and turning for home. Sorry about the quadruple shorties crop. Things here are tough when it comes to finding time for blogging. Actually there's a lot of time, but the hospital just sucks the life out of you and you find yourself just sitting quietly - contemplating.
So, we've picked up some professional help for mom and for my dad, and I am taking advantage of that for what is likely my last chance to get home before the train goes over the top of the hill.
I was talking to Mrs TANBI the other day and I compared our current situation waiting for my mom's health to change to being on a roller coaster at the very top of the first hill. You aren't hearing the click-click-click anymore, so you know the drop is coming but it hasn't started yet, and you really cannot tell when it will. I can remember being on rides where it feels like the train has just stopped. That's sort of what it feels like to be here now. At the bottom of the hill you can see a funeral, a memorial service, the house, my dad and the rest of our lives; but for the moment we're just hanging up at the top of the hill.
And so in that split instant of time I am trying to go back home, recharge, figure out the first few weeks of the semester and what to do if I can't be there, and then maybe look for someplace for my dad for after. All of which feels totally secondary to being here, but I guess needs to be done too.
So tomorrow we do 41-94-90/94-90-80/90-80/76-76-79-579-376. Me, Mrs. TANBI, and my parent's cat who will be joining our household.
So, either you can look at this as an intermission from my more regular posting (which is why the "shorties" are piling up) or as an intermission to the parade of tweets - really its all about your perspective I guess.
Today I had what will in all likelihood be my last Christmas with my mom. The more I think about it though the more I realize that our last Christmas was last Christmas; because even though we did spend the occasion together, it hasn't been much of a holiday.
Mom continues in hospice care at Highland Park Hospital. She's responsive and aware, but those are probably the best things you can say. Moment to moment it is difficult to tell if anyone is home. All things begin equal I think we're talking about days and not weeks, but weeks would not surprise me. Months... who knows?
There continues to be a lot of churning around various logistical issues. As a professional project manager it is extremely frustrating as there are several systemic unknowns which are impossible to nail down. So it's all contingencies. Additionally there are all kinds of rules which I am trying to learn on the fly. For example: Medicare will pay for a residential rehab facility at 100% - but only after a three night hospital stay. So, if you're loved one is home bound and needs 24 hour care, you have to wait until they are injured enough to require a three night hospital stay before you can tap medicare as a resource. Of course by then the problems are inherently much worse than they were when you first thought about rehab, but at least now you have a way to pay for it - for 20 days anyway.
So, I am delving into hospice but at the same time into rehab and home care (on the one end of the spectrum) as well as cemetery and memorial service - and financial issues (on the other). If it weren't personal it might be interesting, no, even if it weren't personal it would be bizarre.
And then on top of the mom issues are the dad issues. Those are in their own special way even more interesting as they have a long term element to them. Perhaps I will find time to talk about them later.
By instant messenger, David Holcomb chats in the fourth day of semester reviews...
"David Holcomb" (11:01:19 AM): Sarah - who is glad to have rediscovered her love of theatre.
"David Holcomb" (11:01:53 AM): Rebecca - who (sometimes) felt (some) class was an after-thought (sic)
"David Holcomb" (11:02:35 AM): Bryan - who says you can't ever do enough planning.
"David Holcomb" (11:03:04 AM): Jeannie - who likes to use color on her paperwork.
"David Holcomb" (11:03:29 AM): Chase - who learned he like to build things
"David Holcomb" (11:06:17 AM): Elize - who spent her semester sewing in the costume shop and the scene shop.
That's a wrap, see you in the spring (for the return of the shoe competition?!?)
Something I have been thinking about but not really working on. It could be better, maybe I will continue to percolate on it for next year. Last verse:
ARRGH! THREE SHORTIES NO NO NO NO... Have to check the weather to see which day will be best for cross-country driving, there have been a few lately that were distinctly less so... For about ten minutes in the middle of the day today it was an amazingly nice day in Pittsburgh... I've been learning a lot about medicare and hospice lately. I get the feeling "assisted living" may be next, but not for the same person... I briefly flirted with work today, seems like it's fairly well tied down, for the moment... It really rarely is a good thing when the phone rings after midnight... Mrs. TANBI's birthday dinner at Casbah, pretty much nothing we ordered was what we thought it would be, but it was good anyway... No photos from Day 4 of semester reviews. I guess if I really wanted them I should have gone... The Kindle Reader is set up exactly so that what I wanted to do was impossible... I haven't so much been paying attention to the news, I wonder if it's over for Al Franken yet... I can't remember the very last episode of The West Wing. Was it good? Bravo is rerunning them but I am not sure I saw it... It just occurred to me that BSG is back in less than six weeks, that's pretty cool... No TD's in Scenic Fabrication & Installation this year. I guess I need to start thinking about revising that course... I think I am getting an iPhone, although I am not sure I want an iPhone, and then there's the fact I just bought a new phone - good thing I didn't take the discount... Accumulating snow in Las Vegas, how about that? I wonder if the casinos took bets on the average depth... 80,000 hits! Thanks so much for that...
to keep three shorties from piling up.
I am back in PA having left my sister holding the bag in Chicago. Probably be turning around again in a couple of days to pick up the slack for her. There are a lot of great people around over there and even with them it is really, really hard to move forward. The goofiest part is that sometimes the moving forward part invariably also moves one closer to the end, so really you don't want to move forward even though you really have no choice but to do so. Of further complication is that from a project management standpoint the thing is always seeming to be in danger of spiraling out of control at a moments notice. In some ways Mom's health care is the least of the problems - Dad after Mom, that feels like it will be much more difficult as the permutations are so much more varied. Mom's at least on a track, its not a happy track, but it's also one with few branches - more just about what direction and how fast. Dad... I'm not going to know where to begin, and once again I'm going to be late to the party.
I'll close with this thought. I was telling my sister how before going out this time I was thinking about bringing the camcorder and getting mom on tape: "say something to your grandchildren..." But really it's too late, if we did it now it would be more like a monologue by me or my sister with my mom answering questions yes or no. If you ever have a thought of doing such a thing do it now. Make it an annual tradition or something so it stays contemporary, but don't wait or you'll miss the window. Things just change too quickly.
Hanging in.
As another reporter bites the dust. Stringer David Holcomb takes up the charge today...
Aaron, who likes to work on challenges with more concrete solutions.
Eric has found a slightly different direction to continue his education
Alana is glad she overloaded on classes this semester.
Nicole learned that there are much scarier people in the world than Dick Block
Chapel got a little lost Into the Woods, but found her way out by extension
Ryan feels that he is often right, which he admits can come off as pushy.
MWC News - A Site Without Borders - - Illinois Citizens Deserve Corrupt Government: "We must not depend on electing individuals to public office to truly reform the system. We have a corrupt two-party plutocracy. It is time to stop believing the lies of both Democrats and Republicans. We can keep putting many of them in prison, but all that happens is that more corrupt and dishonest politicians get elected. Just as it has happened for the Illinois governorship."
To quench an almost insurmountable shoe thirst, TANBI stringer Ken Chu submits the following from Friday's crit session:
I kept my eyes out for shoes and saw some good stuff, but had to send you a photo of this one just because I thought it was so unique. It was worn by Kelly Le Vine.
So, seeing today's pictures really makes me feel like k-rap about missing crits this semester. Truth be told I do some of my best work over these days normally. I could have used that this time around. But there will be more in the spring, and the semester after that, and so on. Still, can't help but feel like I am missing out on something.
Tina continues her intrepid reporting. I'll stifle my comments today.
Kevin – newly declared SM/PM, for whom the sun didn’t come out until after mid-semester but is working on better weather next term.
Julianna – who is searching for the right place...
Alex – who found out how bookbinding will make him a better TD.
Candace – is now a part-time PM but still has a seriously arty crit board..
Maddie – who has found her dream job, one that combines performance, management and motorcycles.
Kelli – new SM/PM who has already made friends with the new head of the school.
Matt – a double-focus TD/LD, who actually expressed a desire to take Wolf’s
Derek – who’s revolutionizing the sport of foosball (and demonstrated how to a packed room).
Michael ‘Rico’ – who had analogies about questionable-weight gorillas and sticks in certain places to show his progress this semester.
Naomi – who balanced scene painting and budgets, and reports she had a rough semester, although it’s hard to tell.
Harriet – who learned to make databases and shoot guns, all in the line of duty, and recommends history classes to everyone.
