Like My Dad Says: "When it Rains..."

It Pours.

My dad came home last Tuesday, he's been recovering in his own recliner for over a week now. His medication has been adjusted to curb the pain and treat the infection in his arm from where the vein for his bypass was taken. I have high hopes he'll recover all use of that arm and hand. He's on the road to good health. My grandmother came down from Wisconsin to help around the house and keep an eye on him when my mom is out.
This past Tuesday my grandmother was admitted to the hospital for skyrocketing blood pressure. She is still there and the cause is still unknown. Unfortunately, she's in an unfamiliar state and unfamiliar hospital with unfamiliar doctors.
My mom is now torn in too many ways - visiting and keeping up with my grandmother at Fairfax Hospital... taking care of my dad at home... running errands for medications and doctor visits... keeping up with her job... and countless other tasks of managing day to day life. I can guarantee she isn't eating right or getting any sleep. I imagine going to the grocery store or filling the car with gas seem like insurmoutable tasks some days.
I find it hard to believe that of the 3 closest family members I have outside my own little family, two of them are ill. Not just ill, but seriously ill. And oh yeah, I think I've mentioned this before... I'm in freaking India.
If I were home, I would take some of the tasks off my mother's shoulders. Sitting at the hospital, calling in prescriptions, making meals. But I'm not and the best I can do, the little I can do, is sit here, get e-mail updates and pray for all of them. It's rather pathetic.
In other news, and at this point it's some of the "who cares?" variety, I lost the sapphire off my necklace. For Christmas Ian had given me a necklace and anklet set. In February I had my sapphire from another chain reset to fit my new necklace. Yesterday, my chain felt odd so I tried to adjust it only to find that the clasp had opened and the pendant was gone. Not on a day I'd spent at home of course, but on the day I shared lunch with Ian at the Consulate, watched the girls do their afterschool swim, dropped off film for developing. I have little hope of finding it, but I'm not crushed. More resigned and disappointed, in a sad way of acceptance.
The kids got their report cards yesterday. Academically fine. Katherine didn't get her reading score up to an A like she wanted, but did pull the C up to a B+. Rebecca and Nicholas need more computer work, and everyone but Rebecca need an attitude adjustment. Katherine is pushy and bossy, Nicholas is too rough and Jonathon is the class clown.
Life goes on. Even in India.