LeeLee's Not So Secret Diary

In February 2023, I got a phone call that my Stepdad Russ went to the hospital by ambulance. It was in the middle of the night and he couldn’t get out up out of his chair to go to bed. When the police and paramedics tried lifting him out of his chair, his legs buckled and as he was dropping to the floor, everyone heard a snap. He ended up getting fractures in his back.

He eventually got transferred to a nursing home (the name of that nursing home will be in a different blog) where he was going to have to have physical therapy because he still had no use of his legs. When he got to the nursing home, they put him in a room and had left him there for hours. My Mom went to the nurses and said he needs his medication and he was just left alone without knowing what was going on. He didn’t know what to do.

Fast forward a little bit. One day, my Mom couldn’t get a hold of Russ. She called several times throughout the day & evening. Anyone who knows Russ, knows that he called my mother several times throughout the day every day. Short story (I will reserve the longer version for a later time), Russ was very sick and an ambulance was called.

He ended up back in the hospital with sepsis, pneumonia and a uti. He got better and went to a different nursing home where he started physical therapy to try to gain strength again to stand and walk.

My mom & I had made plans for me to go out to NY for a vacation in late April while Russ was still in the nursing home. While I was out there, we got the call that Russ was getting out of the nursing home and coming home.

On May 3rd 2024, Russ came home. His medications had been switched around and some new ones were added, he still didn’t walk well and they sent him home with a wheelchair and a walker. I ended up going through all his medications and finally got them organized after a few hours. I ended up taking over filling his meds into pill boxes and wrote down the schedule for them etc. Mom was still working at the time so I stayed with Russ during the day.

After a few days of him being home, my lovely husband Tim & I discussed that I was probably going to have to stay out there to help both Russ and my Mom. His physical therapist, occupational therapist and social worker told us that he would not be able to be left alone at all. He was not stable enough on his feet. He would need a walker or wheelchair to go to the bathroom etc. He was not able to care for himself. My mom said she was going to have to retire early (she had a plan to retire at the end of August) and that is when we told her no, that I was going to stay until she retired. I ended up having to give up my Nanny job with Ryder back in Wisconsin which I really loved and was my dream job. It made me sad but I knew I was needed more in NY at this time.