Welcome to another gripping tale of the Smyth house of horrors.

For this installment, let’s start with the morning’s trials and trying moments.

Dave got up at midnight and says he could not go back to sleep. I was sleeping like the dead, and never heard a thing. I woke myself up, realized he was in the kitchen getting ready for work and tried to shake off the fog to rouse myself out of bed. Just as I was doing this, he came in the bedroom to tell me Dad was in his chair, take my time, he had already removed the wet clothes and tossed them into the laundry room.

I got myself up and going, and went to fetch Dad’s hearing aids, watch, and doorbell. That’s when I noticed the wet pad still on the bed and one of his wet undergarments just under the bed. Really David? He must have been super tired this morning. Anyway, I texted him about it later and he said he had already thrown one in the trash, so is Dad going through multiple undergarments at night? UGH!

Next, I brought Dad his hearing aids, but before I gave them to him, I noticed the piece that goes in his ears needed to be changed. Thinking I was ahead of the game and doing something nice, I went to get the replacements and put them on, then he attempted to put them in. That’s when I saw the frown. He handed one back, claiming it needed a new battery. “Is it dead” I asked “I just changed them last week!” He just kept frowning, so I went and got a new one.

I proceeded to make his coffee and mine, and brought him his yogurt. I noticed as I was trying to catch up on my emails, that he was struggling with the coffee cup, which is actually MY thermos brand travel coffee mug. His other mug with a lid I had been using is toast and we need to get him a new one. This one is very tall and hard for him to manage, but yesterday he did fine with it. Not this morning. He literally had to sit up from his formerly reclined position to drink from it. I wrote him a message on his whiteboard that we will be getting him a new one soon, because his is broken.

Soon it was time for breakfast and I gave him three choices, he picked oatmeal, and for once, I didn’t boil it over in the microwave. Score one for me. I gave him oatmeal, a home made blueberry muffin, a pear, some milk and juice, and his medicine. He had to go to the bathroom before it was all eaten, but I guess he was full, so it didn’t matter.

I am expecting more fireworks when his speech therapist shows up later, so I am not telling him she is coming. Not after last week when he threw a hissy fit. His behavior was so bad, all three of us were upset and I’m hoping today goes more smoothly, since she was only going to organize the cards I made into a notebook or something easier for him to use. My idea for a flip chart flopped, but she liked it and thought she could do something better with it. We will see!

The weeds in the garden have taken over, but I can’t go outside and work because I won’t be able to hear the doorbell…unless…wait! I can take the ringer and possibly plug it into the one plug we have outside! If he wasn’t napping right now, I’d take him out with me, and he could just sit on the patio and watch…or nap most likely. Maybe I’ll get as much writing done as I can and we can go out later. Just maybe.

I scheduled him for his hearing test with the VA for the 18th, when my brother will be home to help me take him. Pray it goes well, I think his hearing has gotten worse, and he can get new hearing aids free through the VA. I also need to reschedule his neurology appointment and his skin doctor needs to see his head as well. Someday, we will also have to get him to his cardiologist (all of these are his regular doctors outside the VA) but not until I can have help to get him there. I don’t trust myself or him to be able to walk on the walker to these appointments. It is easier in the wheelchair, which I cannot get inside and out of my car.

It would be wonderful if I had another source of help besides my traveling brother or my working husband and boys. But it is what it is.

Stay tuned for another gripping installment of the Smyth house of horrors as we struggle to get through the scariest month of the year. 😉

(All of this was tongue in cheek of course, but totally true. I wish my house was already decorated for Halloween, so I could use it as a prompt photo, haha)