Ideas for things to do with a free semester before starting ft?

trying_my_best

What do you work as now, Isaiah?

I promised my parents that I would help take care of them until they die. My Dad is 88 and Mom is 85. I spend about 30 - 35 hours per week taking care of their basic needs. My mom lives in a skilled nursing facility that costs $10K per month, but they are kind of bad at taking care of her, so my Dad stop by every morning 7 days a week to help out. She is cold everyday and they don't put a jacket on her and so I put a jacket on her every morning. She has dementia and can't speak or walk and is confined to a wheelchair after breaking her hip. She also doesn't eat much of her meals and mainly only gets nutrition from me when I bring her 2 x 350 cal Ensures every day. We pay $10K per month for people to neglect her and not give her basic needs. It is sickening and I despise some of the people who work there. They don't care, are too lazy, or don't want to put up with dressing my Mom fully everyday. We have complained to the staff and the leadership doesn't care. There is no real alternative in the area to send my Mom to. They do ok changing her diaper and stuff, but that is about it. There are some good workers there, but most are crap. 

My Dad lives in independent living in a Senior Living facility and pretty much needs assisted living help, but doesn't want to hire people and prefers that I just help to take care of him. He can't drive anymore and I have to take him to all of his doctor's appointments and have to provide all his meals and get all the groceries for his place. When he was driving, I was only spending 20hrs per week helping out, but he stopped driving and in December pretty much stopped eating dinner and went from 140lbs to 120lbs at 5'9". He was really light and his doctor prescribed Mirtazapine to help with appetite and I started making or bringing him dinner 6-7 days per week. I basically had to make him food and hand it to him for him to eat. 

In a few months, we got my Dad's weight back up to 140lbs, which is somewhat healthy but still skinny. My mom is 86lbs. My Dad has had bladder cancer and they removed his bladder and he has ostomy bags now for the urine. It is a pain. I might eventually have to help out with that, but I am just not very comfortable changing the bags and might need to hire additional help at some point. Also, I'm about at my limit at 35hrs per week. Also, my Dad has moderate dementia. It is not like my Mom, but he has a hard time understanding things outside of the routine. He calls me pretty much every morning and afternoon and at night. I used to start to despise all the calls, but now feel just happy that I can talk to him a bit before he dies. So I'm ok with all the calls.

To add to all of that, my Dad was also recently diagnosed with Lung Cancer. He has a tangerine sized growth in his lung. This means even more doctors appointments and we are seeing a Pulmonologist and Oncologist in two separate appointments this week. He has probably 5-6 doctors that we see on a regular basis including the GP, Dentist, Urologist, Dermatologist, Oncologist, and Pulmonologist. I also have to go to the pharmacy to get all his medications and give them to him everyday as he can't remember how to take them. The doctor said that the lung cancer might cause a drop in weight and his appetite has been decreasing lately and I'm a bit worried. I do everything I can to fatten him up and get him Whole Foods apple pie, ice cream, doughnuts, anything.

Also, I spend 15hrs per week helping out my Church in their garden. It is a massive garden, maybe the size of a football field with a section for an altar and room for a crowd as well as the stations of the cross. It is called the Way of the Cross Garden. I like being outdoors and in nature and this gives me some good time to reflect and pray. Ora et Labora as the Benedictine saying goes. There are religious statues and religious decorations everywhere across the property and I really like it. And my favorite station of the cross is "Jesus Meets his Mother." Station 4. We plant pansies, foxgloves, and snap dragons at every station. It is very fulfilling to me.

And then for the rest of my time that I have, I play online poker and am trying to build a poker career. I'm very tight with a lot of the pros who play and stream and think I am getting better. I recently started playing high stakes poker again and this week has been off to a good start. But, if I don't make it in poker, I am probably going to go back for an MBA and then go back into the corporate world in Corp Dev. 

Cheers -