Man, when it rains it pours.
Yesterday, I got a call from my accountant. My corporate taxes are ready, but he wants to talk to me about some things I did wrong last year that could get me into trouble. Great.
My dad was released from the hospital. They had him there for evaluation for five days after a bad fall. The release was the good news. The bad news was that they transferred him to a rehab center for physical therapy and other therapy. Supposed to be for two weeks. He's 90, mom's 90, and mom is now alone. There's no place for anyone to sleep at their house, and we only have one bed here.
My brother called late last night to tell me that the rehab center called to say my dad's heart was really bad, and he only had 40% use of his kidneys. The panic in my brother's voice sent me into a panic. I called the rehab center, got the nurse on the phone, and found out that they were just reviewing his history. Nothing new. But they wanted to know if we wanted him revived if he had a heart attack or something like that. She explained that CPR on a 90 year-old could leave him a vegetable. After lots of calls between brothers, we agreed that they should not attempt to revive him. That was a fun decision.
Went to see my dad today, and to talk with the therapists and staff. He's not going to be there for two weeks. He's going to be there for a month.
Meanwhile, he's alternating between crying and shouting. He doesn't know where he is, and wants to go home. He doesn't understand that he has to go through the therapy. If he has another serious fall, the county social services will just put him in a nursing home, probably a hell-hole. He doesn't understand this. He just kept asking my mom and I why we're doing this to him. He thinks he's coming home tomorrow.
My mother's 90th birthday was yesterday. She went for her driver's license renewal, but they want her to take a road test. She thinks she's going to pass. She won't. Then what?
My wife and I took my mom out for a birthday dinner tonight. When I took her home, we talked for awhile. I found out that my SIL (whom I've never trusted) got my folks' social security numbers a couple of weeks ago. Also, there was a letter from the bank saying that someone had tried to create a PIN for their bank account. That's no coincidence. My SIL is trying to figure out a way to rip them off.
When I finally got home this evening, I checked the traffic for my website. Traffic was down by 40%. I checked my rankings on Google. All of the phrases I've been ranking first-page for have disappeared completely. In light of the situation with my folks, this wouldn't be a big deal, except the website is now my sole source of income. And I have an advertiser who's paid $2K for a month to test click-throughs from my site. The test period ends on Monday. When he sees that traffic from my site to his has dropped by 50% over the final few days of testing, well....
Another call to my brother this evening about my dad. We now have power of attorney, and my brother finally got his hands on my folks' financial info after years of my father refusing to share it. They don't have even half the money we thought they did, meaning assisted living/nursing home care is going to eat up all of their money long before my mom passes away. (She'll live to be 100 easily).
Sorry for the long rant, but I feel like I just stuck my fingers in a 220 outlet.
