I spent this afternoon and evening with my mother in law at the hospital. She is eighty, and stubborn, and until a few weeks ago was twice as active as I am.
She is in the hospital now with a UTI and worrying cardiac enzymes. So I went over to her house to fetch her some clean underwear and her denture supplies.
The house....well. She's a hoarder. There are barely paths in places. There are roaches. I smell mice. Something has got to be done, and she'll keep saying she'll do it, but she may be to the point where it isn't a matter of will but of ability.
I know that we, her family, will clean it out if she'll let us. But I fear the only way she'll let us is if it gets reported to someone in authority.
So my question is who do I "drop a dime" to anonymously report this? Basically I want them to say, "You can't go home until the house is passable". Because short of someone in authority saying that? it won't happen. And we could easily have come in and found her dead on that couch. If we'd waited a day we well might have.
And I admit, I'm selfish. It will be a hell of a lot easier to go over and make sure she's taken care of if I can walk through her house.
Advice?