Cathing up the last year.
2025-May-27, Tuesday 16:40![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
texxgadgetMy father turned 90 in 2024 Sep.
Hes always been active, having met Mom in the UCB Hiking Club.
Mom got him into international Folk Dance in the early 50s and they were on the dance floor
several days a week for over 50 years.
Moms dementia finally took them off the floor for 5 years, and after her passing,
Dad returned to Berkeley Folk Dancers.
I credit this with his survival to this age and several small strokes last winter.
I grew up in a family that hiked, camped, skied and danced.
We didnt learn til last Dec that dad had had a couple short "spells" where he didnt feel good but
recovered quickly back in Oct Nov and early Dec.
Thursday night before Dickens closing, Dad had one that lasted about 5 mins.
He told me about it the next morning.
His physician was out for the weekend so we went to visit Urgent Care, and they sent us to Alta Bates ER.
They Sent him to Summit ER and he was finally admitted there.
My fears were confirmed, he was having a series of micro strokes.
I was expecting to get him back Monday before Xmas.
My sister is his health primary and in charge of the estate.
My job is to be the canary in the coal mine in case something happens, and something did.
(This is my "rent")
As Dickens was closing and during teardown, I had no idea if Dad was EVER returning to the family home
(Thus rendering me homeless), and if he did, I had no idea if I could be away from the house long
enough to do faire again.
He was out of the hospital before xmas and ensconced in my sisters guest room out in Livermore.
They are retired and always home, so there was no worry about Dad taking a fall and laying there for hours
before discovery.
He went back in after xmas and came back out to "rehab".
This is where the hope began.
He was one of the few patients not in wheel chair
(He refused even a walker, only begrudgingly took a 4footed cane)
The therapist came to see him and they were going to spend the next week getting from bed to door.
He grabbed the cane, hobbled to the door and asked if they could go out in the hall.
They face palmed. (WOO HOO DAD!)
He proceded to manage his own rehab and in a week was back at Margarets where he was soon climbing stairs
there a half dozen times a day and helping walk the doog (Almost 1 mi on the flats)
Margaret is a mainstay in the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society and Dad eventually started coming to
some of the monthly parties.
Meanwhile Berkeley Folk Dancers was not sure they would ever see him again, that is until someone attended a p[arty and saw Dad there dancing with RSCDS.
It was decided that Dad life was in Berkely and he needed to eventually return home.
For the past several months, Ive been trying to declutter the house, keep 3.5 acres of gardens from dying,
look for work in IT, and do 5 hrs on gravyard 6 days a week at an Amazon sort facility.
Ive lost a bit more weight...
Easter weekend, something hit me and I spent a week on the bathroom floor alone.
I spent another week as a zombie doing nothing.
I am now taking body building supplements and am back up to 130 lbs.
This is both funny and scary as I broke 230 in the late 90s and until 2020,
I was fighting HARD to get my weight down! (Nervous laughter)
Some day, just to freak you all out, Ill have to trot out a pair of my pants from 1998.
1st Sunday in May, Dad returned home.
We did not need to have the "Driving talk" as he has announced on his own
that he thought he was done driving.
Hes more frail than he was and hes got some lossy spots in his vision.
On the other hand, hes out trimming a hedge today.
He has returned to Berkeley Folk Dancers 2 afternoons a week (intermediate level)
You should have seen the reaction when he walked in the room.
Last Sat he attended one of their bigger parties and it was fun watching the reaction of the whole party
when he walked in the room.
I dont think they were expecting to ever see him again.
I credit his time on the dance floor for his having survived those strokes.
FWIW, I get that whole "never say die" thing from both parents.
I actually take more after Mom than Dad.
Margaret is the one who took after Dad.
At the moment, I think Im stabilized.
In Dec, I was VERY freaked out, facing possible loss of my remaining parent
(Ive outlived all but my Dad & Sister), woried about living situation, future faire seasons etc.
I was a mess (OK a WORSE mess than USUAL...)
July 2024 is when time finally caught up with me, but I STILL insist on being the biggest 14 yr old
you ever met!
Something happened while I was working on the "Big Sort" libe in July 2024.
By the time we started building Nothern Faire last year, I was in trouble.
I had process assistants doing their best to keep me out of big sort.
First build weekend, I got off work before dawn and drove to Casa.
I dozed in the front seat of the car slightly reclining but not laying over.
Everyone was camping at just until rehearsal weekend.
I stumbled out of the car and headed for the guild yard.
I encountered our lord mayor "Geez! What the hell happened to YOU?"
I brought a cane.
As I warmed up i got a little better but I was no longer the "old guy that ran circles around the 20 yos"
That night, I rolled out a sleeping bag in a lounge chair.
The next morning, It took a half hr to get from horizontal to vertical and another half hr to get my pants on.
Next weekend, I managed to stagger out of the cat on Sat morning, and thngs improved as the day got warmer.
That night, we went to a BBQ in Holister hosted by a member of my guild (St Cuthberts).
By the end of the evening, Id probably had the equivalent of a whole bottle of red wine.
We returned to Casa and I popped by to visit those at Constables camp.
I was offered a "buttery nipple" and given the recipe and told to hit the ice chest on my own if I wanted another.
I ultimatelly made one big enough to fill my tankard.
I was moving better the next day only lightly using the cane.
Sharon noticed that I was still "lit" from the night before.
I made if through faire by getting totally trashed each Saturday night.
This is unsustainable but it got me through the season and by tear down, I took it easy and made it.
I had another go at Medicare but it didnt go well.
I can build a data centre from scratch, including floor loading calcs, power calcs, chiller calcs,
and even driving the darn forklift, but I cant make heads or tails out of that website.
I have no idea HOW the MAGATS are able to sign up for it and with my higher intelligence, I cant.
I know I have some gremlins waiting in the shadows and I need to jump on my own health.
At some point Im going to be in some real trouble.
Im trying to honor my promise to Dave, I promised not to die during faire season,
and most of all, not on site!
In 2011 I found a graphic art I can actually excell at (printing).
This spring, Im suddenly "jones-ing" to go into metal sculpture, dunno why.
Its going to be a while before I know how much of faire season Im going to be able to do.
It depends on whether Dad can be alone for a whole weekend and we wont know that for another month or two.
Ah yeah, the back thing.
Palmer Chiro College shutdown their San Jose campus and that was where I was getting my work done.
Im looking into new chiro clinics, and until then, I now sleep on kitchen floor and
never more than 4 hrs in a row.
If I sleep on a hard surface, in 4 hr chunks, the back seems to hold up.
I think those klingons are on to something.
There are a couple other medical gremlins that Ill spare you details.
Hes always been active, having met Mom in the UCB Hiking Club.
Mom got him into international Folk Dance in the early 50s and they were on the dance floor
several days a week for over 50 years.
Moms dementia finally took them off the floor for 5 years, and after her passing,
Dad returned to Berkeley Folk Dancers.
I credit this with his survival to this age and several small strokes last winter.
I grew up in a family that hiked, camped, skied and danced.
We didnt learn til last Dec that dad had had a couple short "spells" where he didnt feel good but
recovered quickly back in Oct Nov and early Dec.
Thursday night before Dickens closing, Dad had one that lasted about 5 mins.
He told me about it the next morning.
His physician was out for the weekend so we went to visit Urgent Care, and they sent us to Alta Bates ER.
They Sent him to Summit ER and he was finally admitted there.
My fears were confirmed, he was having a series of micro strokes.
I was expecting to get him back Monday before Xmas.
My sister is his health primary and in charge of the estate.
My job is to be the canary in the coal mine in case something happens, and something did.
(This is my "rent")
As Dickens was closing and during teardown, I had no idea if Dad was EVER returning to the family home
(Thus rendering me homeless), and if he did, I had no idea if I could be away from the house long
enough to do faire again.
He was out of the hospital before xmas and ensconced in my sisters guest room out in Livermore.
They are retired and always home, so there was no worry about Dad taking a fall and laying there for hours
before discovery.
He went back in after xmas and came back out to "rehab".
This is where the hope began.
He was one of the few patients not in wheel chair
(He refused even a walker, only begrudgingly took a 4footed cane)
The therapist came to see him and they were going to spend the next week getting from bed to door.
He grabbed the cane, hobbled to the door and asked if they could go out in the hall.
They face palmed. (WOO HOO DAD!)
He proceded to manage his own rehab and in a week was back at Margarets where he was soon climbing stairs
there a half dozen times a day and helping walk the doog (Almost 1 mi on the flats)
Margaret is a mainstay in the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society and Dad eventually started coming to
some of the monthly parties.
Meanwhile Berkeley Folk Dancers was not sure they would ever see him again, that is until someone attended a p[arty and saw Dad there dancing with RSCDS.
It was decided that Dad life was in Berkely and he needed to eventually return home.
For the past several months, Ive been trying to declutter the house, keep 3.5 acres of gardens from dying,
look for work in IT, and do 5 hrs on gravyard 6 days a week at an Amazon sort facility.
Ive lost a bit more weight...
Easter weekend, something hit me and I spent a week on the bathroom floor alone.
I spent another week as a zombie doing nothing.
I am now taking body building supplements and am back up to 130 lbs.
This is both funny and scary as I broke 230 in the late 90s and until 2020,
I was fighting HARD to get my weight down! (Nervous laughter)
Some day, just to freak you all out, Ill have to trot out a pair of my pants from 1998.
1st Sunday in May, Dad returned home.
We did not need to have the "Driving talk" as he has announced on his own
that he thought he was done driving.
Hes more frail than he was and hes got some lossy spots in his vision.
On the other hand, hes out trimming a hedge today.
He has returned to Berkeley Folk Dancers 2 afternoons a week (intermediate level)
You should have seen the reaction when he walked in the room.
Last Sat he attended one of their bigger parties and it was fun watching the reaction of the whole party
when he walked in the room.
I dont think they were expecting to ever see him again.
I credit his time on the dance floor for his having survived those strokes.
FWIW, I get that whole "never say die" thing from both parents.
I actually take more after Mom than Dad.
Margaret is the one who took after Dad.
At the moment, I think Im stabilized.
In Dec, I was VERY freaked out, facing possible loss of my remaining parent
(Ive outlived all but my Dad & Sister), woried about living situation, future faire seasons etc.
I was a mess (OK a WORSE mess than USUAL...)
July 2024 is when time finally caught up with me, but I STILL insist on being the biggest 14 yr old
you ever met!
Something happened while I was working on the "Big Sort" libe in July 2024.
By the time we started building Nothern Faire last year, I was in trouble.
I had process assistants doing their best to keep me out of big sort.
First build weekend, I got off work before dawn and drove to Casa.
I dozed in the front seat of the car slightly reclining but not laying over.
Everyone was camping at just until rehearsal weekend.
I stumbled out of the car and headed for the guild yard.
I encountered our lord mayor "Geez! What the hell happened to YOU?"
I brought a cane.
As I warmed up i got a little better but I was no longer the "old guy that ran circles around the 20 yos"
That night, I rolled out a sleeping bag in a lounge chair.
The next morning, It took a half hr to get from horizontal to vertical and another half hr to get my pants on.
Next weekend, I managed to stagger out of the cat on Sat morning, and thngs improved as the day got warmer.
That night, we went to a BBQ in Holister hosted by a member of my guild (St Cuthberts).
By the end of the evening, Id probably had the equivalent of a whole bottle of red wine.
We returned to Casa and I popped by to visit those at Constables camp.
I was offered a "buttery nipple" and given the recipe and told to hit the ice chest on my own if I wanted another.
I ultimatelly made one big enough to fill my tankard.
I was moving better the next day only lightly using the cane.
Sharon noticed that I was still "lit" from the night before.
I made if through faire by getting totally trashed each Saturday night.
This is unsustainable but it got me through the season and by tear down, I took it easy and made it.
I had another go at Medicare but it didnt go well.
I can build a data centre from scratch, including floor loading calcs, power calcs, chiller calcs,
and even driving the darn forklift, but I cant make heads or tails out of that website.
I have no idea HOW the MAGATS are able to sign up for it and with my higher intelligence, I cant.
I know I have some gremlins waiting in the shadows and I need to jump on my own health.
At some point Im going to be in some real trouble.
Im trying to honor my promise to Dave, I promised not to die during faire season,
and most of all, not on site!
In 2011 I found a graphic art I can actually excell at (printing).
This spring, Im suddenly "jones-ing" to go into metal sculpture, dunno why.
Its going to be a while before I know how much of faire season Im going to be able to do.
It depends on whether Dad can be alone for a whole weekend and we wont know that for another month or two.
Ah yeah, the back thing.
Palmer Chiro College shutdown their San Jose campus and that was where I was getting my work done.
Im looking into new chiro clinics, and until then, I now sleep on kitchen floor and
never more than 4 hrs in a row.
If I sleep on a hard surface, in 4 hr chunks, the back seems to hold up.
I think those klingons are on to something.
There are a couple other medical gremlins that Ill spare you details.
