Friday morning: Mum's lovely carers Sue and Nikki came to get Mum washed and up and dressed; the first part of the trilogy was achieved, but after the day we had had yesterday, it was no surprise that Mum had exhausted herself. She stayed in bed, sleeping soundly.
When the ladies returned at lunchtime, Mum was still "out of it" - we thought she looked a bit flushed, so I took her temperature; happily, it was perfectly normal. She was sleeping peacefully, breathing easily so, after her pad was changed, Mum was left to sleep on.
Mum had been in bed since 8.45 last night, and had slept right through breakfast and lunchtime; as usual, I was worried about her not having had any food or liquid, and it's also better to be up and out of bed if possible, so that her chest is kept clear.
At my request, Sydney and Jodie said they would come a little early, at 3.30, to see if they could rouse Mum; if she was awake, they would get her up and settled in the chair.
Mum was still asleep when the ladies arrived, but we all made a concerted effort to get Mum going. I washed Mum's face, and that was when she began to wake up.
"Is that nice, Ma?" I asked her.
"Yes, it's lovely. But I'm still wet ..." pointing to her forehead.
"Oh, I'll get that dry," I said, patting her gently with a clean tissue.
After that it got easier. Jodie and Sydney were able to take Mum to the bathroom to wash her hands, and I am sure she felt very much better after that, and having had a change of scene.
On a technical matter, we found the controller that changes the position of the bed was not working properly; when we pressed the button to lower the bed, it went down at one end but not the other, so Sydney got underneath the bed to see what had happened. One of the leads going into the distributor box had worked loose, and needed to be pushed back into place, and she sorted it all out in a couple of minutes.
Jodie and Sydney said, "We come up against these problems a lot!" and it was inspiring to know how quickly they can turn their hands to rectify them. They have to be more than carers, there's an important element of mechanical know-how required as well!
After that, we had a lovely afternoon and evening. We got Mum's hands and face washed, her teeth brushed, and we went straight to dinner. Mum was really hungry and polished off her food more quickly than usual.
"Are you thirsty, Mum?" I asked her.
"No," she said; but she still drank her tea nicely.
Later on, Mum had supper, with more tea and cake; she was definitely back to normal, happy and reasonable.
A wonderful bonus was that Blackie decided to join us. He comes into Mum's room quite often, even if it's only a short visit for a quick check round the piano, wardrobes, etc., but this evening he stayed for a much longer time.
The chair I use when I am sitting beside Mum has two nice cushions on it, so it is very comfy; and at one point, as I was standing up to give Mum her tea, Blackie decided my chair was just the ticket. As he is also getting on a bit, it's clear he sometimes has problems with jumping and has to think twice about what he wants to do, but tonight it was a clean leap and a safe landing on the cushions.
He stood still for a few moments, and Mum said, "I think he's going to sit down!"
"I think he will!" I agreed.
Blackie gently settled himself on top of the cushions and then put his paw out on the arm of Mum's chair. Mum was so chuffed at this, and stroked his head and talked to him. I had no idea how long Blackie would stay, but I took Mum's dishes away, and picked up the camera. Blackie was perfectly contented to sit beside Mum, and I took a few photos of them together; a really happy twosome.
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| "I'm here! Ready for some fussing!" |
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| Blackie's full attention has been gained |
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| More Cat Companionship |
It's lovely having a record of times like these; I can show the pictures to Mum, and remind her how happy a particular day has been. After yesterday, it certainly shows "What a difference a day makes..."
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