1951 mercury
shiny back ends from pomona a couple of months ago. pretty sure my better half was with me that morning, so this must be from march, actually. before his sister took off, and didn't come back to help with their mom. seems to be how we tell time around here...days blur together anymore.
queue the long, poorly told tale of yesterday evening—in case you want to opt out, and continue to some other post. i'm pretty tired.
took me an hour and a half, at least, to get home yesterday. i left work at three on a friday. just my daily hell.
ordered some dinner from one of the uptown restaurants. fuck cooking. didn't even want to walk over to pick it up...drove over to get it, and the order was just being brought out when i walked in the door, five minutes before it was expected to be ready. sometimes things just work out as they should.
then my daughter sends me a picture of my mom.
she had just gotten home from work. she walked into the kitchen, where my mom was apparently behind the doors of the pantry, trying to figure out dinner herself.
kid calls out to her, and my mom peeks out from around the door. she has a black eye.
daughter is like, "wtf." my mom said she'd gone for a nap around four, just fine. apparently, she woke up like that. slept on that side.
i previously mentioned that my mom had fallen backwards on the driveway. so that can't be a good sign, right?
thinking something bad was going to happen, kid sent me the picture. she tried talking her into going to the hospital to get checked out, since she'd refused the day she fell.
she wasn't having any of it, very, "it's nothing." really didn't want to go to the hospital.
i, of course sent the pics off to my brother and sister. other bro is off on vacay somewhere or other.
sister got on the phone to her before i could. brother responds with a comment about maori warriors. i say mike tyson.
i call my kid, who says gramma is on the phone with aunty. i can hear in the background, that my sister is having no luck convincing her into going. my dad, is meanwhile, upstairs sleeping and unaware.
finally, she's off the phone, so bye kid, calling gramma now. my turn goes better. point out that she may be bleeding into her head, and the pressure is building, she may have a concussion, she could lose her eye, she could have a stroke, and any other outcome i have seen on all the medical shows i've ever watched.
she was still saying no, that it will be too busy on a friday night, but i just said that i was coming down there, so she might as well get ready, make a list of her meds. i was going to be there to check her myself. she relented for whatever reason, and agreed to go then.
notified bro and sister that i'd gotten her to agree to go to the emergency room. back on the road south within about five minutes. sister calls about twenty minutes later saying she was going to meet up at the house and go with us.
blah blah blah. cutting to the chase, because i assume everyone knows the drill at a hospital. she'd fallen, so that called for x-rays, blood work, ct scan.
while she's off doing her thing, kid sends another picture. dad this time. he's got his own issues. he'd also fallen down earlier in the week, but hadn't told anyone until the day before. without going into specifics on him, he's got some bleeding going on somewhere, and it looks worse then ever. so we're off showing the pictures to nurses, asking their opinion on if we should make him come in. nurses do not want to give legal advice or opinions, but would say that is not normal.
we're on the phone with him, saying we'll come pick him up and bring him in, there isn't much waiting, and we could have both parents in the hospital together. we know how to rock a friday night. he refuses, saying he has doctor appointments lined up already for the week, and it can wait. he says no, it's a no. men. pfft.
meanwhile, mom is returned to us in the waiting room.
she'd landed on her ass, so that's bruised and sore. she walks slowly, and refuses to really be pushed around in a wheel chair. she'd also bumped her head on the cement. under her queen of england helmet hairstyle, she's got quite a pointy bump growing as well. i think she's going to be a unicorn if she doesn't get some ice on that.
only really waited about an hour to get an exam room. doctor comes in, with his dictation lackey behind him, typing up everything being said.
tests are not showing anything that would cause the bleeding. he keeps saying it looks like old blood, and that it will probably look worse before it looks better. says had i brought her in the first day, he'd have kept her overnight for observation because of the meds she takes, but now that it was several days later, he could see what's going on easier.
all in all, unless she feels worse, starts throwing up, feeling dizzy, vision problems, she should be ok. rest, and ice packs advised, and we're sent home within two and a half hours.
it's after midnight. kid has been up, keeping an eye on grampa, waiting for us to come home. he's had a late, late dinner, and is going to bed, not the hospital.
that late, i'm staying there, knowing my plans to go to one of six or seven car shows is blown. funny how easily it is to know what and where is more important to be, and how often lately i have had to skip anticipated car shows. next year, they will always come around again. parents, are on a limited clock now, so priorities.
this morning, i was awakened around eight by my kid's dog, who is barking out the window of the next room. kid has left for work already.
figured he needed to go outside, and/or eat his food. i slipped on the top stair, but luckily had my hands on the rails for a change. i totally would have fallen on my ass, and broke something otherwise. must be a ghost tripping people in the house, right?
i intended to wait until my dad got up, see how he was doing before making a decision on heading home. better half needed/wanted to get out of the house and to the market.
dad came down the stairs on his little mobile stairs chair thing around noon. made him a deal: mom would call his doctor's office, tell them what's going on, and if they said he needed to go to the emergency room, he would go. he agreed, just said he wasn't going to make the call.
his doc is out of town for the weekend, so she talked to the other guy. had to tell the whole story all over again. both times i hear her just throw in at the end of the story that he'd fallen, might that have anything to do with this bleeding?
they end up agreeing to see the doctor on monday, since he is otherwise not having any other symptoms or pain. like moving a mountain. at least he'd agreed to go if they'd said to.
i was free to go. day half over. stop for lunch. freeway traffic sucks. made it home at almost four o'clock.
better half is out driving around somewhere. i'd suggested he hit up the santa fe springs swap meet, see if anyone is playing a concert. he seemed more inclined into going to fry's or guitar center. will probably end up at in-n-out, since it's open late. or, for all i know, he's just in the back of his car sleeping.
i don't know how tomorrow will go. it's already almost eleven pm. i want to go to a car show in the morning. there are several. i'm tired. pretty sure i will just go to the closest—up the street at the high school fundraiser.
better half needs to do some overtime for work, so i will also probably have to get to the supermarkets. hate shopping. oh well. priorities.