Parents

Last night Amanda woke me up to tell me that my Dad had texted her, asking her to tell me to answer my phone. My phone was actually dead and I'd fallen asleep before remembering to plug it into the charger. Dad doesn't normally text in the middle of the night and when he does, it's always something serious. Well, it was very serious! He'd taken my Mom to the ER. 

Apparently Dad came home from work last night and my Mom's limbs were jumping a little more than usual. When I say usual, my Mom has been having trouble with her arms and legs jumping for a couple of years now. But what really gave him cause for concern was that it took her ten minutes to tell him that she hadn't washed his shirts and from then on she was incoherent. So he took her to the ER. 

The good news is, she didn't have a stroke. The bad news is, no one knows what the hell is going on with her. We are talking about a woman who, for years, has lived with chronic pain. She has a bone or disk degenerative disorder, herniated disks in her neck and back (seriously my Mom's neck feels like gristle), she's torn both of her shoulder rotator cuffs- had surgery but they are messed up again-, and lives with chronic migraines. Aside from that she now has cataracts and is going deaf. In the past she'd suffered from seizures and also from black outs. A neurologist once theorized that my Mom is in so much pain that it's like her brain can't handle it anymore and just shuts off her consciousness. Its happened  when she'd been walking down the stairs and while she's been eating. 

Because Kansas opted out of the health care act and my parents don't have a lot of money, I don't think anything is going to get done. Further, I don't even think my Mom's doctor is listening anymore. My Mom's doctor won't give my Mom any pain meds without her going to pain management, but pain management is vastly out of their price range. It is an utter cluster fuck! 

Worse, I called my parents this morning. My Dad was asleep but my Mom was awake and while it was comforting to talk to her, it was frustrating because she didn't want to tell me anything for fear of worrying me. She's so protective sometimes I just want to throttle her. No, there is nothing I can do about if from here. No, I couldn't fix it if I was there, but damn it, don't hide shit from me and surprise me with it later. She and my Dad didn't tell me that she was going to have surgery until after the fact when Dad sent me the surgery pictures of her shoulder. I was so pissed! 

Honestly, I just wish they would move up here, or wait until Amanda and I have our place in Spokane. We are getting a two bedroom and Dad could see about transferring to a Wal-Mart up here or even try to get another job in corrections. They could stay with us for as long as they needed and no one would mind. After all, they've helped me out plenty since I became an adult, I'd like to be able to return the favor. Also, if they lived closer, I could check on my Mom, or go over and help her out with things. Sure, I haven't been able to do a lot myself, but if she and I tackled things together, we could get them done.