Yes, a wish.

True fucking story.

My mother has a history of mental illness.  Most of my childhood is filled with memories of her convulsing in a seizure that never seemed to end, or schizophrenic episodes, or her trying to kill herself.  And I was spared from most of it, being very detached from reality as a kid.

I remember eating jelly beans as a kid, and sorting out the black ones for my mom to eat.  Except that she fell asleep, and wouldn't wake up.  And then she started shaking.

I remember having friends over for the night, and watching with them from my bedroom window while my mom was put into an ambulance for what felt like the millionth time.

I remember her losing her memory and me having to follow her through a strange city with no shoes on.  She wanted to go for a walk and wouldn't wait.  She stopped at a house I'd never seen before because we'd never lived in that city, and her insisting that she lived there for years and planted the tree in the front yard.

I remember her freaking out because she thought that there were locusts and rats all over her body.

And her swallowing all of the pills in her prescription bottles.

This went on for YEARS.  It started when I was seven, as far as I even remember, and going on to junior high school (8th grade).

In 8th grade I met my first girlfriend, and consequently, I met one of her long-standing friends.

He was a lanky kid with shoulder-length greasy hair and a pimply face.  The first thing he ever said to me was, "Will you go out with me?"  I said "No."  He cheered, explaining that he was on a hot streak of rejections.

He told me that he was a druid.  He and my girlfriend very much enjoyed a variety of things that I can only describe as Tolkien-ish.  It was beyond my understanding, but it seemed very high fantasy.  It's still beyond my understanding.

One day he explained to me about wishes, and that for some reason or another (I might have done something to earn them, but I'm not sure) he owed me three wishes.

He begged me for days to make my wishes, but I waited.  Because even though wishes seem impossible, I wasn't careless enough to just throw them away.

Finally I told him one thing that I wanted.  I wanted my mom to be cured.  Medication was like a wild carousel of Not Helping.  She was either going to have a seizure and never wake up again, or she was going to kill herself.

He drew some symbols on the ground and did his thing.  Then he asked what else I wanted.  I told him I'd wait and see if my mom got better first.

I lost contact with him.  I have no idea where he is and haven't seen him again.

Since then my mother has never had an issue.  No seizures.  No schizophrenia.  No more chasing a woman who doesn't remember who I am.  She's gone from completely unstable, having her driver's license taken away, some sort of episode once a week at BEST, to having a job, living a normal life, just being... totally FINE.

I didn't even connect the dots until earlier this year.  I realized my life used to be a whirlwind of ambulances coming every damn night for my mom.  None of that happened anymore.  I told my friend about it.  He was skeptical, but he couldn't deny that my mom had gone from a total jar of rocks to a normal human being.  Coincidence, you could say, but f*ck you, it's magic!!!

One thing I learned, though, is that my mother is a massive bitch.  :/  You can't blame bipolar for everything.

So, you're welcome, mom.  I cured you with a druid's wish, and you don't even know.

Seriously.

Well, I didn't want to update on my step-dad until I knew whether or not he has lung cancer. He's being tested for that on the 18th. He is home now, but barely got a few days in before new things came crashing down.

My brother's fiancee, Anna, took off to North Carolina with their two sons, ages 1 and 2. She said she was only going to take care of some sick family member for a week. The claim is still that she's coming back on Saturday, but we have a lot of reasons to believe that she isn't coming back. She left huge bills for my mother and brother to pay, and wasted all of her own money before taking most of my brother's money "for gas" before she left. She was starting to work whenever she felt like it (not like her), blew money on a tattoo, and left without giving her job any notice or quitting. My brother found messages to her ex-boyfriend about how she wanted to be with him. She told my brother she would call him when she got to NC. It's been about 5 days and my brother has called every phone number he can find but her friends and family who know where she is will not tell him anything or give him her number. I think that even qualifies as parental kidnapping, but I think my brother is just going to call social services and get them to remove his sons from her custody, and take her to court to get custody. We have no idea where she is, so that might be hard. I don't think we can really do anything until Saturday goes by.

My step dad has had an increasingly hard time walking. Right now he needs assistance or he will fall down. He has to drag his left foot when he walks. He described it like there was a pressure cuff cutting off his circulation. He went to the ER because of the pain and numbness a few days ago. The doctor said he didn't want to "deal with cramps" and only peeked at his leg and told him to go home. My mother took him back to a different ER the next day and THOSE doctors told her his leg didn't even look right. When they did tests they found that his arteries are blocked up very badly, so there is next to no blood flowing to his legs. They wanted surgery ASAP to put stents in, but then found that the blockage was worse than they thought so they didn't do anything but scheduled more tests. He was supposed to get those tests today but that was canceled because they found something wrong with his kidneys. Might have something to do with the drug they insisted he take that nearly caused kidney failure last time he was on it, but they insisted. '

My mother is pursuing legal action against the doctor who told Harry it was just cramps. We can't afford a lawyer so we can only do so much.

I wish I was making this all up. :(

I visited my step father in the hospital today. As it turns out, the right side of his heart (the side that still works) is dying. The main reason why he's in the hospital, though, is because his lungs are full of fluid. They're only working at about 30% capacity right now. He can't have surgery for his heart because he would die on the operating table.

Basically, all we can do is try to keep him healthy for as long as possible. I hope he'll get to see me graduate high school. When he gets home, he'll have to be on oxygen. They recommended he quit smoking, but at the same time I guess they don't expect that to happen. My mother told me they looked at his father's history, and his father went down the same road. His father had to quit smoking, and died 6 months later.

He's still Harry, though. He was absolutely disgusted with their diet plans for him, and their mutant "cholesterol-free" eggs. He told me the hospital custard tasted like shit. :P I don't think my mother will make him stick to the diet when he gets home.

So my step dad Harry is in the hospital right now. He hasn't been right for a while. His feet and legs were turning a ghostly blue and swelling up. He was getting more and more limited in his ability to walk. He has having chest pains and difficulty breathing, along with dizzy spells.

The other night my mother took him to the hospital yet again. This time instead of giving him a medication and sending him out, they realized that he had fluid in or around his lungs. I'm not sure, but my mother told me he was choking on it. He spent the night while they medicated him heavily to get the fluid out, but it didn't work too well I suppose. His breathing was still strained from that fluid so a few hours ago from writing this, they sent him to a different hospital a few hours away.

I keep trying to think of what his chances are. He's in his early 70s now, with a heart so bad that supposedly there's literally only half of [the original?] left. I'm not sure, but my mother implied that fluid buildup is related to his congestive heart failure. As my sister in law told her 2-year-old and 1-year-old, 'He's strong. He'll be back.' If it's very serious, I'm not so sure, unfortunately. He's a hell of an ornery guy, but he's been talking about death so much lately. My mother was in tears, but I can't trust that to see how bad it is. I have to focus on facts. The facts don't sound too good right now.

My mother just left and will be gone the weekend to stay near Harry. I sent my unicorn and whale ahead of me so that he will have me by his side tonight.

I hope the next time I blog about this, it will be to say he's doing much better.

P.S. for my mother's sake, and Harry's, I kindly request some prayers and good thoughts his way. Thank you. ♥