ellen_datlow

As you all know I've been in Florida visiting my parents for what was supposed to be a week.

I was supposed to fly home yesterday, but all flights into NY
were canceled because of the weather and I couldn't get another flight out
till tomorrow evening (and I think I got the last seat on that) so I've
been down here an extra two days--saw my dad today again in the nursing
home, which I hadn't planned on so it was nice.

The "and..." is that my cat/house sitter called to tell me that Dinah, my 17
year old ailing cat (she's been ailing for a year), died this morning.
Peacefully, in the bathroom. He found her there. If I'd gotten home last
night I would have been home when this happened--although possibly not
awake.

I've posted about her on here and there are plenty of photos of her (the orange calico) on my flickr account. She was a bitch, but she was MY bitch.

She's had health problems for awhile and I stopped taking her to the vet
over a year ago, when he said there wasn't much to be done for her except
hydration, which was NOT going to happen--she's never stand for it; she
hated going to the vet, puking coming and going and doing worse at times.
I saw no purpose in torturing her and am glad she's gone quickly and (I
hope) painlessly. That's what I'd hoped for. Poor Gordon L will be
kindly taking the body to the vet around the corner first thing in the
morning to have her cremated for me. I owe him a big one. I think he was
more upset than I am.

RIP my sweet, monstrous Dinah.

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Yes; I'm still in Florida with my folks. Not doing much but hanging out, going out to meals and reading for Best Horror #2. Helped my mom get onto facebook, which means I need to be discreet (hi mom!) in case she actually reads it.

The dial up is better than previously. I hope that by the time I'm here next they'll have wireless throughout the community. Right now, it's only in the clubhouse.

The weather is gorgeous. Sunny, hot, cool in the shade. Eat your hearts out northerners :-).

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florida,
parents

It's a weirdly crazy NYC summer that's more like tropical --sunny then downpour in the afternoon and then more sun.

I don't care, I'm taking off for upstate NY tomorrow (where I gather it's also been raining) for a real vacation for a couple of days.

Meeting with speech and physical therapists today (and my mom and dad and sister) and it went well. Dad's definitely improving. They're worried about his climbing up the stairs to the garden apt in Yonkers. And my sister, mom, and I worry too. But they just started putting him on steps a couple of days ago, so no surprise there. Ann gave us a rundown of how she's working with my dad to help with his reading comprehension as well as his speech. He can read simple sentences (he can definitely read and comment on the tabloids) Has more trouble with complex questions. But hell, he's only been in rehab two weeks come tomorrow (or about to be today).

My sister and I are more worried about our mom, who's having a very hard time of it. She refuses to take time off and is having major pain in her knee (this is new to us)--she's apparently had arthritis in it for awhile but it's been acting up. If possible my sister will take her to a walk in clinic (of course, this has to happen July 4th weekend when NO doctor will be around). She's taking aspirin and putting a heating pad on it. The only good thing about it is that it means she probably will take a day off visiting our dad tomorrow. We'd like her to take a day off and see friends. She won't. My sister is staying over till Saturday and I'll be back Sunday night, going up there Monday and Tuesday for the day.

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I will be posting only intermittently because of a very slow dial-up connection from my parent's place for 6 days.
So my flight was an hour late yesterday because of bad weather in NYC. On the way home my parents tell me that my dad went for his regular checkup at the VA hospital Monday by himself and that he had an irregular heartbeat. They wanted him to stay overnight to be monitored and he said no way --his wife was home alone, his daughter was coming the next day, and forget it. So...he checked himself out.....

My mother and I dragooned him back to the hospital today (we warned them we were coming back and he said he should go straight to the ER to be checked in, no problem. We brought some stuff for him to have while in overnight. The ER room was pretty empty and they took him in right away. After about half an hour my mom and I were able to go in and sit with him while doctors came and examined him and questioned him (it was good that my mom and I could fill in some gaps about his recent health) and got him ready to be registered for an overnight stay. He was hooked up to the monitors and getting meds to slow down his heartbeat and thin his blood (for now). He most likely will not remain on the blood thinners once he gets out because he has bad balance and if he falls on blood thinners it would be very bad.

We didn't know when he'd actually get a bed so we bought him some lunch at the canteen which he ate like he was starving (my dad gets extremely grumpy when he's hungry). He was charming with the docs and nurses--a resident saw him and then an intern and he'll be seeing a cardiologist either tonight or tomorrow. We left around 3:30 and soon after we got home he called and gave us his phone # in the room he was taken to. They're hoping to find out why his heartbesat is irregular but warned us that often they never find out what the problem is.
Hopefully everything will be ok and he'll be checked out tomorrow. We shall see.

I'm not worried (yet) but I'm really glad this happened while I'm down here because I know it totally freaks out my mom.

Meanwhile, the weather is balmy and the moon is a gorgeous hug disc in the sky.

Sunday update: We picked my dad up today and he's home, napping. He slept terribly all three nights in the hospital. He's off some meds and on some others (he doesn't need many, considering his age). No more caffeine for him.
Thanks for everyone's kind concern over the past few days.

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Still In Florida and ...

Still fishin'

It's hot it's raining it's hot it's raining...I'm off and dad news

Down in Florida

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