Thanksgiving arrest 2012

As I write this blog I now realize that you have been arrested more than once, in the days around Thanskgiving.
Is there something about the time of year?

http://seniorfraud.blogspot.com/2015/02/arrest-as-route-to-hospitalization-2010.html
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About one week before Thanksgiving, without any notice, you depart from the senior condo and drive to the farm homestead town in rural Minnesota.
Your intention is to see the doctor there so they can give you back your drivers license.

http://seniorfraud.blogspot.com/2015/02/too-old-and-demented-to-drive.html

You are sure that they will give you anything you ask for.

I first learn of your trip when you call me from the garage, unable to get into the house, your house, the house you built. I talk you through the steps.

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The doctor calls me, informing me you gave him permission to call and get the history, since you are unable to provide your medical history or your med list.   I say, "did you notice the dialysis fistula in his arm?", as well as other pertinent history.
I tell the doctor you don't have a valid drivers license, that you recently failed the driving test.
The doctor informs me that he must call the police (since it is obvious you drove to the appointment and you would be driving again as soon as you leave the appointment).
I don't know what happened after that  -- nobody called me to inform me of anything.

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Its 3 days before Thanskgiving.  You are still alone at the farm homestead.  I call you around 7 PM only to learn that you are heading back home to the city condo tonight.  However, you are sitting at the kitchen table of distant relatives, off the beaten path, a deviation from the usual route we take between locations.  Its dark outside and you are in a strange place, driving without a license.   I don't even like to drive in the dark and I am much younger than you.
I say, "try not to get killed or kill anyone tonight Dad", and we hang up.
Exhausted, I  go to bed and sleep, not realizing that events continue to play out many miles away.

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its 6:30 AM, 2 days before Thansgiving. The phone rings.  Its my aunt, your sister in law.  She tells me you are in Mankato - 90 miles away.   You called her after you couldn't reach me.

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The jitterbug cell phone has my home phone number keyed in as well as my cell phone, office, phone.  Still, you couldn't reach me (purely due to your telephone incompetence).  The staff at the Super 8 hotel helped you get through to my aunt.

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The police found you on highway 14, driving too slow.  I am sure you were lost, having taken an alternate route, driving in the dark, at 10 PM.  They next learned the drivers license wasn't valid.  For the first time you now believe that you don't have a valid drivers license.
The police leave the car on the road and take you to the Super 8 hotel.  What else would you do with an 81 year old guy who was driving 90 miles from home at 10 PM at night?

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"come and get me", you say.


"I can't just drop everything and come and get you because you are driving without a license", I say. I have a job, a schedule I need to keep, people who are depending on me to be responsible.

I didn't pick you up until Thanksgiving morning.

On the way home you agreed to put the car away for the winter.  Actually, you never drove again after this.

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The stay at the Super 8 was actually like a little vacation, quite enjoyable. They had free coffee and donuts in the lobby.

The house-keeping staff entertained you.  You could easily walk next door to the Happy Chef for meals.

Who would have thought getting arrested could be so fun?

Too old and demented to drive?

Easter Sunday 2012 we present for emergency hospitalization. You are hypoxic, fluid overloaded, confused. Emergency dialysis is performed. It ends up as a 3 week hospitalization, with more than one call from the hospital staff, late at night, as your confusion creates problems controlling you in the hospital.
When you are discharged it is recommended that you not drive until there is a driving evaluation.
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For the 6 weeks that home care came it was easy to get you to agree that you were home-bound, and shouldn't be driving.
Around the 6 week mark I schedule the appointment for an expert driving evaluation, which you surprisingly agree to do.  It is a 3-4 hour test, including testing on signs, vision, and actually driving.  The recommendation is made that you NOT drive.
We are informed you are blind in one eye.  We are informed that the driving instructor had to intervene, to avoid a collision, during the test drive phase of the test

You are so angry I thought you were going to hit the instructor. I quickly escort you out of the facility.  Of course, I don't give you your keys back.

The primary care doctor and the state revoke the drivers license, on the basis of the drivers test.

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What a surprise to realize you have made a charge at the local grocery store.  How did you get there?

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The Buxx card shows a charge to a locksmith.  You hired a locksmith to break into your car, and make you new car keys.

I must complement you on your  cunning.   Of course, you were driving without a valid license.

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You don't believe that the drivers license has been revoked.  You blame me.  You also blame the nephrologist (who had nothing to do with it)