Well, my sister surprised me...

...and DID call the doctor's office before dad's appointment. She spoke with the nurse and explained all her concerns about his memory and behavior, and left her name and phone number and said to feel free to call with any other questions or concerns.

Well, that evening after dad's appointment, the doctor called my sister. Dad had given the doctor permission to speak with her about his health. She wasn't home, so he left a message saying he would like to speak to her about our dad because he was very concerned. After playing some telephone tag, they finally connected. The doctor told her he was worried because of how old dad looked and how bad he looked. She said something to the doctor about, "well, a lifetime of alcoholism will do that to ya" and the doctor was surprised because he never knew about dad's chronic alcoholism. (Like dad's gonna tell him about that!!) He said the tremors definitely weren't from Parkinson's - he says they are alcohol related. His liver enzymes are very elevated. And he needs a neurological consult ASAP. He mentioned a disease my sister wrote down as "Quasiori's", but after doing about an hour's worth of googling, I think it's supposed to be "Korsakoff's". Oh - and the doctor says we're supposed to get him to stop drinking. Yeah.... right.... Like that's gonna happen.... He couldn't give it up to save his marriage and family. He couldn't give it up with AA. He couldn't give it up with a hospital treatment program. He's not going to give it up now.

So my sister is working on some paperwork to get dad into the VA hospital here so he can have that consult with a neurologist. Dad hasn't had a job in at least 3 years, has no health insurance, and isn't old enough for Medicare. He thinks his health status is "no big deal". My sister told him that his doctor thinks it is and that he needs to see the neurologist. So she's driving down to his house tomorrow so she can sit down with him and fill out the papers. We'll see if he cooperates.... Heck, I'll be surprised if he can remember his social security number.

Sigh.