Our parents

As some of you might have noticed, postings to the blog have been a little slow lately.  Life has a way of getting in the way -- a job, kids, etc.  Most recently, I have had to face for the second time the care of parent.

My dad fell recently. He'll be ok.  No broken bones, thank good goodness.  But, he did a number on himself and required surgery and weeks of rehabilitation and physical therapy.  It's the sort of emergency that impacted the whole family.  We received a call on a Sunday evening that he was in the hospital and by early the next morning, I was on a plane to get to Northern Michigan, where he lives along in rustic cabin on a lake in the woods.

The cabin is picturesque but it is not an ideal place for an older person to live alone.  The cabin (we used to call it the Love Cottage, but that's a different story) is not designed for a person with decreased mobility.

This whole episode has reminded me of some of the lessons we learned when my mother was ill.  Care falls to middle-aged "children" with children and jobs of their own and it can be draining emotionally.  And, the time needed simply to make sure everything is on track can be overwhelming.  Then, there are the costs and the mind-numbing complexity of insurance.

I was wondering if other classmates are dealing with this sort of thing.  Odds are, a number of us have, or currently are, quarterbacking our parents' care.  I would be interested in hearing people's experiences.