As I laid in the hospital bed after my head injury I felt that my son Grant was almost too emotional for the situation. I didn’t feel like I was going to die so why was he so distraught? I was also curious about this much tearful emotion coming from my son; I felt that it was almost like he was hiding guilt for some reason. Upon returning home Grant went back to his apartment and was more or less not around a lot and I thought this was strange why was he so concerned at the hospital then not around? Next, I observed mood and health changes in Grant. Grant complained often of stomach aches or not sleeping well. At the family Christmas celebration, Grant was not happy and responded almost mad about the gifts he received. I did not know what to expect from Christmas or how people responded to it but I felt that they would be happy with a gift. I had seen shows and commercials on TV that showed Christmas celebrations and the joy people got when they received gifts and that was not Grants reaction. I wondered, what was with him? When my niece and her husband came over with their two small boys he noticed Grant withdraw even more and had little interaction with the very engaging children.
Joan told me the day following Christmas she takes the Christmas decorations down except for the tree in preparation for Taylor’s birthday—no combo celebrations—whatever that meant. Grant came over to help remove the exterior lights on the house. He once again complained of feeling sick and was noticeably pale. The lights were going to be replaced with new lights next year that Joan bought on sale. The job of taking the lights downs did not need to be carefully done since they were going to be thrown away. Remember we live in Arizona and the weather is a balmy 75 degrees and this was to be an easy job. Grant seemed to be very agitated that the lights did not come off the house easily and he began to swear and rip them off the house. I said I would rather risk getting onto a ladder 2 weeks after my head injury then see him show our neighbors his tantrum. He got down off the ladder and went inside the house to lie down and let me do the job in excruciating pain and risk of injury. Once he calmed down he came out and finished the job. I didn’t know much but I felt like I would have never allowed my dad to risk getting on a ladder if he was in my state and thank God Joan did not know this had occurred. What was wrong with him? How could my only son be so selfish and care so little after crying so hard at the hospital? The last straw was Joan kept “misplacing” my pain pills she would say while she was cleaning up my pill must have gotten put in the back cabinet or behind the plant out of sight. I had to ask Joan either I have a drug problem or more likely my son does cause his moods and behaviors are unlike anyone else and don’t make sense. That’s how I found out about Grant.