Author: Steve Antipolo

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Dad, I think it I just got hit by an emotion blast!

I was watching a TV programme earlier and it was one of those hospital things. On there was a guy in his 80’s, he has dementia and as soon as he started to get agitated suddenly all the emotions hit me of how Dad used to be exactly like that. How heartbreaking it was to watch Dad go from a healthy man enjoying life into someone I barely knew.

In this picture here it was not long before he and I had a conversation about whether or not he should have surgery.

It was a major operation which would potentially improve his life loads and so I chose to ignore any alleged risks and advise him to have it done and enjoy the rest of his life.
I don’t know whether it was the worst bit of advice I had ever given but it has to be close. 
The conversation we had about it was one of those rare ones where Dad was talking to me like he valued my opinion. Usually with Dad I was left feeling like I’d been a huge disappointment to him and had nothing to say he could value so … I handled it badly I think

He had the surgery, I buggered off on holiday without a care in the world. What had happened would change the course of Dad’s life, my life and that of many of those around him.

It seemed as though the anesthetic had triggered a bad reaction. It was like he dived into full on dementia.

His entire being changed and there was no choice but to get him into a care home, something essentially left to my sister to fight over with Dad’s then wife.

After a few months Dad started to get back to how he used to be and we managed to sort out his divorce and get him moved into a flat in Essex.

That idea lasted for a while but the dementia kicked back in again and he wasn’t able to stay there any longer and I got him moved into a lovely care home up this way.

Lovely as it was, he hated the place, of course he did. Part of Dads everyday personality throughout life was to take control and see the worst in everyone and then make a point of telling them so by making jokes at their expense and so on. That was him. It was not a shock then that he did this at the care home too.

With his dementia his arguments got confused. He didn’t know it was a care home, he thought it was either his home and all these scoungers just kept popping in to grab all the food or it was where he worked at the bank. He always mentioned that they were still not paying him so he thought he just as well retire.

We had to put a stop on extended family and particularly his ex wife phoning in as it upset him loads, it made him very angry, upset and confused.

They may not realise that, they probably thought it was personal against them but it was just to make Dad’s life better.

The roles of the family changed over time. Initially he forgot who the grandchildren were though occasionally remembered Zoey because she visited now and then.

My sister became the manager there, Kath, his ex wife was the cleaner. I made the mistake of turning up in my carers uniform one day and he had no idea who I was and kept asking me to go do things so I quickly changed into something low key and he knew me again.

Right up until last year he still knew who I was and would occasionally introduce me to the other residents with pride.

Thing with that was … Dad never had any pride in me, he didn’t really like me at all when he was ‘him’ but, even so it was nice to hear him say even if it was all muddled.

Every visit he would ask when I was going to buy him a better place for him to live in as this one was too big and he was sick of all the scroungers. He didn’t want much, a nice two bedroom bungalow would do, he was convinced he could manage on his own.

He was still hiding stuff. Nothing in his room worked because he either broke it or he disconnected it somehow. He’d managed to convince himself that if he rubbed his leg he could control the lights.

The last few years he was always lovely to me, sadly, slowly slipping away and being less like my Dad every week but on the whole, he was the best I’d ever known him and I got very close to him, more than I realised or acknowledged.

He got to meet Dennis. At first he understood we were married then, after a while Dennis became one of the workers at the home, the one that I liked he thought.

At Christmas time of 2018 we went there and brought him home to have the day with us. He was done up so smart and absolutely loved his time with us. It was a real pleasure to have him here.

It was important to me to have him home as having worked in care for a while I got to recognise states of life and was quite sure Dad wouldn’t be around for Christmas 2019.

Throughout early 2019 it was obvious his health was declining, likewise his mood. He often said he was dying now, just a matter of time.

He still managed to have a laugh every now and then. He would often ask where my Mum was as he had not seen her for so long and missed her. Mum passed in 1986 but it was lovely to at least know his love for her was still there somewhere.

In the July I got a call to go be with him in hospital. His carers said that he was basically fine, was just a little under the weather. Upon arrival it was obvious that his condition was far more serious.

He managed to hold on another 3 days, we for a while thought he would drift away on the anniversary of mums death on July 10 but he held off until 13th. We’d been staying over night, me, Daisy and Matt but on the 12th they suggested we all went home as we were exhausted. We did but at around 4am I got the call that he had passed away. We were all very upset not to have been there but the reason for going home was valid.

William Harold Harrington

28/05/1932 – 13/07/2019

Me and my sister took the decision not to inform anyone of his death. We had both had a negative experience of our mum passing, family splits/arguments and we didn’t want a repeat. To be honest, no one had asked about him for months, years in most cases. Obviously one person had told another and one family member did acknowledge his passing and that led us to believe that the news was known throughout the family. The total lack of contact thereafter really justified our decision to not involve them in any after death plans.

Dad was cremated. We have half his ashes here, Lynn has the other half with her and we have both dealt with that in a way best for us. We also held a memorial evening here for him where we had pie and mash and remembered him. He has here his own little square in our IKEA display cabinet with model buses, his glasses and pictures in it just next to a similar square for someone else very special to me.

Seeing that guy on TV this evening just made the emotions break out and I had a weep about it all having all those feelings of loss come back to me that I thought I had dealt with since the dementia kicked in.

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Scooting About

It’s been lovely today using my scooter for the first time. I felt so free and a lot less shattered.
I enjoyed all the fresh air, albeit cold and the interaction with people as I went around the streets like I used to have when walking. Obviously I am still physically capable of walking just not that far before I feel exhausted. Going around Sainsburys usually horrible for me as I starting being in a lot pain, nauseous and shattered very quickly. Today I went around (at a slow pace to avoid injury to anyone) and it was very pleasant indeed. I got some strange looks when I got up to get something but, that’s the point. NOT the strange looks, that isn’t the point but the feeling far more able to do a shop.

I did almost die on the way home when some very silly lady didn’t think a scooter had the right to use a zebra crossing. She ended up driving on the other side of the road calling me all the names under the sun and blaming me for being a blind dick and for being so stupid as to get in her way because she had a child with her. I did suggest that really, eyesight is a question but, not me seeing as I was the one stopped on a crossing whilst she was the one half driving across it on the wrong side of the road. I also suggested that perhaps she might let the child drive, they might make a better job of is. She was not a happy bunny when she drove off.

A random guy shouted as she left suggesting her actions were inappropriate. I don’t think he used those words precisely. All adds to the excitement though.

I have been reluctant to get a scooter for a long while. I viewed it as giving up. It doesn’t feel that way now though. Reality is, what is the point wearing myself out getting from A – B when I could actually enjoy the experience instead.
How lovely it was to see all the birds and hear nature around me too, not done that in such a long while. Did I mention it was cold?
I’m not using it all the while but for some trips, it’s perfect and as an extra bonus, it saves a fortune over using the car!

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Phillip Schofield Opens up About Being Gay | This Morning

It’s a little weird this because it was the self same programme I did my major national coming out on 20 years ago!

Sadly, they turned comments off for this coming out story. I think it may have helped to know what happened way back when.

I have all but stopped with the whole Gay Dad Support Network I have been running since the 1990’s. As it happens, I just discovered Virgin Media have blocked it because they believe there might be something not right about it. I have written them a very stern message saying they best have a very legitimate cause for doing so. Any other Service Provider should still get you there at http://gaydadsupport.net/

I hope that life for Phillip goes on much as it has and that at no time do any of them feel their lives so far have been wasted or a lie. It is simply not true that gay men get married knowingly using women. Most often we get married because we fell in love like anyone else when we were personally at a point in our lives where our sexuality was not clear enough to understand. Many believe, if they even sense they are gay, that it will just fade away over time. Obviously it doesn’t.

There are very few reasons why those who find themselves in this situation cannot choose whichever path works for them. Society doesn’t really have a ‘normal’ for this so whatever the family decide together is the right path for them.

#thismorning #phillipschofield

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Madam Secretary

I do watch a lot of TV and mostly it’s passing some time. Every now and then a series comes along which captivates me. One that resonates with my thinking. Makes me ask how we could do better in life rather than accepting second (or worse) best of our lives and politics.
Let’s face it, few would argue that the elite of society, those born with wealth and privilege truly understand the life of those ‘beneath’ them. Whilst it may be true that money doesn’t buy us happiness, it is also true that it does make being miserable a whole lot easier to deal with! Therefore, how can people like the UK Prime Minister of the US President have any understanding at all of the everyday lives of the citizens of those countries?
With this program they dare to ask, what if someone in power made the leap and got to know the people, served the people and not just themselves and their friends? Wouldn’t the world be so much better?
Anyway, I sat through all six seasons over the past few weeks and enjoyed every episode. I was dreading the last episode, so many good series seem to shy away from a final conclusion to their story in the hope of one more season. Sure, there is a chance of a resurrection of this series but it doesn’t need to, we’re not left wondering what happens next. It was more a case of handing the baton over to the real world and see what responsibility they take with our lives. I personally don’t hold out much hope. 
My only salvation is my chance to leave the UK when I reach retirement age and go somewhere else. True, the Philippines is terrible for corruption, true, they don’t (yes) recognise same sex relationships in law and that aspect upsets me but, though the government doesn’t do much for the people, those people who matter look after themselves. Families care for their elderly without question to the best of their ability and show respect. The young are raised with good values (mostly). I am eternally grateful to my sisters and how they cared for me when I got ill over there and I wasn’t even part of the family at the time, they were just lovely and mum was amazing and so welcoming and loving.
I love my family here loads but, I don’t really love my country any more. I don’t understand why racism is so rife and how it is swaying the decisions in politics. I don’t get how so many can vote for a party which clearly lives to very low standards of moral responsibility. How antisocial so many neighbours are toward each other. How policing is so underfunded so that many now live in fear of crime here. How our wonderful NHS has been so eroded that denying treatment to those in need is supported to save money, as though somehow one of the very richest nations on the planet cannot afford to fund a quality health services. How a nation has so little regard for the disabled and less fortunate in society that they vote for a party which consistently denies those with genuine need support and continues to blame the most vulnerable for the nations problems.

The UK did used to be different to how it is now, it used to be more pleasant to live in. I miss it and cannot see it returning to that in my lifetime.

So, back to the series. If you enjoy programmes about political issues it is worth a watch though, consider that Amazon expect people to pay for the last two seasons on top of their subscription. I am sure, like me, you can find a work around to that.