Hell of a way to get back from vacation.

[BlasterMaster]

My Mom and me took a 4 day trip to see Cape Cod. Have a blast. Good food and good memories. Came back to find we couldn't open the front door of my Mom's and Stepfather's home. In his paronia, my stepfather had barricades the front door with heavy furniture and then forgot he did it. I had to climb over the fence and get him to unlock the sliding glass door. At the sliding glass door he pointed a shotgun at me but eventually remembered who I was. Spent a whole week trying to get him to hire people to unbarricade the door. We also found out he never opened the door to the aid worker we hired (and paid in advance) to look after him even though he kept saying everything was fine through the whole 4 day trip over the phone). Also my Mom hurt her hip trying to lift the furniture with my stepfather to unbarricade the door (despite the fact I forbade them from lifting anything heavy). Found out my stepfather demanded my Mom help him move the furniture so he didn't have to hire moving men. Now my Mom needs surgury, I have to quit my job to be my stepfather's caregiver and somehow convince my stepfather to pay me for my efforts (as I have expenses such as rent, food, gas, etc etc). On top of all this my stepfather apparently tried working on my Mom's SUV (he apparently thought it needed an oil change and didn't want to pay for it so he did it himself) and as a result he did something to break the SUV. Now their primary mode of transporation is broken. This is hard and heartbreaking for me. Not only to see my stepfather make so many mistakes due to him being set in his ways of not spending money at all (due to growing up poor) but also seeing his mind deteriorate to this extent. This man bought me a car. He's always been understand of my tourette's and schizophrenia and also been understanding of my little sis being trans. To see his get this bad is hard...anywho he's sleepig now so I'm going to get a beer, relax in a chair, and try and not cry.

 

[Cosmo_ac]

Jesus. Sorry to hear that Blaster. That seems like just a bad luck snowball that kept rolling. It might be an idea to look around, and see if there are any programs that might be able to help you guys out, as well as perhaps a call line to have somebody for yourself to talk to.

 

[BlasterMaster]

Sokay Cosmo. I can do this. I can deal with this. It's just hard to see a man whom I've had a lot of respect for and who has helped me out a lot lose so much of his memory and become so paranoid. Fortunately my Mom still has most of her memory. I'm currently looking into possibly getting both of them on a better drug that can fight memory loss. Getting them to take the drug will be another matter however. For now I've quit my job and am taking care of them both full time and fortunately I managed to convince my stepdad to pay me for the effort. My Mom doesn't need surgury thank god. She just tore a muscle and was given a shot in her hip plus a perscription for a muscle relaxant. Also managed to get their SUV fixed (turns out it only needed the spark plugs and engine cleaned).

 

[Cosmo_ac]

Well, it sounds like at least a few things have worked out already, which is good.

As for the medicine, that can be tricky. However, it might be worthwhile to look into if it can be done with a shot. I honestly, don't know if it's an option, but I know somebody who had some issues with a spouse who had a break down, and one of the things they did (because sometimes she would not take her meds and pretend to) was give her a shot that lasted about a month. This was good as it let her get her head on straight, and now she would probably willingly take the meds (though they still do shots for now).

Depending on your fathers personality, you could always try and get him to do some videos or something while he's off the meds, and if you can get him on them, have him watch the vids, and that might encourage him to stay on them. A diary or something else like that might also work, but with the paranoia its hard to say.

Keep in mind I'm just spitballing ideas, and not a specialist. They would be able to give you the best advice.

 

[BlasterMaster]

Thanks for the advice Cosmo. I've developed a system. I put signs and sticky notes up everywhere (even inside unopened cubbards and inside the fridge). It helps him a lot. Also he apaprently still has a sense of humor as sometimes I'll come back to their home, handle some business, and then take a 1 hour nap only to find there's a sticky note on my pillow saying "thank you for the reminders". Heh.