Back in September of last year, we lost my mother-in-law to pancreatic cancer and we've been dealing with the various tasks that need to be done in the aftermath of her passing.
One such task is getting my father-in-law to his doctor's appointments. Seems like that would be one of the easier tasks, but the reality has been far from easy.
My mother-in-law was Dad's caretaker. She made sure he was fed, took his meds, and made it to see his doctors. With her gone, Dad has moved in with my brother-in-law and his wife. My brother-in-law lives about a 35 minute drive away from me and my family. And the doctor's office is another 40 minute drive from there. My in-laws had lived about an hour north of us.
My brother-in-law, his wife, and I all work during the day, while my wife is a stay at home mom, so the task of getting Dad to the doctor has gone to her. Part of the agenda when Dad gets to the doctor is to get a referral to a doctor closer to the Twin Cities, or, at least, closer to where Dad is currently living.
We've been trying to get him to his doctor since December!
Every time his appointment day arrives it coincides with a snow storm or a bitterly cold day. And I mean high temperatures below zero degrees Fahrenheit bitterly cold. We have a '97 Plymouth Grand Voyager with over 170,000 miles on it and we don't want to chance it in that kind of weather, so the appointment gets rescheduled. Again and again.
The appointment has been rescheduled four or five times now!
Before you freak out, Dad's appointment is in the check-up vein and not necessarily a dire need to immediately consult his physician.
One rescheduling was technically due to a play being put on by my son's class, in which he was the lead. As typical proud parents, we did not want to miss that. But the reason we had to reschedule for the play was due to the fact that the play had been postponed due to (any guesses?) winter weather. You see, we have had five days this winter that were so cold the State of Minnesota had declared all public school classes canceled.
So, the play had been rescheduled on the same day of one of Dad's many rescheduled appointments. The weather, if indirectly in this case, was still playing havoc with us.
The rescheduling was made. The appointment is set for tomorrow. Can you guess what the weather forecast calls for? It calls for five to seven inches of snow and blizzard like conditions.
This winter, I tell ya.
My brother-in-law, his wife, and I all work during the day, while my wife is a stay at home mom, so the task of getting Dad to the doctor has gone to her. Part of the agenda when Dad gets to the doctor is to get a referral to a doctor closer to the Twin Cities, or, at least, closer to where Dad is currently living.
We've been trying to get him to his doctor since December!
Every time his appointment day arrives it coincides with a snow storm or a bitterly cold day. And I mean high temperatures below zero degrees Fahrenheit bitterly cold. We have a '97 Plymouth Grand Voyager with over 170,000 miles on it and we don't want to chance it in that kind of weather, so the appointment gets rescheduled. Again and again.
The appointment has been rescheduled four or five times now!
Before you freak out, Dad's appointment is in the check-up vein and not necessarily a dire need to immediately consult his physician.
One rescheduling was technically due to a play being put on by my son's class, in which he was the lead. As typical proud parents, we did not want to miss that. But the reason we had to reschedule for the play was due to the fact that the play had been postponed due to (any guesses?) winter weather. You see, we have had five days this winter that were so cold the State of Minnesota had declared all public school classes canceled.
So, the play had been rescheduled on the same day of one of Dad's many rescheduled appointments. The weather, if indirectly in this case, was still playing havoc with us.
The rescheduling was made. The appointment is set for tomorrow. Can you guess what the weather forecast calls for? It calls for five to seven inches of snow and blizzard like conditions.
This winter, I tell ya.
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