As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly — the 2024 Thanksgiving thread

[Baron Scicluna]

Well, ****. Video call is off. Stepmom's cancer took a turn and what was going to be 1-2 months of palliative care or hospice is now down to a few hours. And here I am, stuck on the other side of the world and looking into short-notice intercontinental flights again.

I’m sorry.

 

[SixToe]

Peace and good karma to you, @TrooperBari. From personal experience, I know having a loved one in this situation on the holiday is a terrible, no-good, unfun deal.


Ms Sixtoe and I didn't have family plans, as everyone was scattered this year, so we dined at a local Indian restaurant. We imagined the tasty turkey kabobs, bhindi (okra), chana masala (peas) and other fare as a souped-up pilgrim feast. It was quite good. They had pumpkin pie, too, which was nice with a small serving of kheer.

 

[qtlaw]

Hope you had a nice last visit trooperbari.

Had a nice feast, mom never got off her feet and still enjoys it!

 

[SixToe]

It’s not a holiday without a clogged toilet, right? *sigh*

“There’s water flowing over the toilet we tried to unclog it but couldn’t and now there’s water flowing over in the floor and we put down towels and can’t get it unclogged and …”

OK, I’ll check.

“What causes this?”

Um, too much **** in there?”

“Well, it’s a toilet, so …”

 

[Bud_Bundy]

We used to have a huge holiday dinner at my sister-in-laws house. Now the families have gotten so large that we don't do that anymore. My wife's half gets together at her son's house for Thanksgiving and at our house for Christmas. The sister-in-law's family goes their way at her son's house. I miss seeing everybody (even though we all live within 25 or 30 miles of each other), but the other side of the family is MAGA intensive. We, most definitely, are not.

 

[User 1019]

We tackled that problem with a spring get-together/barbecue at a local park.

 

[DanOregon]

Is CyberMonday still a thing? I understand when the internet was "new" and everyone screwed off during work to shop on-line, but between phones and wide-spread internet availability - not to mention people working from homes, I don't know why it would still be a thing.

 

[TrooperBari]

Small update: stepmom is more stable now, heartrate way down from the 160+ it was over the weekend. The search for a good hospice placement continues, but as it's a holiday weekend no one is picking up their phones. Home hospice is not an option given the level of care needed. Family has arrived from Wisconsin, Tennessee, California, and DC, and we had a nice, nostalgic dinner last night with square pizza from La Casa pizzeria on Leavenworth.

In unrelated news, since I was last here in April my mom has adopted a Coton de Tulear that seems hyperfixated on me. It practically shadows me wherever I go in the house. It's an energetic little thing, but as long as it keeps my mom active, too, then it's all good.

 

[dixiehack]

Glad to hear things have calmed down for now
@TrooperBari and that you made it back to process things on your own terms.

Your story also helps keep my last 24-plus-hours in perspective. The battery I had to jump off Friday morning turned out to be dead for good once I went to get burgers for us after the Iron Bowl. Dad called for AAA to come assist but they never arrived until this morning.

Because my daughter had to be back before lunch to make dance practice, I had to borrow a car before dawn to meet my ex just over the state line to do the drop off, turn back around to my parents’ house, grab a catnap, fire up my car and its new battery to go get the alternator checked (A-ok says AutoZone) and then head out - only to have my car refuse to do anything whatsoever after I stopped for gas an hour down the road. At least the issue this time was only a loose battery cable, a quick and free fix.

 

[Justin_Rice]

We were desperate to avoid family this year (for many reasons), so we rented a place near Rodanthe.

Weather was glorious. I got two days of fishing in. We played about half the board games I brought (which was too many). Rental had a shuffleboard in the basement. Fried a turkey (haven't done that in 20 years or so). Drank a crap ton of beers.

... and now it's back to the grind :(

 

[TrooperBari]

Final update: stepmom is gone. The 1-2 months we thought we had with her ended up being about five days. Much like my uncle two years ago, she went remarkably rapidly (and, in a curious coincidence, both their spirals started after receiving a back-of-the-neck patch to deal with nausea). Now I'm with my dad at his place out west getting all the necessary affairs in order. I'm finding out second-hand that neither dad nor stepmom let anyone here -- even at their church, with whom they are very active -- know how bad things were. This is going to be quite the week.

At the risk of editorializing, I would like to sum up thusly: **** cancer.

 

[UNCGrad]

Wishing you all the best, @TrooperBari.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

I'm very sorry to read of your loss, Trooper. My Mom went in much the same way...figured we had a little bit of time and an eventual hospice stay for her, but she went into the local hospital for a blood transfusion on a Friday, reacted very badly to it, was admitted and was gone by late Saturday night. Thinking of you and your family.

 

[Bud_Bundy]

Yeah, cancer sucks. My sister-in-law started smoking again after her husband unexpectedly died. We were there for her 75th birthday party and she had trouble speaking. We didn't know at the time it was cancer, but it was diagnosed a couple of weeks later and the oncologist told her daughter he often sees that type of cancer where the tumor presses against the vocal cords (or something like that) when people start smoking again. She started chemo and sounded good on the phone on a Saturday. I don't know the exact details, but the next morning we got the call that she had a reaction to the chemo and likely wouldn't last the day. She didn't.

 

[MileHigh]

I'm so sorry. My condolences.

 

[dixiehack]

I’m sorry Trooper.

 

[DanOregon]

So sorry about your loss Bari.