Keeping up Mum's fluid intake

Keeping Up Mum's Fluid Intake

Diary note from 1 February 2017

Mum is sipping her tea.

We are doing the usual "rounds" with her, to get her to drink:

"One for Blackie; one for Pushkin; one for Tiddlywinks; one for Wendy's cat, Artist (actually Artemis, but Mum can't pronounce or remember that, so Artist it is); one for Al's pussy cat, Apollo.

Then it's "One for Wendy; one for Al.... etc...."

In between each name and each sip, with her right hand, Mum takes a fresh tissue out of the box to wipe her face. She then puts the tissue under the table and passes it to her left hand, after which she reaches out and puts the tissue in the plastic bag hanging on the door handle.

She is then ready to lift the cup again for the next mouthful.

This slows the drinking down considerably, and the bag is always bulging with tissues.

We try to persuade her to keep just one or two tissues on the table in front of her, that she can re-use at least a couple of times.  On this occasion, she had a collection of several tissues on the table in front of her, and is hanging on to them in between sips of tea.

Half way through one "round" of names, in an effort to distract her, we make a suggestion.

"Now, put both hands round your cup, and hold on to it for a few mouthfuls of tea."

Without batting an eyelid, Mum looks at us and says, "I can't!

"Why not?" we ask.

"I can't pick up the cup like that. I've got tissues in my hand!"