DozerII
Well-known member
"Getting Old isn't for sissies" I'm not sure who coined that phrase on here, I think it was Tripper, but truer words have never been spoken. This is a long very sad story and the reason I have been absent from the site for the past while.
On Dec 5 2020 my parents celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary. My mother had been in the hospital for about two weeks and Dad got to go visit here for a couple hours. On the morning of Dec 06th my Mom was taken away from my Dad and placed in a long term care facility an hour and a half away due to worsening Dementia, Dad was left alone in their apartment at a seniors lodge. Early January we had the Covid scare with Mom that she survived but left her on oxygen ever since. Here is a real stab to the heart Mom and Dad are on a fixed income and living well in the lodge with their rent, but when they took Mom to long term care the monthly cost tripled, now here is where the government of Alberta needs to smarten up they offer a subsidy for situations like this but it meant Mom and Dad had to get legally seperated
Dad has been heart broken since she was taken away became real bitter and quit eating or drinking much, the Doctors now think he was severely dehydrated, anyhow just over 5 weeks ago he woke up from a dream at 5am that the cows had got out and Mom was out trying to herd them back in and he had to get out to help her. He put his jacket, and slippers on put his toque in his pocket and took his walker and headed out of his apartment on a mission, he checked the dinning room talked to a fellow senior then headed out the front doors of the lodge, this is all caught on security cameras. Down the ramp and sidewalk to the street always looking around for Mom, when he got to the street he turned left and went off camera all this in 2.5 minutes he hasn't moved this fast in years, oh and I didn't mention he is legally blind. Once he was on the street he continued about 200 feet around some parked cars then moved over next to the curb where he tripped in the deep snow and fell into a snowbank. As much as he tried he couldn't get up, he laid there as three cars drove not seeing him, it was -33 c -27.4f with a wind chill well into the -40 range. He managed to get his toque on and came to terms in his mind that this was how he was going to die, after laying there for an hour and 10 minutes a passing car spotted him and called 911 we don't know who this person was and have not been able to locate to thank them. He was taken to the hospital with a body temp of 32c the only thing keeping him alive was his pacemaker. He was shipped to Edmonton after he was stabilized, for the specialist's to look at. Three days later he was back in Edson hospital to recover. Frost bit is a very nasty thing it takes 3-4 weeks for everything that is damaged to die that is going to, and they can't do any repairs till this has taken its course. So after over a month of hell in the hospital this past Wednesday he went back to Edmonton and had parts of 7 fingers and two toes amputated, he is 89. Two weeks prior to this we got a call from the Long term care facility where Mom is that she had an internal bleed and her blood count was down to 38 from 140, they gave her 4 units of blood and brought her count back up to 88. We deceided that in Dad's condition it was better he was not privy to what was happening with Mom. This is when the wife and I deceided to hell with Covid we were heading up to see them before it was too late. We were up there for a week and were lucky that Mom had a clear moment or two and recognised us then went back to her own world. Our talk with the head of the facility was not great, the bleed she has can not be fixed as the surgery would kill her and at the rate her blood count was going down she had about 6 weeks left. They would not let my wife in to see my Dad all week because of covid rules, after leading to the hospital administrator, on Friday the day before we came home they let her in and she had an awesome visit with him. This has not hit the end yet, but it's coming, getting old sucks, I just had to put this down on paper so to speak.
On Dec 5 2020 my parents celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary. My mother had been in the hospital for about two weeks and Dad got to go visit here for a couple hours. On the morning of Dec 06th my Mom was taken away from my Dad and placed in a long term care facility an hour and a half away due to worsening Dementia, Dad was left alone in their apartment at a seniors lodge. Early January we had the Covid scare with Mom that she survived but left her on oxygen ever since. Here is a real stab to the heart Mom and Dad are on a fixed income and living well in the lodge with their rent, but when they took Mom to long term care the monthly cost tripled, now here is where the government of Alberta needs to smarten up they offer a subsidy for situations like this but it meant Mom and Dad had to get legally seperated
Dad has been heart broken since she was taken away became real bitter and quit eating or drinking much, the Doctors now think he was severely dehydrated, anyhow just over 5 weeks ago he woke up from a dream at 5am that the cows had got out and Mom was out trying to herd them back in and he had to get out to help her. He put his jacket, and slippers on put his toque in his pocket and took his walker and headed out of his apartment on a mission, he checked the dinning room talked to a fellow senior then headed out the front doors of the lodge, this is all caught on security cameras. Down the ramp and sidewalk to the street always looking around for Mom, when he got to the street he turned left and went off camera all this in 2.5 minutes he hasn't moved this fast in years, oh and I didn't mention he is legally blind. Once he was on the street he continued about 200 feet around some parked cars then moved over next to the curb where he tripped in the deep snow and fell into a snowbank. As much as he tried he couldn't get up, he laid there as three cars drove not seeing him, it was -33 c -27.4f with a wind chill well into the -40 range. He managed to get his toque on and came to terms in his mind that this was how he was going to die, after laying there for an hour and 10 minutes a passing car spotted him and called 911 we don't know who this person was and have not been able to locate to thank them. He was taken to the hospital with a body temp of 32c the only thing keeping him alive was his pacemaker. He was shipped to Edmonton after he was stabilized, for the specialist's to look at. Three days later he was back in Edson hospital to recover. Frost bit is a very nasty thing it takes 3-4 weeks for everything that is damaged to die that is going to, and they can't do any repairs till this has taken its course. So after over a month of hell in the hospital this past Wednesday he went back to Edmonton and had parts of 7 fingers and two toes amputated, he is 89. Two weeks prior to this we got a call from the Long term care facility where Mom is that she had an internal bleed and her blood count was down to 38 from 140, they gave her 4 units of blood and brought her count back up to 88. We deceided that in Dad's condition it was better he was not privy to what was happening with Mom. This is when the wife and I deceided to hell with Covid we were heading up to see them before it was too late. We were up there for a week and were lucky that Mom had a clear moment or two and recognised us then went back to her own world. Our talk with the head of the facility was not great, the bleed she has can not be fixed as the surgery would kill her and at the rate her blood count was going down she had about 6 weeks left. They would not let my wife in to see my Dad all week because of covid rules, after leading to the hospital administrator, on Friday the day before we came home they let her in and she had an awesome visit with him. This has not hit the end yet, but it's coming, getting old sucks, I just had to put this down on paper so to speak.
