July 8, 2001
7/8
My son has learned a couple of new things. He can now say "eye". He knows that it's on his face. HOwever, he also points to his nose, ear, and mouth, in addition to his eye. But he's on the right track. He's also learned the word "hi". He knows what "hi" and "bye-bye" mean. So, everytime he sees you, even if it 2 seconds ago, he pipes up "hi!" And he won't stop until you answer with an equally enthusiastic response. He is growing by leaps and bounds, and really getting the hang of this walking thing.I went to my Uncle Rex's yesterday with my parents and Joseph. He's my great-great-great uncle, and therefore Joseph's great-great-great-great uncle. In addition to that, due to the extreme dysfunction of my family, and Jay's family, he's got 2 sets of grandparents, a step-grandfather, 2 sets of great-grandparents, another great-grandfather, a step-great-grandmother, a great-great-grandmother. He also has a possibility of potentially having many many more, since neither Jay nor I know our biological fathers. Anyway, back to the visit. Uncle Rex doesn't know who I am. But, he's in and out of lucidity. He just turned 93 years old. He on Morphine patches for his pain, so he's like that all the time. If he gets ticked off, he wheels his little motor chair to the bathroom and locks himself in, until he calms down. Joseph was good as gold, however, he was a pickle. He was all over the place. I was running after him. Uncle Rex wasn't always aware of things, so sometimes, Joseph got close enough to his wheely cart to try and make it go. I don't even want to think about him sending Uncle Rex careening in reverse. And of course Uncle Rex isn't exactly careful with the thing. So, whenever he prepared to go somewhere, everyone went for the kids to get them out of the way. Personally, I think that Uncle Rex actually wants to hit someone. Thank goodness that my mother decided to leave MUCH sooner than they originally intended. I was exhausted, and Joseph didn't have his nap, and I am just not very close to the family. I was very ready to go. It's a shame that my Uncle is so far gone. He would be so much better off in a nursing home, where he has 24 hour care. But he has refused in his more lucid moments. However, there aren't very many lucid moments. He's on a high amount of morphine. He's not mobile. And he doesn't have 25 hour care. The man is 93 years old for goodness sake. He's sick, he's high, he can't get anywhere. He has someone who takes care of him at night. And someone comes to clean his house, but that's it. Something bad is going to happen, I can just feel it. His daughter, the main caretaker of his stuff (accounts, the people who clean, etc), just visits for token visits. They don't even live in the area. To be honest, and this is really not a nice thing to say, but I doubt she wants to spend his estate on a nursing home. She is someone who will be very ready to take that money when he dies. And I'm sure that he will die soon. I know they're having money troubles. I know she's not well. I also know that she's vindictive. But there's nothing that I can do, that's for sure. I hadn't even seen the man in 10 years. It's a sad situation.
