Thank you, James, and thank you, Mark, for your concern and caring about me...that was a real nice thing to read here when I finally signed on....made me feel good...I sure appreciate that, fellas...thanks from my heart. That was nice!
Yes, I'm back now....just returned from up north from my Mom's house....I've been up there taking care of her for a while...she just turned 87 last week.
I've been doing a lot of repairs on the plumbing in her house....a real bitch to do...the house was made in 1956...pipes are all corroded and leaking....fixed all of the leaks, valves, etc...thank God for compression fittings of all types, a real lifesaver.
Mom's not doing too well at this time, but seems to be getting better, thus I can come home to my wife for a while....I worked on the house until 2 or 3 in the morning every day, then had to get up at 6 to be ready to change Mom's nightgown...she wets herself all of the time....so I changed her Depends, made up a fresh bed with fresh sheets, put on her dry nightgown then put her back to bed...I didn't want her sleeping on a wet bed. (this I had to do three times a day, everyday)I cooked for her everyday, did the dishes, washed clothes and sheets everyday, cleaned the house the best I could, vacuumed the house, shampooed the rug 6 times!! It was that dirty. A real backbreaker for me....I kept up on the bills, paid them, waited on Mom whenever she needed me....believe me, taking care of an elderly parent is the hardest job in the world...... raising the Titanic and restoring it in my garage would have been easier. But, I figured, it's the right thing to do, Mom took care of my dweeb ass growing up (and that was a JOB for her, believe me!) so that's the least I could do....she was just so happy I fixed all the house problems for her and LOVED her new sink I put in the bathroom.....I thank the Lord for compression fittings of all types...they are a true lifesaver....as there's no room in that old house for soldering pipes, even when I had to knock holes in the walls....no room...all pipes and fittings are soldered and some nearly impossible to access.....I had to saw all pipes for replacement and some spots it took me almost an hour to do one pipe...well, enough of that. It was just a bitch of a job working on an old house.
I even brought up my electric guitar/amp to play for her, but never got the time to play it...they sat in the living room the whole time and I was too damn tired to even take the guitar out of it's case.
God! What a job.....but my middle brother is now home from vacation, so he can take care of her (somewhat) now until the next time something breaks or big repairs need to be done (he's the laziest person ever).
The phone that on the end table of Mom's bed.....I SWEAR it 's the same one used by Elliot Ness in his office!!!!!Jeez, it's old! I was expecting calls from Al Capone himself!
The whole experience up there with Mom so much depressed the hell out of me...I couldn't hardly think straight when I got home, I was just too distraught.....I thank God for my wife who understood and took care of me for some time.....I couldn't even sleep,just too upset about her...it'll take a while for me to regain my sense of humor you guys enjoy.....as I enjoy making you guys smile/laugh...because life's too short to bitch or be unhappy....but sometimes things a person has to do can really have an effect on him.....it's so damn depressing watching my Mom fade little by little, really hurts me.....she can't see, can hardly hear, WILL NOT go to a doctor at all, won't leave the house....my wife and I have talked to her till we were blue in the face trying to get her to see a doctor....to no avail. She has EXCELLENT insurance, thanks to my late Dad.....Damn it! I feel like such a failure and if something happens to her, it'll be on me for the rest of my life....I'm going to have to live with that. I just can't make anything happen with her to help her get better....and she told me she has not and WILL NOT make out a will.....so guess of the mess I'll be facing in the future....my wife and I know how to make everything go smoothly, but just can't get though to Mom. It's so damn frustrating......I actually went out in the garage and kicked my red toolbox......jeez, that hurt!
So, I finally got to use a REAL PHONE and A REAL COMPUTER here at my house......not Elliot Ness's phone or his abacuss....what a relief!!
Give me a while to feel normal....and....James and Mark....thanks for your concern....that was a real uplifting thing for me.....you did your buddy a good deed.
As far as my bad back, I haven't had the chance to even think about seeing a chiro....but will promise to look into it very soon.....your ideas about this will not go unheeded....just got to find the time....my wife has been very sick with a bad cold and guess who her caretaker has been and still is? Got to run to the store tomorrow for her, then make a recycle run Monday, Doctor appointment Tuesday, major food shopping Wednesday, and some car to fix Thursday....and yes, my back is killing me most of the time......but it's better than being dead, from what I hear.
And being away from my loving wife for so long was killing me too. God, I missed my girl...I'm so glad to be back with her, just great for me.
Bruce '87 Grand National
