Selling my god damn family to gypsies
Apr. 24th, 2011 01:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sethrakThis has been a hell of a weekend.
First, mark requires a trip to the urgent care center to get staples in his scalp - more on that later.
Then we find out my in-laws probably can't come see us from out of state, because the recent severe weather in their area has made the county-maintained gravel roads between them and any paved roads impassable.
Then I get a call from my estranged brother to tell me Mom's in the hospital with possible heart issues, which arose sometime late last night or early this morning after she returned from a really late Mass in Madison for my sister's confirmation. Her left eye was off-kilter, her left arm was moving oddly, and when Jerry arrived she was lying down and couldn't finish sentences and seemed distracted and out of it. Dad didn't take her to the hospital. Jerry had to after he arrived, because nobody else with their own car and license was willing to bypass Mom's slurred refusal to get looked at.
THEN I post a short note on Facebook, asking my friends to pray for mom.
The immediate response of one of Mom's sisters? "Take it down, Katie doesn't know yet."
My response? "Well, she's fifteen, so either tell her or find excuses to keep her off the Internet."
Aunt's response? Call Jerry and tell him to call me and nag me to take it off of FB. Jerry's response to my reminding him Katie's fifteen and deserves to know her mom is sick? "Weelllll.... she's fifteen, but she has special needs."
Having autism does not mean being stupid. And it sure as hell doesn't mean she should find out about this only if the worst happens and not until then!
God damn my family drives me nuts!
She's old enough and competent enough to be left alone in the dubious care of our brother Andrew! It follows she's old enough and competent enough to know her Mommy is ill! Maybe soft-pedal the severity for now, but still! Fucking STILL!
The only reason I went along with it was that Jerry said Mom said she doesn't want Katie to know either. If Mom's improved enough to be talking - which at the time of Jerry's first call, she wasn't really - then I'll accede to her wishes. Even if I vehemently disagree with them.
First, mark requires a trip to the urgent care center to get staples in his scalp - more on that later.
Then we find out my in-laws probably can't come see us from out of state, because the recent severe weather in their area has made the county-maintained gravel roads between them and any paved roads impassable.
Then I get a call from my estranged brother to tell me Mom's in the hospital with possible heart issues, which arose sometime late last night or early this morning after she returned from a really late Mass in Madison for my sister's confirmation. Her left eye was off-kilter, her left arm was moving oddly, and when Jerry arrived she was lying down and couldn't finish sentences and seemed distracted and out of it. Dad didn't take her to the hospital. Jerry had to after he arrived, because nobody else with their own car and license was willing to bypass Mom's slurred refusal to get looked at.
THEN I post a short note on Facebook, asking my friends to pray for mom.
The immediate response of one of Mom's sisters? "Take it down, Katie doesn't know yet."
My response? "Well, she's fifteen, so either tell her or find excuses to keep her off the Internet."
Aunt's response? Call Jerry and tell him to call me and nag me to take it off of FB. Jerry's response to my reminding him Katie's fifteen and deserves to know her mom is sick? "Weelllll.... she's fifteen, but she has special needs."
Having autism does not mean being stupid. And it sure as hell doesn't mean she should find out about this only if the worst happens and not until then!
God damn my family drives me nuts!
She's old enough and competent enough to be left alone in the dubious care of our brother Andrew! It follows she's old enough and competent enough to know her Mommy is ill! Maybe soft-pedal the severity for now, but still! Fucking STILL!
The only reason I went along with it was that Jerry said Mom said she doesn't want Katie to know either. If Mom's improved enough to be talking - which at the time of Jerry's first call, she wasn't really - then I'll accede to her wishes. Even if I vehemently disagree with them.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-26 08:21 am (UTC)It's a horrible situation to be in the middle of. I'm sorry.
Thank you. I do appreciate it.
Date: 2011-04-26 03:57 pm (UTC)At least in their case, a Facebook post would have been reasonably expected to shock them. They were out of easy reach. My sister? Lives with our parents, as she is a minor. She wasn't at Gramma's house when Mom got sick - she'd been left back home with our brother Andrew, who frankly only fulfills the need for "adult supervision" in the sense that he's over 18. (I certainly wouldn't put him in charge of MY kids.) She (and he) should have been on the phone call list before me and our brother who lives in Idaho, and I stand by that belief. No matter what ugly drama my aunt and cousin start.