Disaster struck

No song of the day, today. I’m too upset. We had some seriously disturbing news today. This very morning, while I was taking the Knight to the vet for his checkup, we got a call informing us that tenant would not be allowed to go home from the hospital, but that she had, instead, “agreed” to be admitted in a nursing home. How they had her agree to it, I don’t know, because tenant is terribly deaf, doesn’t speak more than three words of Spanish and her English isn’t any better. The only thing I can imagine happening is that they asked her if she wanted to go to a home, and that she interpreted that as “go home”. Aaargh. There went Spanish lesson.

Went to hospital immediately, of course, requested an interpreter, and went up to her room. I went in, and immediately asked what was going on, and if she had agreed to going to some sort of home. At first she had no idea what I was talking about, and then she was shocked to the core…seriously, I saw her pale, and tears gathered in her eyes. Not nice. Not nice at all, I tell ya…as she assured me that no one asked her anything, and that she just wanted to go home.

The interpreter arrived then, and I explained the situation asking if it was possible that they were just going to put her away somewhere without her agreement. She assured me that there had to be some misunderstanding and escorted me down to the social services section of the hospital. Apparently those folks that came by on Friday ambushed us, or some such, and made the decision with the doctors. Just like that. There was nothing this woman could do, either, I would have to go to the village social worker and sort it out there. She even refused to give me the name of the place tenant was being brought to, and me explaining that this would devastate tenant, and that she wouldn’t understand, didn’t sway her one bit.

So, defeated by bureaucracy it would seem, I went back to tenant to try to explain that when I left, she was going to be brought to a new room someplace else, and that I wouldn’t be seeing her for several days at least while I tried to sort out the mess. Not nice to have her apologize profusely for not drinking enough, and getting those pesky infections over and over again, either. Made me feel as if she was negotiating her being allowed to go home, or something. As if I could just change it if only she promised to drink properly. Horrid! Had to finish the conversation by telling her not to worry and just cooperate otherwise the folks might think she’s not capable of making her own decisions.

Got in contact with her family. Regretfully her daughter was at home, so I had to leave a rather messy message with tenant’s granddaughter, after which tenant’s son in law phoned to ask for more information. I didn’t have anything to give yet, much to my regret. He promised they would contact me later once daughter got home from work.

At that same time, because two o’clock was already near, caregiver tried to go to the village to see if she could get any information at the health center, but the staff there had no idea what was going on.

Once I got home, a mail of tenant’s daughter arrived, at which time I had to write down what had been happening, and what we think is going on, but that we don’t know because no one is saying anything. The family is of course understandably upset. Heck, I’m upset. Everyone is upset. Right now you could say that upset is the permanent state of being over here. *sigh* Couldn’t even eat properly afterward, and that while I hadn’t had time for breakfast either. Have been battling a massive headache all day.
Worst of it all is that grandpa and Sally are now scared beyond compare about something similar happening to them if they go to hospital. Not a good thing considering Sally’s stage IV cancer and failing general health, and grandpa needing his heart checked regularly. They both insist on seeking legal council to prevent something like this in the future. What happened with tenant, is almost kidnapping, for crying out loud.

Considering big brother and I have work tomorrow, we had to go to town to get some stuff, meaning that as soon as I was done “conversing” with tenant’s daughter, we had to go out. Got most of what we needed, and were about to exit the store when my phone rang and I finally got to speak to tenant’s daughter in person. She has contacted the embassy and as of this afternoon they are looking into the matter. It did mean that I would have to a write a more official statement, in Dutch, of all language, which is by no means easy for me these days.

But anyway, I got home to start doing exactly that, only to discover that Sally wasn’t doing well. *sigh* Seriously, what is going ON? Is this a bad streak of luck or WHAT? But anyway, it took some convincing to get her to agree to go to the small emergency room in town, rather than the big one in Marbella (she was afraid that if she went in, she wouldn’t be coming out again) but in the end she did agree to go. No way can we risk not going to the ER when her feet start to swell, and the skin on her legs start to turn purple-ish red. She’s had that before, and they warned us that if it went past the knee it could be dangerous. So big brother and caregiver are there now (already heard she was on her way home, thankfully) with her on the antibiotics just like last time. *double sigh*, while grandpa and I bent over putting together my statement in a semi-cohesive fashion.

Which brings us to now. Doesn’t it. Regretfully, there was the whole of yesterday to talk about, but what with everything going on, it feels somewhat redundant. It was a working day, and it was a scorcher, so we were a little time pressed considering we had to wait until after five for the heat to relent enough for us to continue pouring concrete. This meant that we didn’t finish until eleven (cleaning up included) to make our working hours. Can hardly charge the boss lady for sitting, waiting for the sun to become less hot while we work on the book, eh?
But anyway, we got our hours in, and managed another third of the floor pouring. Am afraid that we’re going to have to ask for another day. The heat is making progress slow.

Well, I’m going to leave it at this, and hope that I can get some work done still while I wait for big brother, caregiver and Sally to come home, and then I have to go to bed. Tomorrow we have to finish that floor after all.

Buddhist

Song of the day: “Something stupid” by Robbie Williams and Nichole Kidman. Don’t know where that one came from, but it’s in my head since early this morning.

So I’m in a rush. Seriously. It is eleven thirty in the evening, I just came back from pouring concrete, for which we left at ten this morning. Sure, we might not have poured during their entire time, but it was a long day regardless.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First there was the weekend, wasn’t there.
Saturday I wasn’t feeling well at all, so I needed a short nap in the afternoon before getting ready to go to the Market. Arrived a tad late, partly due to the fact that we had to finish up loading, and cooking something to eat. Didn’t matter, though. There weren’t all that many stand holders, so we could unload at our leisure. As soon as that was done, though, I headed out to the hospital to visit with tenant. Due to this somewhat odd bacteria she caught, we’re forced to wear protective gear in her room…which isn’t all that pleasant considering I’m usually hot from going up the stairs. Hah.
She was in good spirits, though, so not all was bad.

I’ll just come out and say it. Didn’t sell a single item at the market. *sigh* I did take a nice amount of pictures, however, so not all was lost. Added to that, I even handed out several of my business cards, which are unlikely to have any effect, but still, networking and all that. Had loads of fun getting folks to pose. Got several kids to do it too, which was hysterical. In particular a little boy who really didn’t want to, and who we had to tease out of a crying jag. Also this adorable little girl, who finally grinned at me, only to move at the last possible moment and wrecking the shot. Ah well, next time better luck. Most of the shots that worked will come up on the photo blog. Hah.

Were late getting home, and didn’t get to bed until after three. *sigh* Did manage to get some serious writing done. At the market as well as at home yesterday. Would have done more, too, but we had to visit tenant at the hospital again, and went to town afterward to get shoes on sale for big brother. Still wasn’t feeling well, might have caught a bit of what big brother had last week. Actually fell asleep in the car, which is never smart since that tends to make the driver sleepy too. Finally had to sit up straight and force myself awake.

Worked on my photos, of course, posted two of them so far. Had to cook supper last night, which worked out well, since it was also today’s lunch. At that same time big brother loaded up the Land Rover for today’s working session at the job site. Was so tired at the end of the day, I basically passed out. Hah.

Good thing, too, since we had to get up early this morning for the job. Did the final packing, gathered food stuffs and were on the road before ten. First had to pick up a load of sand, of course, then drive up and unload. Mixed several loads of cement for big brother, and then went down again for the second load of sand…and sacks of cement, naturally. I sure got my exercise today. Hah.

Again, unloading, after which we took a break, did some Spanish and wrote two pages for the latest C.H. revision. Getting along nicely, I think. Lots of new scenes, new angles. It’s keeping everything interesting.

That done, it was back to work. Made several more loads of concrete for big brother (was sweating like a horse since the temps were up in the mid-nineties) and then drove back down the mountain once more for the last load of sand of the day. Once that was up on the site, I spent the following three to four hours mixing, hauling and shoveling concrete for big brother, who proceeded to turn it into a five foot wide twenty-five foot long piece of floor. It’s looking good.

Had a wonky conversation in the meantime.
Big Brother: It is strange, but you shouldn’t think about ants when you’re doing this.
Me: Huh?
Big Brother: Ants.
Me: What about them.
Big Brother: I’m killing dozens, by just shoveling concrete there. I shouldn’t think about that.
Me: Uh-huh. Killing ants. Don’t think. Get back to work.
Big Brother: They don’t have a clue. Maybe I should become a Buddhist.
Me: Yeah. They saved all the ants by removing them one by one while building a movie theater in Lhasa.
Big Brother: Like I said. I shouldn’t think about it. Poor ants.
Me: Stop thinking about it then. If you worry about ants, you should also worry about grass and weeds you step on. Those are alive too.
Big Brother: You’re right. I should just sit down, that way I wouldn’t hurt anything.
Me: Have you been smoking pot?
Big Brother: Life is just cruel.
Me: Dude. You’re totally weird. Get back to work.

*snort* He did. We both did, and didn’t finish (cleaning up belonged with it, too) until a quarter to ten, which was when twilight fell. Knight had a swell day. I took off his sock most of the day so it could dry out a little at least. The swelling is still there, but at least air is getting to it.

Arrived home around eleven, and got to the blog ASAP. Which I consider done right about now. So I’m off to bed. Another working day tomorrow. More floor to pour. Yay.