Car Sales Confidential

Chapter 6 There's Always Hope

THERE'S ALWAYS HOPE

It has been a long slow slog, but nearing retirement age when he can begin collecting social secure to support his financial needs, Luke is showing signs every day that a brighter future is on the horizon.

Though this is a novel in the sense that much in the story has been modified with fiction, it can also be said that much if not all of the story's content has been directly inspired by actual events surrounding our family's experiences.

The purpose of Care Sales Confidential is to give others responsible for the care of someone with a serious mental illness something of a guidepost as to what to expect and how better manage the demands of the responsibility they've taken on.

As the title of this chapter suggests, yes, there is hope of a good outcome although in most cases your loved one may never be considered normal and you should never really expect that as an outcome, as something you deserve as a result of all your hard work and sacrifice...no. Also, as you read on do not expect a spectacularly dramatic ending like you might get in a Stephen King thriller, or, on the other hand some happily-ever-after tall tale—why not, because that's seldom how real life actually unfolds.

In Luke's case, as mentioned earlier as one of the first signs he was making real progress Luke began taking much better care of the house where he was living—the family home we all grew up in, the home our parents died in, the home our older brother Mathew came home from New York to endure hospice in our living room before finally passing.

There was another factor that I'm sure helped Luke begin to focus less on his wants, needs, and addictions and begin thinking of others—and those initial others were not human.

Our family had a series of cats for the last three decades before our parents passed. At the time our mother left us there were two beloved family cats and Luke, the only person living in the home, actually took charge of caring for them—and we weren't at all sure he would.

There were issues early on when he was drinking too much and tried to leverage caring for the cats in exchange for compensation, way beyond what would have been considered reasonable, especially considering that we were already paying all of his bills. Back then, however, Luke was deep into his addictions and any money he got his hands on unfortunately went for more drugs and alcohol.

Luke had his ups and downs, more specifically he seemed to be in a predictable four-to-six week bipolar cycle where his more happy manic phase was followed by a down period culminating in roughly a week of clinical depression where he would typically self-medicate with alcohol. During those hard times Lana and I would have to get over to the house to make sure the cats were being properly cared for. Then, the older of the two cats began showing signs of illness.

He'd lost interest in eating, was losing weight, had become lethargic, and giving his advanced age we were all afraid he might be dying. A visit to a veterinarian confirmed a treatable illness. Medicine was prescribed along with instructions on how to nurse him back to health.