[Erin524]

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong".

My dad is supposed to retire at the end of October. Things were going swimmingly until this morning. (I didnt find out about this till 2hrs ago tho)

My dad was at work (luckily, he works in a hospital) and somehow he fell down and broke his wrist. Good thing he works at a hospital and has a bunch of doctor friends. They took care of getting him an x-ray and put him in a cast. (they were going to use pink tape, but took pity on him and used white)

So, now I guess he may be retiring a little earlier than he thought he was. They did say something about letting him work with students. Supervising them, while the students do the work. But he's got to wait till next week to find out if that will work or not. If it doesnt, it's a good thing he's got more than enough sick days accumulated. But, he might get to work till his actual retirement day. He just might be supervising more than showing the students how to do stuff.

I'm just really glad that he wasnt hurt any worse when he fell, and that it's not his dominant hand that he broke. (you learn who your true friends are when you break your dominant hand) I've got my dad all set up in his favorite recliner with a couple of bags of ice, and a phone to call my cell phone if he needs something, and a tv remote. We're not letting him use the reclining part of his recliner tho. (he cant use the lever to put the foot thingie up) so I had to drag a footstool over to him. Told him not to trip over the footstool.

Now I have to learn how to cook, or at least figure out where all the good takeout restaurants that deliver are. My mom cant/wont help much. She's already whining about how inconvenienced she is. I had to help take care of her a year ago when she broke her shoulder. (this is why I'm happy it's just my dad's wrist. He can still do things and doesnt need much help other than someone opening his bottle of Coke or his medication bottles for him)

So, I've got a knee that's giving me problems, my dad's got a broken wrist, and my mom is...just lazy. I think she's mad that I didnt take her to the movies like I said I was going to. I kind of think staying home tonight with my dad while he's in pain is more important than my mom seeing "The Help". (she has the book. She can wait a few more days for the movie)

I'm going to go see what kind of finger foods we have that I can nuke or heat up in the oven for dinner. (or I'm going to Burger King)

I guess it's a good thing that I got lots of practice on helping an injured parent when my mom broke her shoulder. At least my dad isnt the type to take advantage of being hurt like my mom did.

[Jules A]

Well I'm relieved that he is doing ok and has you to look after him. Maybe it isn't bad timing if it had to happen? I know so many people that end up quitting or retiring with hundreds of hours of sick time that they can't do anything with it just seems like a waste although of course best not to be sick or injured.

Let us know if you want some meal ideas! We can have you cooking in no time.

[Erin524]

yeah, when I found out my dad broke his arm and might end up retiring a little early, I thought that it was cool that he has a ton of sick days saved up. He can use those, and then still get paid his vacation pay. I just wish he hadnt broken his arm.

I'm not sure tho if he's going to do things that way. He said he probably wont be able to work with patients, because he wont be able to get a glove over his cast, and he doesnt want to get patient body fluids on his cast. (yuck!) so he's either going to be supervising students, or he'll be doing the patient history part of the job.

He wants to work tho. Just not sure if he'll get to do much of it any more now.

He gets the cast off probably about a week before he retires. He'll probably have to do physical therapy tho. So, I just dont know if he's going to be able to do much. He said you have to have two hands to do his job.

I'm not sure I want him going to work. He drives my car (a stick shift Toyota SUV) to work because it's smaller than his car (a minivan) and easier to park in the parking garage. I dont know if I want him driving my car with a broken arm. (I'll take him to work if he wants me to) I dont want him hurting my car, and I sure dont want him getting hurt more because he's trying to drive a stick shift with a broken arm.