Sad stuff...

[nwhiker]

Things have gone from bad to worse for my FIL, and the starting point was already pretty bad. The "routine" thing they were doing today ended up not being as routine as it should have been, and he's not doing well. Stable for now, with an established airway, so hopefully he'll pull through.

Not that the outcome long or even short term is going to be good. Just... that he was better off before and we'd all hoped that the immediate outcome wouldn't be as dire. Anyhow. To speak clearly, as I explained to Linnea... even if he dies within a few days, there is a difference between that and dying during a procedure he didn't expect to die from.

My poor spouse is alone down in Albuquerque dealing with this. His sister, up here, is being her usual moronic unhelpful self. She's also wondering about getting her father an "artificial lung". OK. But she's peppering my poor husband with oh so helpful suggestions, like what he should be doing and what tone of voice he should use when talking to their (sedated/unconscious) father. That type of unhelpful.

So blah.

In other sad news, but more nostalgic than sad. A day I wanted to mark: 25 years ago today my wonderful kitties, Gus and Chloe were born.

Such beautiful cats, they were. We were lucky to have Gus for 17 years, and Chloe for almost 22.

Comments

[camelsamba]

I'm sorry you and David are having to deal with this. It is really hard to make medical decisions for someone else, even if you feel like they've told you what they want - the scenarios that actually arise can never be planned for. My sister was the one who was the front end for our mother, and while I surely wasn't as bad as your SIL i suspect I had a few unhelpful comments in that final week.

[nwhiker]

Thanks for the sympathy. It's hard. My SIL actually has a better idea of what is going on now (I think FIL's cousin, also on the text loop AND a nurse, called her and explained some of the stuff), and more on board with how dh is handling things. I'll fully fess up to being very protective, but he is alone down there, ya know?

And knowing you and my SIL, I doubt anything you said rose to the same level of unhelpful. :P

FIL wants everything possible done, so that does make things easier, ya know? He's not at any of those critical points yet, though.

Ugh. Getting old sucks, and I think in large part because people you love get old too.