Jobs & Aging

Wow, 2 days in a row.  So, my husband told me yesterday that they are laying people off at one of the plants at the company he works for.  These people have the choice of applying to open positions at 1 of 3 plants and if they get a job great, but if they don't then they are out of work.  My husband thinks the company is trying to unload the employees who are less useful and skilled than others (IOW:  dead weight).  Luckily for us my husbands skill set is very needed and he has plenty of work, but it leaves us uneasy.  Especially since I'm no longer working.  Sure, I could get a job, but it would not be job that earns not even a quarter what he does.  At my old job I had been there for 10 years, and the 3% cost of living raises added up and my salary wasn't terrible, but even so my salary was only about half what he made.

In other bad news my MIL has to get a liver biopsy.  Apparently, she may be feeling alright, but her blood tests are telling a different story.  She is in remission from Lymphoma (5 years), had chemotherapy, and has never  been the same since.  Her iron levels and vitamin B levels are not where they should be which leaves her fatigued a lot.  She has to get expensive infusions to boost those levels.

My nice 2 year plan I had mentioned is not going to go as planned.  We do still need that time though to see what happens at my husbands job, and to see how my MIL's health goes.

Also, while in Disney my mom told me that my father is becoming more and more forgetful.  And behaving more and more like his father who had dementia at the end of his life, and got very mean and angry during that time.  Her exact words were that my dad was acting like Pop Pop used to.  I asked her if she was going to take him to a specialist, but she said not yet.  I saw what she was talking about when we were in Disney.  He reminded me of a bully, the way he was carrying himself and charging up to people.  Complaining and criticizing the Disney employees about things that were out of their control.  When I said something, he said he just had to complain to someone.  At one point we had to wait for a person in a wheelchair to get off a bus and he was very impatient and I actually had to say that could be any one of us and we should be thankful it's not.  The 39 year old daughter w/a chronic health condition should not have to say things like that to her 72 year old father.