visiting my parents.....

My step-mom has been in the hospital for about a month.  One day she's doing better, the next she's doing worse.  It's just been up and down, up and down.  They live in Arizona where it's 118 degrees and I've been trying to postpone visiting till later in the year but it's getting scary and I can't wait any longer.  If I wait I might not see her while she's alive.  She and my Dad were living in a retirement center where they were in the "independent" section, but she was spending all morning getting him dressed, not looking into any kind of care or help for him.  Oh yeah, he's well into the stages of Alzeimers.  He's been moved to "assisted living" (nursing home) and is doing surprisingly well, but he's been groping the nurses so they've put him on Seroquel.  Really I'm surprised they haven't had to put him on the "memory" (alzeimers) unit.  The other surprising thing is that he doesn't ask about Mom at all.
 
My wife is a gerontological nurse practitioner.  Her input on all of this is really valuable.  Me, I can visit but probably not contribute anything constructive.  I'm so glad she can go with me.  It will be a very short visit.  Later in the year it would be easier to take a week or longer off, but like I said, it's getting too scary to wait.
 
There's a good chance this will be the last time I see either of them alive.