Life's lil updates.......

In the past three weeks it has been non-stop.
First off, Dad came home from Coeur'd Alene on Tuesday. Should he have?.... No. His check out weight was 205. There really isn't much left of that man. With him coming home, I don't feel he'll get adequate therapy and most likely being the stubborn mule that he is, he'll end up driving the therapists away. I found out some horrible things that happen to him while he was in Kootnia Medical Center. They weren't changing his feeding tube regularly, so at one point he went 10 hours with out any food, in the mean time they kept pumping him full of his insulin. They missed his pain meds on a handful occasions, then they had the gall to say that he was a difficult patient and was combative. Eric's older sister Chaney is a nurse. When she requested his charts, they refused. So she called up Kathy, Eric's step-mom, to have her permission, they also refused them to her as well. Needless to say Chaney called and reported the hospital. The physical therapist that they assigned to Dad was an elderly, over weight women who only wanted to sit and scalded Cal every time he got up and wanted to walk around. Eric ended up turning her in and they removed him from her charge. I'm sure that's why Dad wanted to come home, figured he'd get better help at home. We aren't sure if his memory will ever be 100%. When we asked him the date he replied with " October 25, 2005". He kept calling Eric "Christian" (Eric's older brother), and Dad couldn't remember that Eric had purchased a new truck back in May. Eric's not happy that I haven't taken the kids up to the house to see Dad. Honestly, and maybe I'm being selfish, I don't want them to see him that way. That's not Papa. His jaws are still wired, but he's able to speak only with great effort and he's got a huge bandage where the hole in his throat was. I just don't want them to have that memory.

Trent has started football. His first official game is this weekend in Moscow. He had a Jamboree this past weekend, where they play all the teams in 15min segments. It's really cool to watch little boys run around and just tackle the heck out of each other. Do I have pics? Of course. Do I have my camera? That would be a BIG no. I left it at Eric's second cousin's house in Oregon.

Which brings me to the Reel Family Reunion this past weekend as well. It was in Estacada, Or. Just south east of Portland. Very beautiful. We met family I've only heard about. Eric's dad is a "Junior", so when he was growing up he was called "Butch"(I still can't figure out why). So when introducing ourselves, we had to say we were "Butch's" kin. Honestly annoying to all of us, but we put up with it for a couple of hours. "Butch" was also the black sheep of the family and had the black mark painted upon his forehead, so it bled on to all his offspring. We all felt awkward and out of place. We were the largest clan there, 7 adults and 9 kids all from "Butch". Eric's real mom was there, and she being the ex-wife, I'm sure she felt a little awkward as well, but she still considers them her family.
We had a good time in Portland though. On the way home we stopped at the Falls. Eric wasn't a happy camper since we always stop there heading out of town. I didn't care. The last time we were there, it was cold and snowy. Different season, different scenery.
Eric is Ellensburg awaiting to go to Goldbar, which is an hours drive our of Seattle. He's getting further and further away making it harder for him to come home on the weekends. From Goldbar he's supposed to go to Olympia. I think that'll be fun, I'll be able to take the kids to the coast and Eric's sister will only be a few hours out of the way. But all this is subject to change at the drop of a hat, so we'll see what they say tomorrow.
Right now I'm just trying to get through yesterday. Life is very busy with football practice, laundry, homework, and making whatever little time is left for me.