I Have A Full-Time Job!

That's tough, I had 3 great-grandmothers around until I was a teen, though all of my great-grandfathers passed before I was born. I was doing real well with having older family still around until last March, I lost my last great-grandmom and both grandfathers in that nine month span between March and December. Sucks, but at least I'm an adult now. Christmas is going to be tough because my much more involved with us grandfather passed just before Christmas last year.

My great-grandmom was locally famous for her pumpkin pies and my uncle has inherited her recipe but they aren't the same.

Also, my grandfather was huge into genealogy family history, and I had made a back up of his database last year before he passed and forgot about it. Something triggered my memory last week and I was at my grandmoms and grabbed the hard drive and loaded up the program he used. He had 45,000 people in the dtabase, absolutely insane. I can trace his line from father to son back 13 generations to some guy that was born in England in 1588, and you can see exactly when that guy's grandson came to the US sometime before 1659, and then when that guy's grandson moved to the area my family lives in now sometime before 1735 and founded the town near where I live now. Really, really interesting stuff and absolutely 0 other people in my family are interested in it.

Other branches of the family are less developed but it was really cool to see at least where that one direct ancestor came from.

« Last edited by steelersrock01 on Dec 4th 2021 »

Covid screwed my Dad up, he's 85 and up till Covid as fit as a fiddle. He would be out walking and getting the shopping each day. Basically had a routine. After Covid he went downhill rapidly, in the space of two years he managed to get Dementia, Parkinson's, and Alziemers and has ended up in an old people's home where he is looked after 24 hours a day. You just don't know what's around the corner or what curveball life is suddenly going to throw at you.

My son had difficulties learning at school, he had to get his head around three languages at once (English, Spanish, and Catalan). We had to send him to a Logopedia once a week and have a tutor come twice a week and he has managed to crack all three languages and can switch between the three seamlessly which I find amazing. What I am trying to say is with the right help and a pupil who wants to learn anything is possible.

My Grandfather was a funny man who was always joking. It was only after he died that I found out he had a serious side. I was given a small box which contained four World War II medals. I decided to research them because my Grandad never spoke about the war.Turns out he spent five years fighting in Africa and Europe. He was a Desert Rat in Africa fighting Rommel and the Afrika Korps and then transferred to France and the final push into Germany. Blows my mind when I think whst that generation went through. My Grandmother during that time was busy making bullets and bombs in England.

« Last edited by Sanzano on Dec 4th 2021 »

Yeah, my grandfather was in great shape till he got Covid. Had a cough for three days, got tested and was positive, 2 days later went to the hospital and never came out. I talked to him the second day in the hospital and he was really week, 4 days later he couldn't talk, a week after that he was gone. They didn't let us see him at all, even after he passed. They made my mom and aunts and grandmom say goodbye through the window in the door of the room he died in. And we only got to have a small funeral because our family is friendly with the local funeral director.

That's really interesting about your grandfather. I think a lot of people that served don't like talking about it. My grandfather served in the navy in the 50's in the Mediterranean but it was all peacetime. Too young for WW2, too old for Vietnam.

Dennis: That is a terrifying trifecta. Does your dad have each confirmed? I only ask because the three are basically all symptoms of Huntingtons.

That's heartbreaking about your Grandfather steekersrock01, I'm sorry for your loss. I went through the same thing. When my Dad got taken to hospital during Covid the regulations were horrific. One family member could visit once a week for 15 minutes. I had to alternate with my sister which meant I saw him for 15 minutes every two weeks and was forever wondering if I would see him again. I can now visit the care home my Dad is in but with Covid rising restrictions will no doubt be introduced again.

All three illnesses are confirmed, he's taking medication for all three. He had to have a spot removed last week because it was cancerous so it wouldn't surprise me if he has Huntington's disease, he's managed to pick up everything else these last two years.

As for my Grandfather giving up five years of his life to fight abroad for his country it makes you suddenly realise what that generation had to give up for us to have what we have now. Those WWII movies Hollywood make may look glamorous but the reality was anything but, it tore families apart. While Hitler was bombing London my father who was a young boy of eight was sent to live with a family he didn't know in Manchester so he would be safe, everyone was affected.

« Last edited by Sanzano on Dec 5th 2021 »

I know there's really not much they can do for those diseases but I hope you get to see him as much as you can. The restrictions can really feel heartless.

We all suffered losses in WW2 but it must've really been something else to be on the Continent and deal with bombings. At least here in the US we've never had to deal with an invasion with the two seas protecting us.

Dennis: Hopefully its not Huntingtons because that includes a lot of muscular failures on top of the symptoms you already described.

If I ever got it, honestly, I would just want to be put down. There are a few diseases I feel this way about. Its one of them, Fatal Familial Insomnia is another. No thanks.

You may be right Warrior13, my Dad can no longer walk and can hardly move his limbs. It looks like rigor mortis has set in, he's as stiff as a board. Also unable to speak without mumbling. The poor man is in a dreadful state.

It's so sad seeing family get like that. My dad's father had COPD and near the end he was on 100% oxygen and could barely talk or take 3 steps without exhausting himself. They had a nurse come in every couple of days to check on him and he would tell her he was ready to die every time he saw her, and there's sadly pretty much nothing they were able to do. At the very end they were able to load him up with morphine but that's not a great consolation prize.

I was actually just reading about that familial insomnia disease the other day. Absolutely horrible. Luckily there seem to be only a few families that carry it.

Yeah, slowly coming to your end by not being able to fall asleep sounds like a nightmare.

« Last edited by Warrior13 on Dec 6th 2021 »

Some days my Dad is better than others, on the days he can speak coherently he tells me about the headless soldier who sits at the end of his bed at night and the little boy angel that follows him about and talks to him. When you think he was in a hospital were people died all the time it becomes a bit spooky.

Do you look over your shoulder when you?re there because of it?

Strangely enough it made me feel uncomfortable, it made the hairs on my neck stand up on end, I was continually looking around the hospital thinking what can my Dad see I can't. It is almost as if he has entered some kind of state between the living and the dead where he can see both worlds. It's creepy when I think about it. Why did the headless soldier latch onto my Dad, is there some kind of connection. Since my Dad got moved from the hospital to the care home he has not seen the headless soldier but the little boy angel make the occasional appearance. It does my head in.

That would freak me out. I generally don't believe in stuff like that but in cases like his you just don't know, it really makes you think.

I didn't expect to see a full-on discussion thread here!

Really sorry to hear about all the bad stuff going on/that happened to you all. I lost my granddad in August; he had alzheimers and was in a full-time care home because he often got confused. We were supposed to go over to Brisbane in April, but Queensland had a covid outbreak and the borders shut. It's tough for my gran cause she was in the home too, but couldn't see him often. He did a lot of charity work (for probably 50+ years) and he and my gran both got Order of Australia awards for it.

We're very blessed with the pandemic over here. In Western Australia we have had a total of 3 lockdowns, and they all lasted about 1-2 weeks each. Our last one was in June. Our Premier (Governor) has been very harsh & not reopened state borders except to covid-free states, and while it's been frustrating at times, it's meant we've had 0 restrictions and a total of 9 deaths over 20 months. Essentially I see and read stuff about the pandemic, but life has barely changed for me.

Since we've got a bit of a discussion going, I'll give a few updates, since I only come here once or twice a week lately (this will be changing very soon). I have started post-grad studies this week (online) while I work full time, I'm getting tennis lessons, I went out to a nightclub for the first time 2 weeks ago, and work finishes on the 17th. I've reached the stage where my life is changing a lot. I'm doing a lot more things than I used to, and I feel like I'm not stuck floating in life.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 8th 2021 »

We went off subject because you weren't around enough to manage the topic of your own thread, Mr. Super Mod. :P

Glad to hear you're doing so well Matt.

Sorry for your loss Matt, I remember how upset I was when I lost my Grandad.

Sounds like you are leading a full happy life, that's great. Taking Tennis lessons is a good move for you as I can see from your posts you love the game.

I used to go to nightclubs every week from about the age of 15. The difficulty then was getting past the doorman. If he stopped you and asked for ID and you didn't have it you were not getting in. In the UK the age to consume alcohol legally is 18, I believe in the US it's 21. I have no idea what it is in Austrailia.

« Last edited by Sanzano on Dec 8th 2021 »

Yeah, it's 21 here for all alcohol. There are some clubs that have "teen nights" every now and then where they let in younger people and don't serve alcohol but for the most part the nightclub scene is for college aged people, 21-25ish, that I'm quickly aging out of. It's not especially hard to get in underage though especially if you're in a college town where they want all the business from the underclassmen.

Back in school I liked going out every now and then to nightclubs/frat parties and stuff like that but these days its too much for me. I'm a lot happier just getting with a group of people I'm already friends with and having a couple drinks.

Same as me steelersrock01, I quickly got bored with nightclubs, back in the late 80s and early 90s when I was going to nightclubs in London each weekend, Britain was hit with the Rave scene and all everybody wanted to do was sniff Charlie (British slang for Cocaine) and take E's (Ectasy pills) and listen to druggy music while they were high, all things I had zero interest in.