Chapter 3
Kat
“Oh my Katie girl, thank goodness. Can you get me out of here?”
Dad sat up in his hospital bed, pulling the gown over his shoulder where it had slipped down. His hair was disheveled and sticking up in all directions. My chest tightened. When was the last time he had it cut?
“That’s the plan.” I plastered on a smile. “How are you feeling?”
“Great, just ready to go home.” His eyes darted around the room and he leaned in with a whisper. “They’re keeping me here against my will. I had to fight one of them last night. I don’t know what he was trying to do to me, but I wasn’t about to let it happen.”
“You fought with someone? Again?” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
It was 9am, but it had been a long twenty-four hours.
After I hung up with the doctor yesterday, I’d gone back to Becky and signed the paperwork for six weeks of family leave.
Not all the fluffy changes the firm had made were bad.
Along with the silly job titles, they’d added a slew of benefits to help with work-life balance.
My workload was reassigned to the senior financial manager, giving her a temporary jump in status.
I’d offered to work remotely, but my CEO turned that down.
Said she needed someone completely focused on the budget presentation, and if I was dividing my time between that and taking care of my father, I might make mistakes.
That stung. Had working fifty-hour weeks for the last five years not proven my dedication? I could have handled both.
But I respected her decision and briefed the interim CFO.
Then I went home and got my townhouse in order.
Not that it required much. With no pets, roommates, or living plants, all I had to do was double check the security system and ask my busybody neighbor to do what she does best: spy on my place and report anything unusual. She was thrilled.
The door to my father’s room pushed open, interrupting my thoughts. A middle-aged doctor with graying hair and kind eyes stepped through.
Dad cleared his throat, drawing my attention back to him.
He looked so small in the hospital bed. Dad had always been a larger-than-life character, mucking through the woods with a gun strapped to his waist and a dog by his side.
Even though we didn’t see each other often, he’d made sure to make every moment count when I visited.
If I’d just given him an ounce of the concern he’d always shown me, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
Maybe I would have seen the signs sooner, gotten him help—
“Be careful,” he whispered, nodding toward the doctor. “Morning, Doc,” he said, his volume back to normal. “It’s wonderful to see you again.”
“You too, Mr. Evans. I hear you had another exciting night.”
“If you mean another night where I had to fight off strange men, then yes. But I protected myself. And now my daughter Katie is here, so I can get my pigs and go. I need to see Noodle. She’s probably messed up the whole house, poor girl.
” His eyes narrowed. “I’ve never been to a farm where they forced the buyer to spend the night, and I have to say I don’t like it.
I won’t be doing business with you lot ever again. ”
Tears filled my eyes and I quickly blinked them away. I could feel shitty about myself later. Right now, I needed to focus on my dad and what he needed.
“As I told you before, Mr. Evans, I couldn’t release you to go home alone. But now that your daughter is here, if she’s going to be staying with you…” He looked at me and I nodded.
“Yes. I’ll be staying for the next six weeks.”
“Perfect. I’ll get the paperwork started and a nurse will be in shortly to go over his medications and discharge instructions. A social worker will be in touch later to set up any additional services you may want. She doesn’t work weekends, but she’ll call on Monday.”
“Um, yeah, okay.” I looked back over at my dad, who had dozed off. I guess fighting all night took it out of him. “Can you go over what happened again? I don’t understand how he came in for a heart problem and ended up in la-la land.”
The doctor nodded. “Of course. As it generally happens with dementia, being out of his home environment was an additional stress. He became combative at night and couldn’t remember where he was or why he was here.”
“Wait, what? Did you say dementia? Since when?” There was a time when I never missed our weekly Sunday call. Then it was the monthly call. And now… fuck.
“It’s something he’s discussed with his primary care physician over the last year, according to his chart. He’s become increasingly concerned over memory loss and bouts of confusion. The social worker will get you the appointments you need to get a formal diagnosis.”
My stomach bottomed out. “I had no idea.”
“Don’t feel too bad,” he said gently. “That’s not unusual, especially with folks who live alone.
If there were someone else with him, they might have picked up the signs more quickly or pushed him to get these appointments sooner.
” He shrugged. “But we’re here now. And you can help him with the decisions he’ll need to make. ”
“What kinds of decisions?”
“You may find that once your father gets back home, he snaps out of whatever delusion he was in and returns to the father you remember. Typically, that’s what happens.
But the fact remains that he could go back into that state again.
Living alone is no longer an option. He’ll either need in-home care or to move into an assisted living facility.
But you don’t have to worry about that today. ”
I rubbed my eyes. “If he’s already talked to his doctor, that must mean he’s already been thinking about it.
And since he’s all alone, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind downsizing and moving to a facility.
I hear they’re pretty nice these days. In fact, knowing him, he’s probably got it all set up and all I need to do is help him pack. ”
The doctor raised his hand to cover a cough. Or was that… a snort?
“I’m sure you two will work it out. If I don’t see you again, have a great visit.” He walked from the room, leaving me with the snores and beeps, wondering what I was about to get myself into.