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I talk about how we may not be able to do Christmas this year as we are really tight on money (Off topic, and not in the podcast, I’m not really that much into the holiday anyway and it isn’t any skin off my teeth if the whole thing would just go away, but to each his own!).

We went to visit my sister-in-law for Thanksgiving and brought Dwight’s senile Uncle Clifford. On the way back, he was in some fantasy world in which he had left his keys to his house in Portland, Oregon (which we assume was sold for back taxes about 8-9 years ago) at his neighbor’s across the street and he didn’t know how he would be able to get back into his house. Then he was worried that he left his second wife Ruth as well as her mother somewhere and she would be worried about him. He doesn’t talk about Ruth much–she apparently left him for another man and she’s probably also long dead. So it was an excruciating drive for me.

As it’s the first day of Christmas season (yuck), I play “Santa Claus is Freaking Me Out” by Lord Weatherby. I read his blurb from Garageband.com, but I got the MP3 from MusicAlley from Mevio. I hope you enjoy it, you crazy Christmas-type people, you.

Flyswatter Show

 

Liberal. Atheist. Vegan. Different.

Voicemail: 678-368-4935.

Today I took Dwight’s Uncle Clifford to the doctor for a complete physical. For a man his age with his poor cognitive abilities, he is doing pretty well. He had an EKG and a chest xray, as well as a prostate exam, which he absolutely didn’t want but the doctor insisted he have.

Last night I was looking around on the internet and I found out the most horrible story on The Guardian. It seems this Belgian man named Rom Houben was in a horrible car wreck in 1983, which left him unable to communicate. Doctors mistakenly thought he was in a vegetative state, not realizing that his brain functioning was normal and he merely couldn’t communicate but could hear every word his doctors said. 23 years later, Dr. Steven Laureys, a neurologist at the University of Liège did a specialized brain scan on him and discovered his plight. How he knew to do this the article does not say, but man, what a horribly frustrating life this poor man must have lived. He is now being trained to use a keyboard with his right hand, which still has some movement and says that the day he was found was the day he was reborn.

Dr. Laureys says that it has been his experience that around 40% of those patients that he has examined who were thought to be in a vegetative state were found to have some brain function.

Now I have a new phobia to keep me awake at night. It’s like being buried alive!

I play a cool cover of Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” by the 80s band The Joneses. It can be found on their double album Criminals / Tits and Champagne according to their MySpace page. At any rate, I found the song on MusicAlley.

Flyswatter Show

 

Liberal. Atheist. Vegan. Different.

Voicemail: 678-368-4935.

I’m using my Zoom H2 as a microphone, recording directly into the computer while I am waiting for my replacement USB audio interface device to come in. Let me know what you think the sound is like. I’m finding it a little cold-sounding, but it might be fine.

If you listened to this show last year, you might have heard about Dwight’s Uncle Clifford, who moved in with us after Dwight’s mom died. Clifford is 87 years old and is suffering from Alzheimers, and last summer he developed a heart condition and had to be hospitalized. It was suggested by the social worker at the hospital that we get him moved to a nursing facility, and so we did. He is living in a small group care home.

We found out, from looking through some of his old papers when he moved out, that he was actually in the Merchant Marines for a short time during World War II, and actually joined up a week before the Japanese surrendered. So we sent off to the Veterans Association and their paperwork showed it was actually a day before the last day of war, but no matter. He is eligible for benefits due to the timing of his service and so today the director of his home, who used to work at the VA Hospital in Atlanta, took me there and we got him enrolled into the system. This will help him on his housing and drug benefits and he will now be able to see VA doctors. This will be very helpful to him and to us, as we were having to pay for any expenses he couldn’t cover. It was a real hardship as I quit my job in the first place to take care of him as he is a wander risk and couldn’t be left alone. Now that the economy has gone sour, I can’t find a new job right now no matter how hard I try and our expenses are tight.

Today I’m playing “Iron Horse Stampede” from Get Three Coffins Ready from their new CD Get Three Coffins Ready: Era III - An Experiment in Audio Science and Static Manipulation. I found them on MusicAlley by Mevio.

Flyswatter Show

 

Liberal. Atheist. Vegan. Different.

Chocolate Genius - “My Mom”

We all went out for Italian and got sick. My stomach really hurts and I feel kind of sick–there was apparently cheese in the food I got. Also Clifford’s behavior at the restaurant was appalling. I was embarrassed. So yeah. Happy Happy day. The good news is it’s a short show.

So have a good Thanksgiving.

Flyswatter Show

Liberal. Atheist. Vegan. Different.

On tonight’s show I tell harrowing tales of bowling and my utter lack of skill, my grandfather’s abuse at the hands of nursing home attendents and why I don’t want to put Clifford in such a place, bowling alley food failures, and how good vegetables from a farmers market taste.

Flyswatter Show

Liberal. Atheist. Vegan. Different.

On today’s show I talk about my day-to-day life living with Dwight’s Uncle Clifford, who suffers from dementia. I’m here to tell you, it ain’t easy, folks. Not only does Clifford repeat himself until I am going mad, he wanders, gets lost, has no sense of time and place, no concept of appropriate behavior, and is unreliable. This is kind of a depressing show, I realized as I was editing this down. If you’re out for laughs, you may want to skip.

Flyswatter Show

Liberal. Atheist. Vegan. Different.

I was out walking this morning and on my way home I saw a thin, older man with shiny black shoes and a red gimme hat walking the opposite direction. I drew closer and was relieved to see that he was not Clifford. I normally hide Clifford’s shoes because he sometimes escapes when I’m not looking and gets so lost I can’t find him and the police have to be called. They warned me the last time that if he gets lost again, they will call family services on me!

I was afraid he found my stash of his footwear.

This is very hard.

Clifford just came into the bedroom and said he is leaving to go out west. I’d like to see him try.

He has no money and no way to get anywhere. If he expects us to buy him a bus ticket, he’s got another think coming.

I am going to try to get Clifford to start taking more vitamin D, calcium, garlic, and flax seed. It should help him with the issues he’s having–hypertension, dementia, arthritis, and the fact that he fell off his bed and bruised his ribs because he keeps his mattress shoved down from the headboard on the box springs so he can store his dirty underwear and nasty handkerchiefs up near his head, and he forgot and sat down on the unsupported mattress and tumbled to the floor. He absolutely refuses to go to a doctor as he’s a Christian Scientist and I can’t find one for him anyway as he only has Medicaid.