Another Day At My Dad's House
Till July 5 th I'm staying at my Dad's house to keep him company while my sister is out of town. My Dad lives alone, after Mom passed away last December, but my sister Joanne lives close to Dad, and visits nearly daily to help him with a multitude of things. Dad would be lost without Joanne, I'm sure. She's been his angel on earth since we lost Mom.
I have my own issues since I have two bad knees thanks to having severe osteoarthritis in both of them. But despite that, I still agreed to do this since I knew how much Joanne needed my help, and how Dad must have someone close by to help him. I love my Dad very much, of course, but after losing Mom he simply hasn't been the same person.
The depression that set in after Mom passed away has been debilitating to him. Every day he mumbles under his breath, and is constantly saying things like, " Oh dear, Damn, etc. ", as well as declaring that he wishes he was dead.
Joanne has made sure that he's seen a doctor about his depression, but so far it hasn't seem to do much good at all. He hasn't been on an anti-depression medication for very long at all yet, but the side affects he's been dealing with have proved to be nearly worse than the depression. Joanne agreed with me that medication may not be the answer for helping Dad with his depression. Her and I both believe that what he truly needs is talk therapy.
With any other person getting them to see someone for " talk therapy " wouldn't be a very hard thing to do at all. Dad on the other hand has always been an extremely private person, and has always strived to keep his frustrations, and negative emotions hidden from those around him. So how you get someone like that to agree to " talk therapy " ? I have no clue. All I know is that Dad needs some sort of help, and hopefully sooner than later.
Now as far as this two week - 3 day - visit here with Dad goes; I've been going nuts here. Don't misunderstand. I love my Dad very much, and I'm glad I could keep him company right now, but I'm SO BORED !
Plus the main thing he ALWAYS wants to watch on tv is NEWS ! NEWS .. NEWS... AND MORE NEWS !!!!
OMG ! The news channel that he swears by is so " right wing ", and biased, that it drives me INSANE ! Dad believes, and swears by EVERYTHING they say on that channel. Joanne has tried before to tell him that they are wrong about some things, but Dad wouldn't hear any of it. At least for a VERY SHORT period of time in the evening Dad will switch the news to a murder mystery program on netflix.com. I just wish Dad would listen to me when I say we should watch a comedy for a change ! So far no matter how many times I've suggested that we watch a comedy on netflix, he's still put it on one of his favorite murder mysteries. Dad is 86 years old. I think this proves that old saying....
" You can't teach an old dog new tricks. "
Not to say Dad is like a dog, but Dad definitely WILL NOT be veered away from his habits.... and it drives me BONKERS ! LOL !
As much as I LOVE my Dad, there's just NO WAY I can do this again.... staying over here for OVER 2 WEEKS ! I'm NOT even through the FIRST WEEK, and I'm ALREADY MORE THAN READY to GO HOME !
I have my own issues since I have two bad knees thanks to having severe osteoarthritis in both of them. But despite that, I still agreed to do this since I knew how much Joanne needed my help, and how Dad must have someone close by to help him. I love my Dad very much, of course, but after losing Mom he simply hasn't been the same person.
The depression that set in after Mom passed away has been debilitating to him. Every day he mumbles under his breath, and is constantly saying things like, " Oh dear, Damn, etc. ", as well as declaring that he wishes he was dead.
Joanne has made sure that he's seen a doctor about his depression, but so far it hasn't seem to do much good at all. He hasn't been on an anti-depression medication for very long at all yet, but the side affects he's been dealing with have proved to be nearly worse than the depression. Joanne agreed with me that medication may not be the answer for helping Dad with his depression. Her and I both believe that what he truly needs is talk therapy.
With any other person getting them to see someone for " talk therapy " wouldn't be a very hard thing to do at all. Dad on the other hand has always been an extremely private person, and has always strived to keep his frustrations, and negative emotions hidden from those around him. So how you get someone like that to agree to " talk therapy " ? I have no clue. All I know is that Dad needs some sort of help, and hopefully sooner than later.
Now as far as this two week - 3 day - visit here with Dad goes; I've been going nuts here. Don't misunderstand. I love my Dad very much, and I'm glad I could keep him company right now, but I'm SO BORED !
Plus the main thing he ALWAYS wants to watch on tv is NEWS ! NEWS .. NEWS... AND MORE NEWS !!!!
OMG ! The news channel that he swears by is so " right wing ", and biased, that it drives me INSANE ! Dad believes, and swears by EVERYTHING they say on that channel. Joanne has tried before to tell him that they are wrong about some things, but Dad wouldn't hear any of it. At least for a VERY SHORT period of time in the evening Dad will switch the news to a murder mystery program on netflix.com. I just wish Dad would listen to me when I say we should watch a comedy for a change ! So far no matter how many times I've suggested that we watch a comedy on netflix, he's still put it on one of his favorite murder mysteries. Dad is 86 years old. I think this proves that old saying....
" You can't teach an old dog new tricks. "
Not to say Dad is like a dog, but Dad definitely WILL NOT be veered away from his habits.... and it drives me BONKERS ! LOL !
As much as I LOVE my Dad, there's just NO WAY I can do this again.... staying over here for OVER 2 WEEKS ! I'm NOT even through the FIRST WEEK, and I'm ALREADY MORE THAN READY to GO HOME !
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