Meet Dad... We Love Him!

This is my dad, well, step-dad, and my sister and their two rats... errr... dogs.  They say they are dogs anyway.  Me?  Not so much... lol... Anyway, my sister has lived with dad since mom died and taken care of him.  Thanks for that sis... (and she does a great job!)

Dad has 3 kids of his own.  Do they call him for his birthday?  No, they don't. Ok, let me rephrase that.  Seldom do they.  Do they come to see him when they are in town to see their mom?  Nope.  Do they do anything with him or for him?  Nada.  Very seldom do they acknowledge his existence.  One son has not seen or talked to him in FIVE years!  My siblings and I are the only ones that call him regularly, wish him happy birthday, or happy father's day.  His kids all think their mom walks on water - but do they care about him?  Apparently not.  She has led them to believe... well, ok, I won't go there.  Dad is a good man.  He is an old farmer with not much schoolin', but he is a really good man.

Where am I going with this?  A couple of months ago, dad had knee surgery.  He did great!  He healed nicely, did all the physical therapy he needed to and his knee surgery was a huge success.  Did the kids come?  Only for a moment 2 of them stopped in.  Did they go through the therapy and Drs visit with him?  No.  Not once.  Liz did it all - well, my brother was there a bit, but it is mainly on Liz's shoulders.  She was there during surgery, recovery, physical therapy, and all his moaning and groaning...

Last week, dad had back surgery.  He had some discs welded together in his back - it was severely degenerated.  After they did that, they gave him dilaudid for pain and he went looney tunes.  Flippin' looney tunes - as in out there flappin' in the wind.  He has not come back - even though they took him off the meds.  He is back to his normal meds now - but still checked out.  Maybe it takes a while for it to work out of his system?  Anyway, Liz has been up there as much as humanly possible.  One of his kids stopped in for less than an hour and the other one stopped in for less than 30 minutes - and both begrudgingly doing so.

The nurses have kept Liz up to date, called her back to the hospital when necessary (a 45 minute drive on a good traffic day) and kept her posted about changes.  Today, out of sheer exhaustion, Liz came home.  Apparently dad fell after she left.  He is in x-ray now.

I told Liz to call his daughter and demand help with him - Liz is exhausted!  There are 3 other kids and spouses to help!  She did. Well, lo and behold, the daughter leaks that "SHE has power of attorney" for his medical and "SHE would have them call HER" with updates and information.  I told Liz to tell her since SHE is in charge to get her last up to the hospital and take care of him!  24/7 like LIZ has been doing!  It makes me so freaking mad that (1) we did not know this, (2) they have not bothered the last week to step in and (3) they have allowed my sister to shoulder it ALL!

I cannot stand it - I am so freaking mad!  These people have NOTHING to do with their dad yet, they have control over his life?  HELLO?  They have no idea what his favorite food is, or even what his favorite thing in life to do is!  They.  Never.  See.  Him.  Yet they have coerced him into signing God knows what ever to them!

Dad is not the brightest Crayon in the box - he is a good man, but without much education, he is limited in his legal abilities and can be coerced into doing anything.  Liz protects him - heck we all do in of his own defense - but last year, his daughter took dad (out of the goodness of her heart) (ha!) for a few days to give Liz a break.  It was not out of the goodness of their heart - trust me.  We knew that then.  Apparently, that goodness was to get him to sign his life and whatever else over to her - and we *knew* it at the time, however, dad was tight lipped about it.  He spilled just enough of the beans to let Liz know he had gone to an attorney. 

Oh well, vent over.  Please keep my dad and my sister in your prayers.  Heck, offer a few prayers up for his kids - they surely need them. And keep me in your prayers too - I am having not so nice thoughts in relation to *this* part of my family.

We all have black sheep in the family, right?  Can someone please hand me the shears?  And let me show them where the pen is... it is in Tulsa at the hospital.  Now give me a padlock so I can lock them in the pen with him.  They.  Care.  So.  Much.  Honestly?  I could not do that to dad.

I love you Liz, and I love you dad.  Get well soon, dad - we need to have a long chat about blood family and real family.  There is a difference.