My elderly dad (a very, very good 90)is stressing me out. I get a daily 45 min phone call from him every day and it’s about the same thing.
My dad is lonely. No one comes near him. What if he had an accident? No one would know. Everyone is out and about having fun, except him.
Well, this is not true. He plays golf twice a week, bowls 3 times a week, goes out for dinner with his mates twice a week, and I kid you not, right now he’s playing 3 elderly women off against each other. All this before I mention his own 3 DC and their families AND his step DC and their families and my cousin running round after him.
That’s not what this thread is about though.
My dad lives in a large 4 bed house with a big garden. He keeps rendering himself immobile for weeks on end because of injuries he’s incurring fixing and doing things. He won’t accept he’s elderly. I don’t live near him and I’ll have to spend hours and hours calling him as he’ll be depressed, crying etc. because he can’t walk, go out, he’s lonely etc. because he’s hurt his back, leg, knee….
My sibling has asked him to move to near him, so his family can help, but he won’t. My dad’s house is falling to bits; fences need mending, rats in the roof, electrics need fixing, it’s not clean, kitchen is a state and more. He’s constantly complaining to me that his DC should be helping him with his house, mowing the lawn, fixing things. We all work FT with families and it’s a job just to get our own stuff done.
I told him last night he needs to move to a smaller place where there’s no maintenance but it’s a hard NO from him.
I only see this getting worse, and feel like I’ve got no option but to just watch it unfold.