I managed to lock myself out of my apartment tonight when walking out to dinner. Ah well, couldn't have picked a better night to do it weather-wise, and the club across the street was playing decent music on their rooftop patio.

I hope getting back in is easy. That sounds pretty pleasant, though.

ETA autocorrect is not my friend this evening

Fun game - is it the red wine or is it a hot flash?

I backed out of an argument with a white dude who said that closed primaries are "Jim Crow exclusionary tactics."

In a slight bit of defence regarding cousin-in-law, who I know is a Republican. He stated that he hasn't decided who he is voting for. Which is way more open minded for him than I expected.

Got up early and went to the gardening place, which was I guess useful? We talked to the guy about what we want, and he explained why we hadn't heard from the person who's actually doing the work - she graduated from college last week. But he says she's great and he's hiring her full-time now, not even seasonal, so that's all good. Then out to breakfast, and now I basically feel like I've had a full day already.

It has been a long week. My Mom was in the hospital all week so I made 3 round trips to Naples (280 miles RT) to check on her. She had pneumonia again. They got it under control, but it will continue to be an issue because she has swallowing issues which cause her to aspirate stuff into her lungs. They released her yesterday to rehab where various therapy people will teach her tips and tricks to talk, eat, and swallow more effectively. Short version, being really old is tricky business. She turns 95 this summer.

Work continues to be burdensome so they were brief day trips, but really she didn't want a whole lot of fuss. Her husband never left her side so they had a nice recliner for him to sleep next to her. My brother and sister also live nearby so she had lots of love.

Then to top off the week I had to take DH to the ER yesterday. He had a hernia, which got to be painful enough for him to have his doctor look at it. Hence being sent to the ER. They gave him dilaudid in an IV and pushed stuff back where it belonged and released him. He needs to see a surgeon, but we know from experience that a surgeon will recommend surgery, so holding off. We are flying Wednesday to spend a week in Otter Lake and the plan is to keep him as inactive as possible until we get back June 1. Hahahaha, any of you that have met DH know that keeping him inactive is a serious challenge. Playing health care worker here, which mostly is picking up things he drops. This has happened maybe 4 times and he just stares at the object way down there on the floor and admits that getting down there isn't an option.

Yikes, Laura! That's a crappy week indeed.

They got it under control, but it will continue to be an issue because she has swallowing issues which cause her to aspirate stuff into her lungs.

That's exactly the situation with my dad. And because he has dementia, he won't remember to eat slowly etc. So we're supposed to have someone with him at every meal, which the facility isn't able to provide. I'm kind of at a loss: do we go back to 24-hour personal care? If Dad knew what this costs, he would certainly say no.

Argh.

And today I'm getting new tires for the Jeep. Fortunately I have a credit card with the garage but this has been a very expensive week.

Apparently aspirating pneumonia is a common issue with aging. The speech therapist was saying part of the issue is that the person doesn't even know they are getting particles in the lungs because the reflexes are not as alert. Also, they don't necessarily have normal symptoms like a younger patient. No fever or that kind of thing. So without a chest x-ray you may not even know. Very tricky.

Seriously, I am so very grateful that Mom married my step-dad. He is 15 years younger and completely devoted to her. Holds her hand non-stop and is a constant loving protector. When my sibs criticize him I just want to smack them.