When It Rains, It Pours

This has been a wet April, in more ways than one!

Mom is not recovering from her back surgery as easily or as quickly as she had hoped.  She made it through one day of water therapy before deciding it wasn't for her.  After doing no therapy for the next  ten days, she started hurting really bad again.  Her leg hurt worse than it did before she had her back surgery.  Last week, she had an MRI to be sure nothing was wrong.  The MRI showed that she had a lot of inflammation in her leg, but nothing else noticeable.  However, the doctor was out of town all week so she will meet with him tomorrow and hopefully he will have some answers for her.  I know she's not as young as she used to be (who is?), but I hope she isn't destined to be in pain like this the rest of her life.

We haven't been back to see my father-in-law or his wife, but are planning to visit him this coming weekend.  Word is that they have him pretty drugged up, which is not what any of us like to see.  We also need to go back to his wife's house and collect the rest of the things she is willing to give us.  We've sorted out all the boxes and things we brought home last time.  Suffice it to say that sorting everything out was very interesting.  

Yesterday we visited my mother-in-law.  She is doing pretty well, all things considered.  She's lost a little weight, which is not surprising, and she was in good spirits to have us all there for a belated Easter dinner.  Some of the family went out in the drizzle to hunt for mushrooms.  They came back with a few, which we left for my mother-in-law.  Just as we were sitting down to eat, a car pulled in the drive.  It was one the trouble-making son from the other side of the family.  He had his wife and small grandson with him.  Once again, he hadn't bothered to call my mother-in-law before he came out, even though she has asked (and told) him repeatedly to call first.  They came into the house and most of us ignored them.  My mother-in-law reminded him right off the bat that he hadn't called first. His excuse was "Well, that's hard for me to do."  Only because he's rude and thinks the world revolves around him!  I heard her tell him twice in the few minutes they were there that he should call first because she might have company like yesterday, or she might not be home at all. I doubt he will ever call first.  

Hubby said she called this morning to let him know the trouble-making son had called her at 9:30 last night, complaining that he didn't feel welcome "in my dad's home."  She told him again that he should have called first, and then maybe he wouldn't have felt that way.  Then he asked if she liked his little grandson (who is 2), and she replied "He was ok, but he's spoiled."  Trouble-maker didn't disagree - in fact he told her that his daughter might be taking him back soon (he has been raising the boy since he was born the day after his daughter turned 16) so he planned to spoil him as much as he could.  I'm here to tell you, he isn't spoiling him in a good way.  Poor kid.  

Later this week, we are supposed to get another 2" of rain.  Roads may well be flooded, just as they were two weeks ago.  Maybe the rain will wash away some of the problems...

April Showers Don't Slow Us Down!

April has been a busy month so far, and it has definitely started with April showers!

Mom is doing well after her back surgery.  She started water therapy this week and it wore her out.  She isn't having any pain in her legs, though, and that's good.  I hope she continues to improve.

We visited my father-in-law two weeks ago.  He was making an escape attempt when we arrived.  We got him back into the nursing home and at first, he seemed very drugged up.  His glasses were missing - the aids said they were broken and that his wife had taken them to get fixed.  He sat in his chair and dozed off and on for about 30 minutes.  Then he woke up and we were able to get him talking, but he was obviously agitated.  It wasn't long before he told us he had to go, and started down the hall.  We walked with him and had to get the aids to keep him from escaping again.  Finally, we left because we felt we were making his agitation worse.  It was a tough visit. 

Then we drove out to hubby's mom's house to check on her.  She wasn't feeling well - she was pretty stressed out over visits that week from her husband's boys.  One is being polite and nice, the other not so much. I was happy that none of them showed up while we were there.  We didn't stay a long time.

The next day, we visited hubby's dad's wife (I need to come up with different names for them!) -- she had decided she was going to pitch anything she considered junk, and sell everything else because she says she needs the money.  She figures my father-in-law will never be back home, so it's time for his things to go.  Hubby was afraid to go there alone - he knew he would say things he would later regret. So we spent a couple hours there, cleaning out the garage with her.  We came home with a van full of old tools, equipment, books and junk, including 4 garbage bags of papers.  We also brought home an heirloom that is to be handed down through hubby's family, and I'm concerned it will cause world war three for the family.  My father-in-law started to hand it down to my son a few years ago, and hubby's brothers threw a fit so he held on to it.  They had a different understanding of how it was to be handed down. My mother-in-law indicated that its was his wish for it to go to our son.  So it's with us for now, and hopefully will stay with us.  But hubby is going to have a fight on his hands with one of his brothers when he finds out.  His brother has a young son (under 10) and firmly believes it should be his. His feelings are so strong on the matter that when we visited he and his girlfriend in the hospital when his son was born, the FIRST thing he said to us was "Now that stein comes to my son."  Wow.  

Daughter has been busy getting her race car ready for the season.  Friday night was supposed to be her first race, but Mother Nature didn't cooperate and it was rained out.  Today was practice at another local track - her first time driving there.  She didn't do bad but was frustrated because she felt the car wasn't running as well as it should be.  She's hoping to get in two races this coming weekend, but according to forecasts, Mother Nature doesn't look like she plans to cooperate.  I know she's anxious to be out there, but as long as the weather is cool, I don't mind not having to go.  

So life continues to be interesting and busy for the referee. I'm looking forward to the weather getting nicer so hubby and I can visit our local parks, do some hiking, some picture-taking and mostly just relax.