You're going to need your handy dandy "list of players" for this one!

"Welcome to the Constance One Million show, today we're talking to wives who try to drive their husbands to an early grave so that they can get the house & the insurance money. The catch in this drama: the teenage step kids who are in on the deal & do what they can to help mommy dearest out. Let's meet our guests:"

So FIL is apparently much sicker than any of us realized & he was pretty much hiding it from everyone.

Since Monday we've found out that:

1. He can't walk across the room without loosing his breath/coughing/passing out.
2. He is retaining water & his feet look like a pregnant woman's.
3. He is having more problems with his wife & step-daughter, and it's getting bad. Again.

Hubs yelled at convinced him to go see his doctor (Tuesday) & they found that he had a reflux episode a few weeks ago & he aspirated some of the *bleck* into his lungs & now they are infected. He has an enlarged heart, fluid in his lungs/abdomen/chest areas, and infection in his lungs. He's on 4 different breathing meds w/ 4 treatments a day, oxygen, antibiotics, lasiks, and they finagled his heart medications again.

And then the world blew up yesterday (Wednesday).

ESil & LSil called yesterday & stayed on the phone with Hubs off & on all day. For all three of them to willingly talk ~ the world has ended & Satan is handing out ice cream cones in hell.

Apparently Step-Monster is not taking care of FIL At! All! The doctor told him that for FIL to recover he has to stay away from stress, stay away from anyone smoking, eat healthier, take his meds on schedule & get rest, rest, and more rest. Well the sister's have found out that Step-monster is not taking care of him, is not cooking for him, causing incredible amounts of stress, and smoking around him. With an oxygen tank in the house, she's a brilliant woman. (ahhh the smell of sarcasm in the morning!)

After they got home from the dr on Tuesday Step-monster breaks the news that she's decided that her 16yo daughter needs to be home schooled ~ and wanted the credit card so that she could sign Teenager up for classes online. FIL put his foot down & said that Teenager will only slack off (he's not wrong) and won't do the work (again, he's not wrong). Teenager stayed in his face bitching, whining, screaming about it & he slapped her. Teenager steals her mom's car keys, runs to the police department and tries to file charges of abuse ... the cops know her & know that she probably earned a smack, so they told her that they would have to investigate.

Then Wednesday morning Step-Monster had to go to court over Teenagers truancy!! The kid has missed almost half of the school year! Step-Monster tells the judge that she is looking into pulling Teenager out of school & homeschooling her ~ Teenager stands up & screams at the judge "How am I supposed to be at home learning when he's always there hitting me!"

Yep, DCFS is back in the picture. This is the second time that they've become involved with the Teenager. Last night the social worker decided that Teenager can no longer stay in that home, but they are letting her pick where she wants to go. (I don't get that, but ok.) Turns out FIL had already said the same thing & that he refuses to have her in his house ... Step-Monster responded with "If my kid can't stay I won't stay" to which he parried with "Fine get out & take your things with you."

We've been through this before ~ this is the 4th time in 5 years they've had this conversation. They always wind up back together within a few weeks, swear it will work out & then bitch about how much they hate each other. The difference this time is that FIL is sick and needs care. We aren't sure how that will be accomplished at this point ~ but something tells Hubs that it's going to be his job to make sure everything is taken care of for his dad & the family restaurant.

What scares the kids is that they have all offered to come help him for the weekend & he doesn't want to see any of them. He has never refused a visit from his kids. Step-Monster is still living there so we know she's still aggravating him on a regular basis. And he sounds like he just doesn't care anymore, he just says how tired he is, how he can't handle all the crap, how he just wants peace ... and he hasn't been to the restaurant in over 2 weeks. NEVER has he done that. This can't be a good sign.