Oh f*** is what I want to type but instead, golly, gosh and bother. Armed with umpteen documents from doctors, a specialist and the department of social security Mother and her carer ABI Brother are staying here tonight. ABI Brother is having a skin cancer removal at a nearby hospital tomorrow. They need these to travel outside their five kilometre limit.
Mother's ears are full of wax that can only be cleared by an expert but she needs to go to another town and she is COVID fearful so she can't hear well. ABI Brother shouts at her and she replies, I am not that deaf.
She walked to the balcony door to go outside to smoke and then walked back inside to get her walker to walk to the balcony door. Go figure.
For a one night stay she brought the kitchen sink and the washing machine. She is now about to die because she forgot Muscopan Forte, except she quickly forgot about it.
ABI Brother is a bit drunk, loud and annoying.
R and I argued about their visit before they arrived. It is as bad as we thought.
My ensuite will be covered in talcum powder tomorrow after Mother showers.
Better go as Creeping Jesus keeps passing me by as she ricochets between the balcony, the kettle, the bathroom and the spare bedroom.
Oh no, there is ABI Brother's lilo to pump up. Three slightly sozzled men, well me just advising and Mother supervising. I think the reason I fell flat on my face on the lilo was low blood pressure.
Of course it was low blood pressure (says the woman who has bridges to sell).
ReplyDeleteI feel for you. And am glad that despite knowing that it would be disruptive (to put it mildly) that you went ahead anyway.
How long are they staying?
EC, somehow during the night when going out on to the balcony she managed to mangle the venetian blinds. When I think of all the kids who have been here in the last 19 years......well, no damaged blinds.
DeleteGosh you're so sweet, and I sound far, far, nastier than you when I'm forced into something like that. I hate my space being invaded no matter the reason. I remember when Dad would force himself on me for 6 weeks at a time and beg my friends to drop in and call like nuisances so I wouldn't have to deal.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
WWW, no I am not sweet at all, but as I say to R, she is my mother. What can I do? Six weeks of your father must have been intolerable.
DeleteBy the sounds of it, your blood pressure is way high...not low!
ReplyDeletePerhaps you should have booked yourself into a hotel during their visit! Parents, especially elderly parents, and their carers...what pains in the arses they are!
Grab a couple of bottles of Scotch next time you go out, Andrew...help drain your pain! :)
Lee, I am not game to check my bp. I should pay for a motel for them, but the point is she can't be left alone for long.
DeleteMom lived with us for nine years. What was I thinking???
ReplyDeleteWhen she died in mid-winter, helpful relatives helpfully remembered her expressed wish to have Sadie the Lady (her cat) buried with her, so P had to dig the little
casket out of the frozen earth. Then we had to FED-EX it to her home town where Mom was to be buried. Anyway, I am in total sympathy with you. They'll leave soon and you will be able to breathe again.
What delightfully helpful relatives you had Cynthia. As if there is not enough to do when a parent dies than be posting dead cats around.
DeleteHigh or low, none of it is pleasant! I can only imagine the stress happening at your place right now. When on earth do they leave? Hopefully quickly. Until then have a nice tot of Scotch and breathe deeply!
ReplyDeleteMaribeth, they left at 2pm the next day. What a relief. It is only Thursday night but I may just have a celebratory Scotch tonight.
DeleteYou crack us up Andrew!You have our sympathy, we all have irritating relations, some more so than others.
ReplyDeleteCheryl, I am so pleased our discomfort amuses you 😉
DeleteWas there any singing?
ReplyDeleteCro, you have the first letter right. Silent swearing.
DeleteHope the skin cancer goes well. I have trouble with ear wax build up. My doctor told me to get a cotton ball soaked in mineral oil and place it in my ear. Which will soft the wax
ReplyDeleteDora, she does that and even her own doctor can't clear her ears. It takes an expert.
DeleteI vaguely remember having my ears syringed late one night after being rushed to the local doctor's surgery, perhaps I'd been screaming with earache, perhaps it was an infection, but I don't remember that bit. BUT, ears are largely self cleaning and apart from infections I don't understand how they can become so impacted with wax.
ReplyDeleteI hope ABI gets sobered up before his skin cancer removal as I don't think surgery is permitted while intoxicated. Or is that just for the doctors?
Put a new bag in the vacuum cleaner to suck up all that talcum powder once they leave.
His surgery wasn't until 11am the next morning so he was fine. Nor do I understand how they block but it is a common enough problem.
DeleteDo hope you are ok!
ReplyDeleteVisitors can be disruptive at times, especially those who stay over night.
I can syringe your mum's ears, used to do it all the time at work, sometimes wax is stubborn.
Hope you brother's little op goes well.
Papers for the trip, gosh - has to be done though.
Take care, and your post did make me laugh :) no offence.
We are fine now they have gone. Her doctor and his nurses tried and failed a couple of times, in spite of her softening the wax with oil every night.
DeleteGotta laugh or we would cry.
Small bore shotgun. In one ear and out the other. Should be a permanent fix (*~*)
DeleteLooking forward to the next episode of ‘family visits and how they effect relationships’
ReplyDeleteI try to be more firm about things, but again I failed. See reply to EC.
DeleteDon't jump! It is all over now.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Travel.
DeleteEven normal relationships might be fraught from time to time, but during lockdown, everyone becomes more fragile and more hysterical.
ReplyDeleteHels, R admits he is suffering badly from lock down. I tell him how good mood altering drugs are now but he won't see his doctor.
DeleteFamily visits can be a trial! I had to look up "lilo" and also "Muscopan Forte," which I belatedly realize is a typo (but I wouldn't have known Buscopan either).
ReplyDeleteSteve, I suppose you would say air bed? I got her to write it down before I went to pharmacy the next morning.
DeleteI am so sorry to read about your mother's disabilities.
ReplyDeleteGigi, we do make a lot of allowances for her, and she takes full advantage.
DeleteThe entry just confirms that yours is the most disfunctional family I have ever known about. Roderick
ReplyDeleteRoderick, I don't think dysfunctional is the right word. Perhaps I paint them worse than they are.
DeleteI have followed your blog for years and there is no "perhaps" about you report. Is that how one spells "dysfunctional"? Very odd. Roderick
DeleteRoderick, you made me doubt my less than perfect spelling but in this case I am right with Australian spelling.
DeleteI looooove your family tales Andrew, you love them dearly and they annoy you at the same time.. sounds absolutely normal to me. I have a picture of you falling on the look, definitely low blood pressure 😁😁😁😁😁
ReplyDeleteGrace, falling like that has happened to me in the past but not for a while.
Delete