UPDATE 12/05: Sorry there haven’t been many updates. I’ve been catching up on the home front in Prosser. Now, I am back in Seattle for a couple days. We’ve made good progress with mom and she is testing out her new home today. Hopefully, it will work for her. 

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UPDATE 12/02: (oops, put the wrong update-date on this) We stayed with mom through yesterday (Wednesday), then returned home. On Tuesday night, I started coming down with what I believe is some kind of flu (tested negative for covid), so thought I should go home. Ann followed me home a little later. Meanwhile, my aunt found mom a 24/hour elder-home run with a limited number of tenants run by a nurse that is just a few minutes from my aunt’s house; it sounds like a nice place for mom to stay for a while. It is by no means cheap, but they take and accompany her to doc appointments and offers a doctor that will make visit the house. All this will relieve huge burdens on all of us. 

Several times during the past few days mom didn’t know where she was. When I brought her back from the hospital on Friday (and I won’t get into how difficult it was to get her into the truck at the hospital), I wheeled her into the house, then the kitchen. She slowly stood up with my help and using her walker, then shuffled towards a back glass door that leads to the back deck. I asked where she was going. She said she was trying to figure out how to get into the house. I said we were in the house. She then asked how she could get to the kitchen. I told her we were in the kitchen. Eventually, she got her bearings. But, these moments of confusion, of having no idea where she was at while in her home of 55 years, happened multiple times over the past few days.

Today, I feel better, but don’t feel 100%. So, I’m on bedrest.

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(11/30/2021) Our quick 2 day jaunt to Seattle on Friday has turned into much longer stay. So, things remain on hold on the jeep side of things.

Mom wasn’t taking her LASIX regularly, which led to absorbing water and puffing up. So, not long after we arrived, we were off to the hospital. She stayed two days there, where they managed to get her fluid levels down, but even with lasix and Spiro (short for another drug that helps eliminate water build-up), her heart isn’t keeping up. So, we have her on some bed rest in the hopes we can lower some of the new swelling (not as bad as she was Friday).

Making predictions on how this will play out is difficult. But, one of the best pieces of wisdom we got from one of Ann mother’s doctors was that if the patient’s health decline is over months, the patient likely has months left; if the decline is over weeks, she likely has weeks left; if the decline is over days, she likely has days left. We believe we are well into the weeks category and will plan accordingly.

One the interesting note I read the other day was from a hospice nurse of 6 years, with also 9 years of ICU experience. She said that often folks who are about a month away from passing will imagine seeing or talking with loved ones who have passed or beloved pets, I found it an interesting read, one that’s been consistent with our experiences: https://people.com/health/hospice-nurse-goes-viral-on-tiktok-for-talking-about-patients-final-moments-before-death/

UPDATE: It looks like the seller pulled the jeep from the auction.

Bill shared this auction for a 1947 CJ-2A “Bandito” edition. Based on the video, I think the seller was being sarcastic about it being a “Bandito” edition. It comes with an illustrated “Frito Bandito” on the side of it (the mascot for Fritos from 1967-1971 and voiced by none-other-than Mel Blanc).

View all the information on eBay

“Here we have a good ‘ol 1947 CJ2A. This one came off of a farm in Colorado, where we were lucky enough to find it sitting.

Like most of these old jeeps, it does have some rust, but this one is not rotted away to nothing like so many you see, this one still has a lot to work with. The frame is solid, and the drive train is all there. As you can see – it has been converted to a later valve in head engine, and they added a hood scoop to accommodate this. The scoop could be modified pretty easily to look a little better, but this was pretty common. The engine fires up and sounds great, runs very well. It doesn’t get hot, or leak, and carries good oil pressure. The oil line that goes to the oil pressure gauge did spring a leak, so I pinched it off.

This jeep does go into gear and try to move, but it seems like it is stuck between two gears or stuck in neutral, I’m guessing it’s something pretty simple, as these are very basic to work on.

As you can see in the pictures, this is the extremely rare and highly sought after “bandito” edition. I tried to find the story behind this, but unfortunately it was lost to time. The dash has wood over it, but original steel dash is behind the wood. Has a really cool Austin Healy shift knob! I’m guessing this old jeep could tell some stories! This vehicle will be sold with a State of Kansas dept. of revenue antique bill of sale, I will help with whatever you need if possible.”

Out of the frying pan and into the fire…..

Unfortunately, having helped my mother-in-law through hospice in September, we won’t get much of a break as now my mother’s health has declined to the point that we have to make other arrangements for her. So, we’ll be doing regular runs over to Seattle to give my aunt a break from the daily care of her, while, also readying her new apartment and clearing the house as best we can.

Meanwhile, against our recommendations, and knowing mom’s health was in decline, my sister chose to put her house on the market in September. She just closed on her house this week and is moving to Texas, abandoning our mother after my mother supported her horse hobby (profession?) for more than 25 years so she can “make a name for herself”. Mom is devastated by my sister’s decision. She is currently in OKC attending a horseshow, because somehow that is more important than caring for mom. Needless to say, there has been quite a bit of family drama….. ughhh.

So, once again, updates may be somewhat become sparse, likely lasting into the New Year.`