Thank you Candy, Clyde, Rayna, Sept, Fuzz, Sabby, Silentlyscreaming...

I talked to my stepmom today. He has taken a turn for the worse. He keeps walking around without clothes and cannot speak well - he can't find words or the right words. He kept insisting that he wanted something made of apples, so she made him an apple pie. He lost his temper (unusual for him) and she finally figured out that he meant pistachios. When I asked to talk to him, he started screaming at her to stop telling him what to do. Really out of character for him - he's not a yeller. The neurologist warned us that this might happen as a result of the surgery. I feel the worst for my stepmom right now. He's only been home for a week and already she's frazzled and exhausted. Since I'll go back to visit them next weekend, I told her to schedule a massage and hair appointment for herself, or at least plan to go sit in a park and read a book to get out of the house.

I feel awful that I can't do more for them. I was trying to think this morning about what else I can do, and I'm coming up short. If I had a regular job, I would take a leave of absence and go stay with them for a month or two. But, I'm an independent consultant and I have a client who is 4 miles from my house, with a possibility of becoming very long-term. If I leave now, before the project is over, I'd be screwing them over badly. I don't care about THEM, per se, but I probably wouldn't be hired back later if I left now. And since I'm having a baby in May, I am hoping that they will hire me back at least part-time in July or August. If they don't, then I don't know what I'll do for income. It is hard to establish new clients, and most of my market is on the east coast, not here. I have had to travel to other cities for the majority of my career, but I don't want to do that after the baby arrives. So I want to finish my project which will end in March, and I guess just fly back to help my parents every few weeks. I would move back temporarily after March, but I'll be 8 months pregnant then and wouldn't want to fly and it wouldn't be fair to my husband. Not to mention that my dad's prognosis is only 2 months, and it's not looking positive. The timing stinks. I feel so unable to help my parents when they need it the most.