Unrestful night, things aren't normal in the environment, but it is a new day.
Drive 3/4 of a mile to other house, pick up Dan, bring him here so he can use internet connection (had he not had a laptop of his own, he would have been SOL) and phone.
I get phone work done, make contact with the Best Medical Facility on the Planet and arrange to have medical releases for Dan's records to be faxed from his previous care providers. I start in on the noon meal while Dan is sitting in my office (which is really the dining room) and calling Social Security, updating his "new" address, doing who knows what online and calling God knows who. Of course, his cell phone network doesn't work out here in the cornfields of good old Iowa.
He comes in the kitchen and asks, "What do you take for pain? My legs are hurting."
I was waiting for that classic question and it sure didn't take long at all. The icing is now being put on the proverbial cake so, I hand him OTC ibuprofen. I tell him, "Take 3". That satisfies him. He goes back to whatever he was doing, I continue to fix a meal.
Noon arrives, the men come in to eat, we get the noon meal done and I decide to take him to town with me, to the grocery store, get him a few more groceries and I needed to get chicken feed and other stuff. I turn him loose in the grocery store, telling him, "get what you need for several days" because I'm trying to impress upon him, we don't make 56 mile round trips to town every other day.
On the way out of the grocery store, I run into an old friend whom I've not seen for at least 2 years- in fact, not since I was on treatment. She's in a motorized wheelchair, smiling and genuinely glad to see me, as I am to see her. I take the time to visit (as I normally do with people I know in my community) and make it a point to REALLY take some time, because it is obvious that Dan is beginning to lose patience. He's sitting on the bench at the front of the store, with his head on the cart, behaving like a child that just figured out that the world doesn't revolve around him. I refuse to rush my old friend, chatting with her, learning that she is gearing up for a kidney transplant and also made it to the Best Clinic on the Planet, so we had much to chat about!
Dan is pouting. He's out of his element, his lack of social skills are rearing up and he's not handling my attention not being focused on him. I have, at this point, realized that this is going to only get worse, because no doubt, he's going to eventually start acting out.
During the ride home, he mentions, "When I looked at your pictures on your site, I thought you spent a lot of time downloading photos from the internet, I didn't realize that they were taken by you". I found that statement really strange and it stood out when something occurred later that evening.
We get back home, I drop him off with his food, tell him I'll be back later on that evening. Husband and I return later, before dark and he's got all the windows (even the ones lacking screens) wide open, the screen door is propped open with a shovel. The vacuum cleaner is sitting outside on the patio and I said, "You need to close this house up before you have every single insect on the farm in here".
He claims it smells "musty". I reply, "Turn on the air". I shut the windows and doors. Husband and I visit for a little bit, making small talk, he shows us a "picture" of his grandson, who doesn't resemble his ethnic heritage in the least. Dan is of Hispanic/Mexican descent, both sides and this "boy" he's showing us a photo of isn't even close. He only has ONE photo of ONE grandchild, he has been claiming he has 6 grandchildren, 4 children and he doesn't have any other photos of these people. My radar is working overtime.
Drive 3/4 of a mile to other house, pick up Dan, bring him here so he can use internet connection (had he not had a laptop of his own, he would have been SOL) and phone.
I get phone work done, make contact with the Best Medical Facility on the Planet and arrange to have medical releases for Dan's records to be faxed from his previous care providers. I start in on the noon meal while Dan is sitting in my office (which is really the dining room) and calling Social Security, updating his "new" address, doing who knows what online and calling God knows who. Of course, his cell phone network doesn't work out here in the cornfields of good old Iowa.
He comes in the kitchen and asks, "What do you take for pain? My legs are hurting."
I was waiting for that classic question and it sure didn't take long at all. The icing is now being put on the proverbial cake so, I hand him OTC ibuprofen. I tell him, "Take 3". That satisfies him. He goes back to whatever he was doing, I continue to fix a meal.
Noon arrives, the men come in to eat, we get the noon meal done and I decide to take him to town with me, to the grocery store, get him a few more groceries and I needed to get chicken feed and other stuff. I turn him loose in the grocery store, telling him, "get what you need for several days" because I'm trying to impress upon him, we don't make 56 mile round trips to town every other day.
On the way out of the grocery store, I run into an old friend whom I've not seen for at least 2 years- in fact, not since I was on treatment. She's in a motorized wheelchair, smiling and genuinely glad to see me, as I am to see her. I take the time to visit (as I normally do with people I know in my community) and make it a point to REALLY take some time, because it is obvious that Dan is beginning to lose patience. He's sitting on the bench at the front of the store, with his head on the cart, behaving like a child that just figured out that the world doesn't revolve around him. I refuse to rush my old friend, chatting with her, learning that she is gearing up for a kidney transplant and also made it to the Best Clinic on the Planet, so we had much to chat about!
Dan is pouting. He's out of his element, his lack of social skills are rearing up and he's not handling my attention not being focused on him. I have, at this point, realized that this is going to only get worse, because no doubt, he's going to eventually start acting out.
During the ride home, he mentions, "When I looked at your pictures on your site, I thought you spent a lot of time downloading photos from the internet, I didn't realize that they were taken by you". I found that statement really strange and it stood out when something occurred later that evening.
We get back home, I drop him off with his food, tell him I'll be back later on that evening. Husband and I return later, before dark and he's got all the windows (even the ones lacking screens) wide open, the screen door is propped open with a shovel. The vacuum cleaner is sitting outside on the patio and I said, "You need to close this house up before you have every single insect on the farm in here".
He claims it smells "musty". I reply, "Turn on the air". I shut the windows and doors. Husband and I visit for a little bit, making small talk, he shows us a "picture" of his grandson, who doesn't resemble his ethnic heritage in the least. Dan is of Hispanic/Mexican descent, both sides and this "boy" he's showing us a photo of isn't even close. He only has ONE photo of ONE grandchild, he has been claiming he has 6 grandchildren, 4 children and he doesn't have any other photos of these people. My radar is working overtime.
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