Stages

To continue the introspective mood I've been in lately, I offer these thoughts.

I remember, at about the age of 20, that I had a small list of life questions. They were intended to be funny (I was just discovering that I not only had a sense of humor, but other people laughed at my jokes, too,) but they were things I was genuinely curious about.

Yes, I know it's hard to believe that I haven't always been outspoken and ready to just say whatever I think, but it's true. I spent a great deal of my childhood and youth being quiet and standing on the fringes. I put up with a lot of shit. And most of the time I just let it go.

So I had some questions.

You know how you see some older women greet each other with hugs and sometimes over the top enthusiasm? At what age does that start to look like a good option?

That was one of my questions. And in the past few years, I have become those women. I don't know why. I was never like that. It's not that I didn't like my friends, or even that I didn't hug people on occasion. It just wasn't a standard greeting for me and I would never even consider talking loudly and having everyone in the restaurant (or other location) stop and look at me. Again, I was a fringe person.

I had other questions.
I wondered when I'd get to the stage in life where I'd lament that my parents refuse to listen to me.

It's been several years since that one happened, actually. They aggravate me because I love them. I don't know more than they do about everything, but I do about some things...

From a  2008 post
A few years back, I was at my mom and dad's house when they received a notification in Saturday's mail that they'd won a share of a multimillion dollar prize in a sweepstakes they hadn't even entered. All they had to do was send in $100.00 in 'administrative costs' to claim their share of the prize.

They were really excited. I told them it was a scam, and they didn't want to hear it. I explained that if you have to send money, it's usually a ripoff. It's on the news all the time.

They argued with me about it. "It says right here in black and white that we get a share!!"

I asked them to please at least wait until Monday to check it out with the AG office in Oregon. They (finally) agreed and left it on the counter in the kitchen, dreams of big bucks dancing in their heads.

I was examining it late on Sunday afternoon, and happened to turn it over. On the back, in a gray so light it was nearly transparent, were some words to the effect that the maximum share of the cash prize was $25.00.

I pointed it out to them and of course they were pissed off and embarrassed. But fortunately they did not send any money to the Canadian address they had been asked to send it to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In 2015 my dad fell for the grandparent scam. He wired money to Sacramento to save his grandson Jeremy from jail. Only Jeremy wasn't in jail. Or Sacramento. And it wasn't him on the telephone. I was so angry then. Not at my dad, of course. Angry at the scumbags that would use his love for his family against him. Not a good time for my parents at all.
I wish they'd called me. Or someone. At least check it out. Nope.

And my mom just doesn't listen to me.

About two weeks ago, my mom was peeing blood. Or more technically, had some blood in her pee.

(For my wilting flower readers, urine. Wouldn't want to offend anyone.)

So she called her doctor. Went to the clinic where she peed in a cup. They said something like 'yeah there's blood' and 'here, take this Cipro'. They did not culture the urine sample to see what infection she had, either.

Just sent her on her way after prescribing a last resort medication as their first choice.

Jesus wept.

I told her then that Cipro is a nasty medication, that it made me really sick and has damaged a lot of people and that it's not good for anyone, but is particularly bad for elderly people. I told her that she should ask for a different medication if possible. Not that she listened.

A couple days later she was feeling much worse. She didn't consider that a UTI should not make you feel miserable. She was unable to get dressed or do anything at all. Then, she finished the medicine and started feeling better. In HER mind she felt better because the medicine worked!!

In my mind, she felt better because she wasn't taking poison three times a day.

She was peeing blood again this week. So she called the clinic. Her doctor wasn't in, so the PA just prescribed another round of Cipro. So they didn't ask her to come in and pee in a cup so obviously they didn't culture the sample AGAIN and AGAIN she is sicker than hell. When I asked her to consider the fact that the medicine is making her sick, she said, "Well I only have two more doses to take."

GAHHHHHHHHHHHH.

So after we messaged back and forth awhile, I have learned that she is calling the clinic again tomorrow and going to ask them if they cultured the first sample (No, they didn't, they dumped it out and they don't give a shit) and then go up and find out if the infection is gone.

But she won't even ask them about the medication and if they want to give it to her again, she won't even blink.

She has been unable to even get up and get dressed. And if you knew my mom, you wouldn't even believe that. She gets up and gets dressed no matter what. She thinks sitting around in her pajamas is lazy, a side effect of her upbringing.
And she's felt so bad (steadily worse) that she is just sitting.

And she still doesn't make the correlation between the bad medicine and how she's feeling.
Gahhhhhhhhhhh.

I don't like this stage. I really don't.