A Sad Situation

I didn’t end up going to my mom and dads on Father’s Day after all. I was really sore from working the day before and was just tired so I stayed home and relaxed for awhile then showered and laid down to read before bed. 

I worked yesterday and it went well. He asked me to wash his hands and use the pumice stone on these calluses he gets on his fingers. I guess sometimes he sweats on his upper chest and arms and hands and the sweat causes these calluses. Something to do with the salt. It was a little bit hard doing it because his chair barely fits in his small kitchen and I had to squeeze into the small opening and bend forward to reach his hands into the water. It really hurt my back. It already hurts alot because I spend most of the 5hr shift sitting near him and stretching to extend his drink to his lips as well as his cigarettes and sitting like that for that long is straining my back. I’m not going to complain though. He has it alot worse than me. He became quadriplegic in 2006 from an ATV accident. Been chair ridden ever since. I can’t imagine having my life change that drastically after an accident.

His wife up and left him several years after the accident leaving her toddler boy behind for him and his family to take care of. Now his son is having some serious issues. He’s become very antisocial, stopped hanging out with his friends and doesn’t want to go back to school. He wants to continue on homeschooling which he’s only been doing since Covid. His dad finally contacted a counselor and they’ve determined him to be depressed, has  anxiety and has asperger’s syndrome. It runs in his family. The depression stems from his mom walking out of his life then just a couple years ago he lost his grandma who was more of a mother to him since that happened. He’s deathly afraid of bugs. He won’t take the garbage out until after dark because he thinks there are less bugs then. He won’t go outside at all until it’s absolutely necessary. He’s 14yrs old and is 6’5″. He’s a big boy! And he’s a really sweet boy. He takes care of his dad alot too. He knows his dad’s urine bag is usually full by 6am so he sets his alarm everyday to go empty it and turn his dad. Then he goes back to sleep if he can. Sometimes he can’t and he stays up until late afternoon when he passes out for several hours. Last night he didn’t wake up until I was leaving at 9pm and only then because I had to wake him up to visit with his dad until the nighttime help arrived. It’s gotta take a toll on him.

I just want to get to know them both very well and be there for them. I’m hoping this job is a long term job and I’m the for years to come. It all depends on how I hold up physically and where he plans to move to. He said he’s planning to move in the next year or so. So we’ll see. 

Today I don’t work and I was planning on doing some housework and cooking dinner later tonight but I’m really sore so I’m relaxing until close to dinnertime.  Then I’m going to do the dishes and make Chinese Pineapple Chicken for dinner. 

That’s all folks! I’ll be back again in a couple days. Take care!