He is on 100mg. 3x’s & 30mg. 4x’s a day of morphine for back pain so maybe it’s not cognitive or I’m in denial too? He if very forgetful, sleeps like 16HR a day, really struggles with electronic now a days. He used to at communicate with me by email, that way he could save the info for later retrieval. Also he is getting very mean, paranoid, panic attacks, and I know he is depressed. Lives 80 miles from me and has no one, he has shut out, or destroyed almost every relationship he’s had in the last 3 years. Three years ago he was going to a Dr. appt. became MIA, I found by calling the police which used his OnStar and found out that he was in a single vehicle rollover accident, had been air vac’d to a hospital and was in a induced coma on life support? Pulled a gun on me one night when he knew I was coming over to spend the weekend and then 30 minutes later came across a semi auto gun and decided to clean it, and it got jammed. I know he would never shot me not even on accident, but the thought crossed my mind he might ‘accidentally’ shot himself. He has two dogs he loves to death, but takes such poor care of them because all he does is sleep. He’s always shopped online and very close to being a hoarder, so lately since he struggles with the PC orders crap from the TV he doesn’t need and then freaks out when it arrives because he doesn’t remember why he ordered it. Please help they only way he is going to get help is if he were to relive that gun cleaning incident, and I have the nerve and actually call 911, or ends up in another car crash and god forbid someone else gets hurt. Did I mention when I was cleaning out his belongings from the last accident I found a Ziploc bag with 25 pills of 30mg morphine in it? Has fallen a couple of times and falls asleep standing up for example he was looking for something to eat in the fridge next thing I knew it he was snoring and nearly fell over.
Go on record, whether the lawyer agrees or not that you are removing the guns from the home, prior to approaching the issue of guardianship with dad, for fear of suicide, accident or other danger. Take dad to lunch, or an appointment of some sort and empty the home of weapons. Store them ....do not sell them...until you have guardianship, this is technically a theft....but I would do it. I removed my dad's gun from his house because I feared suicide, at one point he went looking for it, I was glad to know it was in my safe in my house...dad was mad, but so what, I certainly was not about to hand it to him.
Morphine, weapons, cognitive issues, this is volatile.....pushing to help dad, whether formal guardianship or just trying to help can ignite a very dangerous situation.
Stash the weapons.
BTW, I respect a stable person's right to bear arms, but when someone is unstable, they have no more right to arms than a minor would.
You do have a responsibility to see that any and everyone around him is safe. Please do not take your children (if any involved) into his home for any reason.
Get on the phone today, if possible, and get the professionals involved.
Someone's guardian angel has been working too much overtime already.
First of all, get in his house and get rid of his guns. Take them to your house.
Your dad may or may not have a cognitive disorder. He may be over-dosing on his morphine. You need to have a one-on-one with his doctor.
Your dad got "impossible" three years ago. He's still driving, and he's either zonked on drugs or has severe dementia.
If you're the only person he has in his life, then you've got to act. If you're just a kid (I don't know what you mean by that), then you've got to get other family involved.
This is completely, totally, utterly unacceptable.