08:47 – Last night, things took a major turn for the worse with Barbara’s mom. Barbara headed over to her parents’ apartment straight from work. I thought she was going to have dinner with her dad and then visit her mom in the hospital. Visiting hours end at 7:00 p.m., so around 8:00 I called the apartment and got the answering machine. I thought that was odd, but I figured Barbara would call when she had a moment.
She finally called around 9:00, almost in tears. She, her dad, and her sister were still at the hospital, which had somehow lost her mom. They finally found Sankie, wandering around undressed. They’d moved her to another room, but had not moved her clothes and other personal possessions with her. So then they had an encounter with a very nasty nurse, who told them visiting hours were over and they had to leave without seeing Sankie, even though it was the hospital’s fault that she’d been missing during official visiting hours. Barbara, of course, hit the roof and started working her way up the chain of command. She eventually got to speak with Sankie’s doctor, who asked her if she knew the name of this bitch nurse. Barbara told him, and he said, “Ah, that explains it.” I hope that means they’re going to fire that nurse’s ass.
Sankie is in very bad shape mentally. Barbara said that she just kept repeating over and over that she wanted to die or that she was going to die. She even told them that she was going to die in the next five minutes.
When Barbara called at 9:00 she was just on her way out of the hospital with her dad and sister. Neither she nor her dad had eaten since lunch, so they stopped on the way back to the apartment to grab a quick meal. Barbara called around 10:30, still very upset. She said they’d all talked it over and thought that Sankie had decided to die because she didn’t want to outlive Dutch. That actually makes sense. For weeks now, Sankie has been trying desperately to keep Dutch from dying. She’s now apparently decided that’s not going to work, so she’s shifted to Plan B. If she can’t keep Dutch alive, she’ll just die first. In her current mental and physical state, I’m afraid she’s going to get her wish. Elderly people who lose their will to live often don’t last long, particularly if they’re seriously ill on top of that.
Barbara, Frances, and Dutch, of course, are going through hell. I’m afraid that Barbara and Frances in particular are close to breaking down completely. Short of them just writing off their mom, which neither of them would even consider, I’m afraid that Sankie is going to end up dragging both of them down with her.