I will try to write this with as little exasperation as possible.

Mr. A's dad had a stroke about 6 weeks ago. He denigrated the hospital and its staff for 10 days, couldn't wait to be transferred to the rehab hospital. A day after the move, the hospital became world-class and their staff were angelic and punctual, while the rehab hospital (which actually IS world class) was a hellhole with belligerent, never-on-time staff.

Now he and Lady Friend are safely ensconced in a 2BR in a fancy independent living facility for a few months while the elevator in their building is replaced. The new place has lovely grounds, a spacious apartment, on-site PT in a fabulous gym, three meals a day that the elders say are excellent, two limos and a van that will drive them to appointments and local places of interest, so now only talk about how great it will be to get back to the social isolation of their condos.

Fun fact for anyone who drives in New York state: doctors in NY are not required to report strokes to the DMV. Consider yourself warned.

Onward to my own parents. Last Wednesday, dad sent a group email saying that my mother "took a tumble" in the kitchen. Fortunately he was standing right there and broke her fall so there were no broken bones, just a badly sprained wrist.

Seemed a bit fishy to me when I asked mom what x-rays she'd had and she said, "No x-rays, they just manipulated me and sent me on my way." With no pain meds, and no proper brace? "No, none of that, I'm just using some bandages Dad bought at CVS. Re. the pain meds, my dad had already told me no, she wasn't given anything, just Tylenol for arthritis.

Today my aunt and I conferenced-called my mother and she can barely speak because her "entire arm is swollen up" and she's in agony. Lo and behold, she has been seen by no one. She decided for herself last week that nothing was broken and it wasn't worth a trip to Urgent Care.

She'll be lucky if someone at Urgent Care doesn't call protective services. Plus they both more or less lied to me.