the dark, ugly pit in my soul

I know, I know, never get excited and blurt an idea before I've written it out.

Life has gone beyond amusing.

Photobucket has locked me out. Last month was wrestling over an upgrade I didn't need before my year was even up, and now I can't even log in. I can't tell if they are having issues (AGAIN) or if they've been hacked. Last time something I dearly loved put me through this I found out later they had gone bankrupt. Forget the *dying inside*, I've been numb so long I can barely even feel anger any more. I DON'T CARE.

And that is the trivial stuff.

My dad finally went to a doctor, got his first blood test in 20 years. Healthy as a horse (he's f*ing 90), except that heart failure is imminent. I'd like to be able to share my understanding of *imminent* with a particular sibling who doesn't get what that literally means when Dad is trying to walk across parking lots (showing off that he's really ok in public despite very disturbing symptoms reported to doctor) and then texts me over the weekend about Dad's blood pressure and pulse going up higher than it normally does when it goes up. Like after walking across parking lots all Friday before. Because, I dunno, his pro BNP isn't just a concerned 900 for someone over 50 (normal is <450, concern for surgery starts around 900), it's a nearly 5 frickin thousand.

I'm not having a good weekend. If anyone asks, like I have physical therapy on my shoulder again today, I'll just smile and say yeah, good weekend. But it wasn't a good weekend, and I am a mess. I was so ticked at Dad bringing up Mom in our last phone convo that I told one of my sisters I never want to see him alive again. Well guess what. NOW he wants the surgery for the cancer on his ear. I have solid bets that after he gets that done on the 20th his heart will blip out and bam, in the ground.

So that sib thinks we should probably all call and check on Dad more often. I'm sick to my stomach every single day for the last 3 months, making phone calls, arranging things, yes talking to Dad more often, and after that sib pshawed me when I asked why Dad wasn't dropped off at a door instead of having to walk from the furthest slot in the parking lot (plenty of empty slots a lot closer), I get told Who wouldn't be after I say yeah, Dad is probably scared with more chest pain this weekend. DUH. Literally pushing Dad closer to death and NOT. EVEN. THINKING. ABOUT. IT.

I am a litany of pissed. Deep down I am enraged, up top I am just sick. Floating. Mind wrecked.

Peacekeeping is a savage and thankless job. DPOA? Never again in my life. Well, like I have another parent, this is the last one, thank God.

As DPOA I am the gatekeeper on his living will. I get to hear the full list of everything he wants us to do and handle every single time I call. Apparently the other sibs never get that. We got to comparing notes, and they have no idea what Dad puts me through. I hear things they've never heard. He has actually cried on phone calls to me. I know his fears, his doubts, and very well know his pain. It's really hard to stand up for his living will when the others have no clue and he keeps trying to hide it all. He keeps insisting on being left alone to die, but he also keeps calling everyone and discussing all his symptoms to the point of upsetting people, and when I finally told him to choose, getting attention AND the fuss, or being quiet and not having to deal with the fuss, he got so upset that he started choking and coughing and I thought crap, I'm literally going to give him a heart attack over the phone, and I changed the subject while he calmed down. He HAS the be the right one, the center of attention one, the important one.

My dad never let my mom do this. He never gave her the amount of attention he is demanding now. He didn't address her fears and health issues, and the only emotional support she got was him showing up in the way at the nursing home, the last year of which was so miserable it still makes me cry to think of it, because he was so adamant about getting his way that I had to sign waivers for the nursing home workers to do as Dad asked instead of what the doctors said to do.

I think what's getting to me the most is the years I suffered before my heart surgery and how little that meant to my dad. He has made it to 90. I can't even imagine being that lucky. I haven't made it to 60 yet and I feel extremely fortunate. He keeps whining about why isn't he dead yet and he never wanted to live this long. At least to me. And I'm really sick of him not adulting well. He never had to go through this with his parents. What in the world does he not get about context?

I could go on for another hour, but I really need to pull my head together and just go out the door again. I set an alarm on my phone to remind me to leave and my screen had me locked out so I couldn't even turn the alarm off, had to turn off the phone. One of those days...