Just when things were starting to go
well...
I haven't been updating this blog
because the changes have been coming too fast and we're still reeling
with the punches.
This May or so, Quantum's mom, "J"
started exhibiting the symptoms of Alzheimer's related dementia.
J lives in Florida, and since we moved
here, the plan was for her to come out and be with us. She didn't
have much keeping her in FL (no relatives, few friends who hadn't
passed). She was looking forward to gardening, canning and other
country/farm pursuits, not to mention the company of myself and her
son. All we needed to do was build the house and she'd be here. She's
elderly and wouldn't adapt well to the rough life we've had till now
(living in a trailer with no plumbing). The plan had been to start
building next spring. (We would have started earlier, but the fire
when we first moved and bare survival, set us back a bit.)
Then we noticed the dementia. I won't
go into all the details but at one point the neighbors found her with
all doors and windows open and lying on the tile floor to stay cool.
Her AC had broken - in FLORIDA in JULY and she couldn't figure out
how to call the air conditioning people to get it fixed - and didn't
tell us about it until two weeks had gone by. That was just one
incident of many.
We found a house for sale in the area.
Unlike our land, it was connected to the grid, had plumbing, a
bedroom for her and one for us, and was right outside of town. (I
haven't had the opportunity to write much about it, but in winter
it's near impossible for us to get to town from here - sometimes for
weeks at a time.)
We talked with her about the place and
she seemed excited to move here. Then a few more incidents occurred
(including J losing her car insurance because she forgot to pay the
bill - since she's 86 the ins. company leapt at the chance to get rid
of her, and wouldn't reinstate) and Quantum realized he'd better do
something sooner rather than later.
He flew down to Florida with the plan
of bringing her back with him. Everything was fine for the first
couple days he was down there. Then two things happened. First J fell
and hit her head and had to be rushed to the emergency room. That may
or may not have contributed to what happened next, but it solidified
Quantum's feeling that she needed someone to take care of her 24/7/
Then her "caretaker" (a woman
who helped her clean, pay bills and drove her around to stores) asked
for J's car in partial payment. As soon as the car was signed over to
her, things suddenly changed.
Suddenly, J was becoming ambivalent
about the move (egged on by the caretaker who wanted to keep her job,
we believe). The caretaker told J that she didn't have to move and
actually called the police on Quantum.
Next the caretaker brought in a
court-ordered "decision maker"/advocate for J.
With all this, we have no choice but to
move back to Orlando to be near Quantum's mom and to make sure that
she's cared for and to fight for Quantum's right to do so.
We've already rescued 3 wonderful dogs. However it will be 6 months to a year before we can return here, so the bulk of our rescue project is now on hold.
Heartbreakingly this also means we're going
to have to sell the yaks. We have no money to board them and no
ability to stay here and care for them.
I'm trying not to cry.
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