On the way out, Hubby decided to go ahead and get his Dad out of bed because he found him upside down in the bed. Then it was decided he needed to sit on the commode chair. Now, there is no telling this Dad to sit there and until you come back. Doing that would have resulted in having to pick the second Dad up off the floor.
I rushed out the door to evaluate the situation with my Dad only to run face first into a horrible cobweb going down the steps. Ugh! I could just envision one of those big horrible night time spiders crawling in my hair or down the side of my head. Nothing like a face full of fresh spider web to get the cortisol levels pumping.
I arrived in the apartment and promptly stepped in a puddle of pee (having left my shoe by the door) with Dad sitting on the floor hanging on to his walker and with nowhere to go. He was sort of jammed up between the bed, the walker and his nightstand. It has been a long while since he has gotten himself in this kind of predicament. Months and months to be exact.
My back hurt just looking at him and not wanting to blow out my back or Hubby’s I made the decision to go get four extra hands. So I crept up the stairs and got the youngest and then across the hall to call the middle kid.
By this time it was determined that the other Dad did not have to poop and he was transferred from the commode chair to the Geri chair. So the four of us headed out to the apartment. (Poor Dad must have thought we were all leisurely taking our time for a cup of tea.)
My parents bed had to be moved over, which meant moving some of the stuff that Mom keeps piled up next to her bed and the nightstand. ( No matter how much I scold her about the piles she keeps next to her bed it does no good. She has lived like this for years and she certainly is not going to start listening to me now.)
Hubby got Dad sat up and Dad said things didn’t hurt as bad as he thought they were going to but then started to protest about trying to do anything helpful about using his feet. So Hubby instructed the girls to each grab the leg above the knee and lift when he said three. I got up on the bed to lift from the back and Hubby got him from the side. On three we lifted.
It was determined to take him to the ER for an X-Ray. We decided to put a Depends on him with no pants. Well trying to get the Depends pulled up in a seated position, I ended up ripping the back of it. Bring frugal and not vain, he said it was fine. So off they went in the General’s van with a ripped Depends and a red blanket thrown over him for modesty sake.
After their departure, I came back to the house to see to the other Dad. He was awake and asked about my Dad. I reassured him that he was fine but Hubby was taking him to the ER for an X-ray to just make sure the hip was okay.
He said he was not ready for breakfast but shortly after that he began to say “shoot manudie”. Now I have heard him say this before and did not understand what this meant. This went on for a while. I thought he was asleep but then his eyes were open and the “shoot manudie” began to take on a listen to me tone in his voice. So I went over and tried to discern what he wanted and what he was saying. This usually ends up with him looking at me like I have three heads and his thinking that it is impossible for me to understand anything. Then I called in one girl, asking if she understood what he was saying. (Having lived with him they have a bit more clarity on understanding his particular diction) The eldest said she thought he was saying “shoot the noodle” and then I asked the second one and she said he was saying, “scoot me loose” (i.e. get this tray off the chair).
Well “shoot the manudies” kept going on and on….so the eldest daughter went over and told him she wasn’t going to shoot anything and asked him if he was saying noodles. He affirmed that. She told him we didn’t have any noodles and offered him bread. He looked at her like she had three heads. Hoping that he would forget about shooting noodles we all left him be for the moment.
But he kept repeatedly saying, “shoot manudies” to the point I had to do something. (It was beginning to drive me a bit nuts.) At times like this, I resort to trying to shift the mind and I have found music will often do it. I have a classic radio station on my computer playlist. So I put that on and started with breakfast. As soon as it was on he got quiet and then fell asleep.
Now the whole house is out of sorts from getting up too early with too much purpose and feeling a bit like we’ve shot one manudie too many. Time to relax with a pot of fresh made mint tea (mixed with black tea) and refocus for the day.