move the furniture that won't fit in the room back to either our house or their house. He has the same movers that moved their belongings out there three months ago.

Also, hubby got a lesson in stubborness this morning. The home health people came today and they needed to draw blood to make sure her blood count is ok and isn't lower than it was. They are both anemic and the doc is trying to make sure there is no internal bleeding. When they got ready to draw the blood from my mil she refused. My husband was stunned, flabbergasted, and ready to disown her. He told me yesterday he could see her at the door of the wing where she lives pounding on the glass door trying to get out. It breaks my heart to hear that. It has been 3 months and she is still desperate to go home. Plus he found out they are only giving her Tylenol for osteoarthritis in her hip. I gotta tell you I hope there is a special place in hell for the doctor who took her off the pain patch that controled the pain and put her on freakin' tylenol.

She had to go to the emergency room a while back and they kept her for about a week. I'm pretty much for controlling pain. The longer you go without anything to relieve the pain it gets out of control and it is so much harder to deal with then. I'm not concerned that she will become a "junkie", and if she does we will deal with the addiction when she gets well.

In my humble opinion elder health care in the U.S. bites the big one. Unless you qualify for Medicaid the cost of "assisted living" or having three shifts of caregivers come come in is prohibitive. If you are somewhere in the middle, your children will be in charge of caring for you or your spouse until they are in the same shape you are. We will either bankrupt ourselves, put our children in a world of grief they aren't prepared for while we spend their inheritance.

That same doctor who took her off all the pain medication, took her off all the antidepressants her personal physcian had prescribed and the antianxiety meds, too. My husband talked with the staff where she is and with her primary doctor's aide to get something started again for her. But for right now she is back to perseverating about going home and beating on a locked door with her fists and in general making herself even more upset. I guess that is what we have to look forward to if we are unable to care for ourselves. Personally I'd rather be able to care for myself, but if that isn't an option I'd rather die.

PS-my hubby just got back from yet another visit to the nursing home and the nurses thought it would be sweet for his mom and dad to see each other. Well, it wasn't what they thought it would be. Neither of them recognized the other! Just a week ago he recognized her but she didn't recognize him. This week they didn't recognize each other. I guess 70 years together was enough for both of them.