Is it January yet??

For the past couple of years December has not been a good month for us. With the exception, of course, of Jenni bringing her kids home in December 2005. But, other than that, not so good.

December 2005 was the first holiday season that my dad had to spend in an assisted living home. He was so sad about it. As were we. Telling him he had to go there and then trying to make it acceptable to him was one of the hardest things I've ever had to go through. His health was bad, his mood was bad, and it was very difficult for all of us to see how different his life was from the previous year.

Last year, on December 7th, Ed's mom went into the hospital and spent the whole month in and out of ICUs. She passed away in January, 2007 after several weeks or poor health. We went to see her almost every day and had to deal with physicians, social workers, nursing homes, emergency calls all hours of the day and night. So the holidays pretty much came and went without much notice by us.

Now, this year, Ed's father is in the hospital. He went in on December 5th, came out for three days (they should NOT have released him) and now is back in. Next step will be a rehab center for a few weeks and then, hopefully, he'll be well enough to go to assisted living. But he can't go home again, can't live alone again. Within less than a month, he has gone from a totally independent person who drove, cooked, took care of himself, lived alone, etc. to a totally dependent person. It's very sad. He keeps calling us and asking us to pick him up and bring him home. Which we can't do. So again we're going to the hospital every day and dealing with the whole cast of characters and facilities. Hopefully he'll make it through, but we're back to those phone calls that put dread in your heart.

So, send Ed's dad good thoughts. Maybe it will help! And it certainly can't hurt.