Air Conditioner Breakdown Saga Part 1: The AC that lasted 25 years and why my parents couldn't ask for help

Two air conditioners at my parents' house broke down at the same time.

"So this day has finally come."

Honestly, I had suspected it might happen.

After all, we had been using them for 25 years.

Last year, they started working again after I replaced the remote control.
When I visited home last time, I cleaned the filters and left, hoping they would hold out a little longer.

But in reality, it seems they started acting up shortly after I left.

Even so, my mother couldn't tell me.

Nursing care paperwork.
Coordination with care managers and various services.
Sudden expenses.
Managing money.
Ordering groceries through online supermarkets.
Hospital admission and discharge procedures.
The countless little troubles of daily life.

She said that she finally started to feel guilty that she had left all those things to me alone.

For the first time, my mother consulted my younger brother instead of me.

Then my brother said,

"I can't buy you two air conditioners, but I'll buy you two electric fans. I'm a good son, aren't I?"

Apparently, my mother was worried that I would be angry that he bought her those fans.

There is no way I would be angry about something like that.

If anything, I thought, "He's finally spending money on his parents."

But I was shocked at the idea of telling elderly parents who cannot move freely outside to spend this intense heat with only electric fans.

If that's the case, he should try spending this hot summer at home with only an electric fan himself.

That's what I ended up thinking.

My mother knew it would be another large expense, so she couldn't tell me.

Thinking that my brother wouldn't be of any help, she called my daughter this time.

And I learned that the air conditioners at my parents' house were broken from my daughter.

Am I really such a scary person?

No, rather than scary, perhaps they think, "I'm the only one who can do anything about it."

My daughter looked up various things on the internet and with AI.

"Grandpa has a disability certificate, so there might be a subsidy for air conditioners."

I pinned my hopes on those words and couldn't sleep that night.

I thought about the inquiry message to send to the care manager and rehearsed in my head how to explain it when calling the municipal office, and before I knew it, it was morning.

I sent a message to the care manager first thing in the morning.

The reply was,

"There is no such system as a subsidy."

After that, I also inquired at the elderly and disability welfare consultation desk of the ward office in the area where my parents live.

The answer I got back was,

"There is no subsidy system for purchasing air conditioners in the district where your parents live. You can use the loan system of the Council of Social Welfare."

Not a subsidy, but a loan.

In other words, it was debt.

In the end, I will be the one paying for it.

My savings are starting to hit rock bottom little by little due to my parents' nursing care.

Even so, I thought.

It would cost even more if they collapsed from heatstroke and had to be hospitalized.

If that's the case, I'll just have to bite the bullet.

Having decided that, I booked a plane ticket.

Next time, I plan to write about purchasing the air conditioners at my parents' house and "how many invisible tasks there are in nursing care."