the unexpected phone call

What a week it has been. I was feeling lazy on Monday, since it was a holiday, and wasn't very productive. Tuesday I kicked my butt into gear and became productive, which continued into Wednesday. Then it all came to a screeching halt with a phone call on Wednesday evening.

My 87 year old parents had an accident with the car. Mom and Dad had returned home from a morning errand. Dad pulled up to the entrance to their building to let Mom off on the sidewalk so she wouldn't have to step over a snow bank to get out of the car. They live in New Hampshire where it has been one snow storm after another. From what I understand, when my Dad started to pull away, the car was stuck in a snow rut. He gave it some gas, the car lurched free, jumped the sidewalk and hit my mother. She has hospitalized with a severely torn up leg, but thankfully no broken bones. She had surgery to clean up the wound and will need skin grafts over the next few weeks. They sent her home last night with a wound-vac to aid in healing. A nurse will come a few times a week to change that and a physical therapist will start coming today. Thankfully, my sister, who teaches middle school, is on February break will be able to stay with them until we feel comfortable leaving them overnight. 

Right now I can't even wrap my head around how my father is dealing with this accident. I am surprised he didn't go into cardiac arrest when it happened. He was really shook up when he called my sister. They don't have a cell phone and he had trouble finding the address book with all of our numbers... my mother does the phone talking for the two of them. I haven't slept well for the past three nights. My brain won't shut down and it keeps running this event over and over.

My siblings and I are glad that the parents are no longer in their house and are in a senior living apartment. They made that decision on their own, two years ago. I am not looking forward to the next conversation with them... perhaps it's time to stop driving. My Dad had a minor accident last winter too.  We are hoping that this decision will come from them as well.

Dealing with aging parents can be so difficult and complex. Being 800+ miles away doesn't make it any easier.


P.S. The lidded oval was from the last firing, it doesn't have anything to with this post aside from taking the edge off of the "omg that's terrible" factor!