Following on from my post looking back at May, we now move on to June for the next in my series of journals about my life as a carer, showing how things have evolved during the year with my mother’s physical and mental health (and again, please do read those posts if you haven’t already, to put everything here into context).
These entries are not comfortable to read, I know,, and nor were they to write either. But as I’ve said before, I want to be open about things to help raise awareness. So I appreciate you taking the time to look through them, and I hope you find them interesting.
Contents
- June 5 – Mum’s Covid vaccine & sleep appointment.
- June 8 – Theatre trips.
- June 15 – Moorfields & another fall.
- June 22 – Heatwave.
- June 29 – Sleep appointment.
Thursday, June 5
Mum’s Covid vaccine & sleep appointment.
The first 4 days of this week have been difficult and emotional in some ways, but productive in others. Mum started out fine on Monday, not waking me up early in a panic and being able to have a shower by herself. But a little doze later in the morning led to quite a big panic attack when she got lost in her corner of the living room again. I heard her calling for me when she found her way out into the hallway, when she claimed she’d been calling me for ages. I did have the radio on in my study, but it wasn’t that loud, and I’ve always heard her before, so she couldn’t have been shouting very loud really. But it took a little while to calm her down, and she did snap at me.
That then led to her worrying that she’d upset me, so when I went in at lunchtime she started crying, apologising and saying that she didn’t mean to be so nasty. She’s so scared that I’ll just give up on her. So I hugged her and kissed her and reassured her, which did help to calm her down. But that’s the first time I’ve seen her crying, just like it was the first time I’d cried the previous day. So it really does show how much this is taking its toll on both of us.
She was ok after that though. She still slept in her armchair during the afternoon, so I ended up cooking our steaks for tea, and was able to wake her up enough for it. Likewise, she nodded off in front of the TV in the evening, but I was able to stir her awake to have Victoria Sponge and ice cream that I’d got from M&S for our dessert.
She then came downstairs during the night as usual, and we ended up having another chat about the visions she’d been having, which seemed to help her understand why they’re happening a bit better, as I explained that her brain is filling in the gaps in the one sense of hers that no longer works. Her brain can still hear and feel me fine, but it wants to see me, so it flashes up a memory of me, to compensate for the lack of sight. It’s still unnerving her that she’s seeing me sometimes, and her brain is still a bit confused that there’s two of me occasionally. But the chat seemed to put her mind at rest.
Tuesday was then a ‘normal’ day, in the sense of how things have been recently. Mum didn’t get into a panic early in the morning or during the day, though I think I managed to catch her before she had time to get into one each time she woke up in the living room. I was able to get her to help me put the tea on (steak pies this time) after I’d finished work as well, as I like her to feel involved and useful if she’s up to it. And we finished off our sponge dessert that evening. During the day I also rebooked her Covid vaccination at the pharmacy for the next day.
So on Wednesday she started off fine in the morning, but then got irritable when it came time for us to go down to the pharmacy to get her Covid vaccine done at lunchtime. She was complaining that I didn’t care about how she felt, which was clearly not true. When we arrived there, we were shown into the small office straight away, and the guy was very cheery as he got things set up. But as I didn’t have Mum’s NHS ID handy, as we’ve generally not needed it before, he had to search for her on the system, which took a little bit longer, and Mum openly said a couple of times that she wished she hadn’t come. But she did allow him to make the injection, so at least that will ensure she’s protected. She continued to moan a bit on the way home and after we got back, but once I’d finished my lunch she apologised for having a go at me and I gave her a long hug. I still get hurt by the things she says, naturally, but I’m learning to brush them off a bit better now.
She stayed awake, just about, for the rest of the afternoon as well, so we had our roast chicken tea at the normal time. She then fell asleep while listening to the tennis commentary on the TV, waking up shortly after 10pm. She did try going to bed for a little while, but came downstairs after just over an hour to watch TV as usual.
On Thursday we then had our telephone appointment with the doctor at the surgery, and we explained what had been going on. He didn’t seem concerned that she might have anything like dementia, which is good, and agrees that her sleep is the primary issue we need to deal with first. He doesn’t want to give her anything too strong through, given her age and frailty, so he’s starting at the lowest level possible, and we can build up from there if it doesn’t work. So for now he’s prescribed a light sedative in the form of Promethazine 10mg tablets, with one to be taken per night. If it doesn’t work after a couple of weeks, then we can try other things. But if it does work, we can experiment with taking her off them to see if her body clock drifts again, and just go back on them each time it does go out of sync.
It didn’t seem to work that night though, which didn’t surprise me. Given how active her mind has been, I think it will take something stronger to settle it and/or therapy to stop her being so anxious. Indeed, she had also been in and out of sleep during the afternoon, having panic attacks when she was waking up because everything was dark to her. I rang my aunt in the evening as well, to let her know the update, and to tell her I was going out with my friends to theatre shows over the next couple of days. It is good to talk to her, as although there’s not much she can do, it’s nice to talk to someone outside of the house. And she asked me to make sure the telecare people have got her number.
Sunday, June 8
Theatre trips.
The last few days of this week were been a bit unusual, because I had Friday off work and Saturday free, but I then had work on Sunday, due to weekend shifts being shuffled around a bit.
On Friday morning it transpired that Mum had eventually had a little bit of sleep over Thursday night after all, as even though she did come downstairs, she was a bit drowsy and didn’t stay down long, and then didn’t come down again after that. And she told me on Friday morning that she’d had a couple of hours sleep, so it’s a start.
She didn’t take one of the pills on Friday night though, because I was going out to meet a friend for a meal and a theatre show, so she wanted to be sure of being awake when I got home just after 11pm. For a while this week I was convinced I wouldn’t be able to go, due to the issues Mum was having. But she was keen for me to go as well, so having talked it over with her quite a bit I did go out. I had a great time seeing The Comedy About Spies, and Mum was fine in the end. She did try to ring me briefly when I was in the theatre, so I rang her quickly shortly before we took our seats for the show, when I got a little bit of signal at the entrance to the auditorium. But she only wanted a bit of help with getting one of Radio 5’s new Sports Extra stations on her Alexa machine (as they have 3 extra stations rather than just the one now). Otherwise she didn’t seem to have any issues, and was in bed when I got home, though awake and waiting for me.
Of course, as she hadn’t taken one of the sedative pills, it meant that she didn’t sleep much during the night, and was quite tired during Saturday. So I was more wary about going out again, but she insisted that I could. So I did go out, having a lot of fun at the Bat Out Of Hell Musical with a couple more of my friends. It was great to talk to them about what’s been going on, just as it had been with my other friend the day before. They’ve all been so understanding and supportive.
Once I got home, Mum was very pleased to see me, as it had been a more difficult day for her. She’d managed to drop the Alexa machine on the floor (as she likes to pick it up when she gives it commands) and then accidentally kicked it across the room. But also, she had asked me to shut the study door before I left so she wouldn’t go in there, but she was in such a daze at one point that she did go in there and got completely lost, so that was a bit of a nightmare for her, bless her. I’m glad I wasn’t around to witness that, and that she was calm when I got back.
She was really tired though. So I gave her one of her sedative pills and helped her to go to bed, which was about 9:30pm. And I got Alexa to play Radio 3 Unwind, which is a new radio station I discovered on BBC Sounds that plays calming music, including night time sleep selections. It launched back in November, but I just haven’t noticed it until now, as I don’t look at what Radio 3 are doing. I had put it on over the past couple of nights, and Mum does like it. But this time, on Saturday night, her tiredness coupled with the sedative pill and calming music sent her off to sleep pretty quickly, and she didn’t get up at all until the next morning, which was brilliant.
She was still tired today (Sunday), during which I was working as noted above, but calm overall. Although she did doze off a bit during the afternoon and lost track of time a little, she didn’t panic or get lost each time she woke up and tried to move. I just had to cook the tea again when I finished work, which was pies so it was nice and easy. She did start getting a bit panicky while sitting in front of the TV in the evening though, as she drifted in and out of sleep and worried that she was on her own, perhaps because I’d been out the past couple of nights. She did then go to bed and it sounded like she slept for about an hour or so, but then she came downstairs for the night to watch TV again.
Sunday, June 15
Moorfields & another fall.
Well, we got the big job done this week. On Monday we had a pretty normal day really, as I was working, and Mum managed to stay awake all day, albeit finding it increasingly difficult during the evening. And I don’t think she got a lot of sleep that night either, but she did get a little bit at least.
Tuesday was the important day though, as I took Mum to Moorfields on the bus in the morning. She got a bit anxious on the way there, but was fine when we were actually in the clinic. And we were only there for a couple of hours, much less than either of us had expected. There was a fair bit of waiting around of course, but thankfully not for too long each time, and all of the staff were very patient and friendly.
Mum was first seen by a female nurse who verified that Mum couldn’t see a light being shone in her eyes and took her blood pressure. Then she was seen by a female doctor who had Mum place her chin on one of those examination devices to look into her eyes fully. There’s nothing they can do about her sight of course, but it was noted that her pressure was high. Mum isn’t in any pain from her eyes though, so there’s no need for them to act on that – but if they do get painful and cause headaches, they can try to use drops or laser treatment to relieve the pressure a bit.
We then met our Eye Care Liaison Officer (ECLO), who was very nice. He said that the registration letters we already had for Mum’s blindness issued to our old address were sufficient for Mum’s registration, and that he would send me links to various things including counselling services (particularly the RNIB), carers support, coffee mornings and other events Mum might be able to go on, patient experience days at Moorfields, etc.
I had expected Mum to want to go home after that, so was very surprised when she said she wanted to go to M&S. So we actually walked all the way there and had a good look round. Mum quite enjoyed it in there as well, saying she felt very comfortable, and liked me reading various tasty-sounding things to her. So we picked up some sandwiches and cream doughnuts for lunch, a steak pie and beef gravy for tea, Victoria Sponge and ice cream for afters, and some new teabags for her to try (shortbread-flavoured ones that she liked the sound of, and some Dreamy ones that contain chamomile and valerian root that we hope might help her sleep).
We then walked to the Tube, got on the train and went to the station we needed to change at. But when we got to the next platform we needed and a train pulled in, everybody was ordered off it, and an announcement came over the tannoy that the line had been suspended. It was so annoying for me, because I haven’t had any issues getting trains home on that line for ages, and it’s sod’s bloody law that it should happen on the day Mum’s with me.
I managed to get us home by getting a different line to another station, from where we could get a bus home. But then when we got off the bus, Mum took a tumble on to the ground. The driver kindly helped her get up, and she doesn’t seem to have sustained any major injuries – mainly just reopening a wound on her knee that had been healing, and her wrist hurts from where I tried to hold her up, as it was difficult for me to grab her with 2 bags of shopping in my other hand. So it rather spoilt the ending of the trip, as we’d been out for 4 hours up to then without any issues! Still, she was able to settle enough at home to have her sandwiches and cream doughnut for lunch, and was in good spirits as I hugged her, chatted to her and made her laugh a little bit.
I then cooked our dinner and did the washing up in the evening, and likewise with our pudding later on, as she was tired and her wrist hurt too much to do it. But she did have the football on, albeit drifting in and out of sleep. She also tried the new Dreamy tea we’d bought for her during the afternoon and liked it, so had another cup of it about an hour before going to bed, as well as having one of her pills. After about an hour in bed, during which she might have had a little bit of sleep, she did have a bit of a panic when she sat up and couldn’t find her slippers, even though they were right next to her. But I quickly settled her down and she got straight back into bed, and did appear to have a little bit more sleep after that. And some is better than none, I figure, even if it’s not yet enough.
Wednesday and Thursday were then relaxing days spent at home. Mum’s wrist was still hurting a fair amount and she was quite tired on Wednesday, so I cooked our dinner, did the washing up and served up our dessert again, and helped Mum to put some washing out on the line and bring it in again. She did spend a little while in bed that night as well, though eventually came down of course. But I was able to watch an episode of Black Mirror at least.
Then on Thursday, after I had a lie in, Mum was in good spirits during the morning, even saying that she wanted to go for a walk around the park at some point, so we talked about doing that on Friday morning. The fact her wrist is starting to get better has reassured her I think. We also fancied having fish and chips, so I went down to the takeaway and got 2 pieces of cod and a large portion of chips to share between us, and that was very nice to have for lunch. I also helped her with more washing on the washing line, and we did our Sainsbury’s shopping together online. Other than that though, I just relaxed for the day, including doing a bit of work on my blog. Mum also decided to go to bed in the late afternoon, which was a good idea, even if it then limited the amount of sleep she got that night.
Friday was then another quiet day indoors in the end, as it was too warm for Mum to go out for a walk in the morning, with a forecast of hotter weather and thunderstorms later on. I did get a few little jobs done in the morning though, so it was reasonably productive. And we had our dinner in the middle of the day in case it was too hot for Mum to cook later on. Indeed, it did get quite warm that evening, with Mum getting agitated as a result because she was drifting in and out of sleep in front of the TV and getting confused. She switches personality in moments like that, and was saying she hated me, but then a few minutes later of course wanted reassurance that I didn’t hate her.
She was quite nervous about going to bed that night as well because it was so hot. I put an extra desk fan in her room and turned it on for her, but just a few minutes later, without having taken any time to get comfortable, she tried coming downstairs again to sit in front of the TV, with a fan on the windowsill next to her instead. But she did then go back upstairs again. So I thought I’d chance it and try watching the TV in the living room, and if she comes down then I’ll just keep watching it, as I’m trying to get her used to me watching TV at night there again.
So I thought I’d watch the first film in the Back To The Future trilogy, as I want to watch and review all 3 movies and the Blu-ray extras in time for the 40th anniversary in early July. And to my surprise I was able to watch the entire 2-hour movie, plus an episode from the new series of Not Going Out, without her coming downstairs at all. I think she did eventually go downstairs at some stage after I went to bed, but the fact she’d stayed in bed for a few hours on a warm night, and was able to get a bit of sleep, was really good.
On Saturday I then had the second half of the weekend shift at work that we started last week, but as my colleague Emily is now going off on holiday, I’ve got another 9 days off before we’re back at work again, which is great.
Mum’s wrist was still a bit better on Saturday, and she enjoyed watching the coverage of Trooping The Colour on TV with audio description in the morning. And I was able to watch one of the commentaries on the Back To The Future DVD that night, though Mum did come downstairs this time. She didn’t say anything, not wanting to disturb me, but in her half asleep state she did keep walking over to my chair to touch me and hold my hand.
I was then hoping to have a lie-in on Sunday morning, though it was interrupted early on by Mum panicking a bit because she’d accidentally set off the telecare alarm, I suspect by fumbling around by the curtains and pressing the button. It took a while for it to connect as well, but they’d obviously got the message that the alarm had gone off, because they rang the landline to check she was ok. It did connect a little while after that though. So I then went back to bed again, thinking I would get a couple of hours more rest before getting up, but ended up having a bit more than that and got up after 11am!
The day was then pretty relaxed after that, though I did go out to M&S, as we needed a few things and it was a good excuse to get a few more treats. Mum was fast asleep in her chair when I got back about 4:30pm though, and I managed not to wake her up by unpacking the shopping in the kitchen as quietly as I could. She eventually woke about 6:30pm and asked to go to bed, so I helped her to the stairs, then around 7pm I cooked my meaty pizza from M&S, which was lovely.
Mum then eventually got up around 9pm and came downstairs, and asked me to make cheese on toast for her as I’d bought some slices for that purpose. She then went back upstairs again around 10pm, but came down again not long after and plopped herself down in front of the TV for a few hours, so I couldn’t continue watching the extras on my Back To The Future Blu-ray, and had to settle for an episode of Black Mirror in my study instead. So clearly, until we can get her sleep sorted out, I need to try and get in there before she comes downstairs again, as it’s the only way I can watch Blu-rays and I need her to get used to me using the TV at night like I usually do.
Sunday, June 22
Heatwave.
I’ve had this entire week off work, which I was hoping was going to be nice and relaxing.
Unfortunately, it’s been an increasingly uncomfortable week as the days have progressed, because we’ve been having a heatwave with temperatures peaking at just over 30 degrees on Friday and Saturday. So that’s been really tiring Mum out and made her a bit irritable on a couple of days when she was particularly sleep-deprived.
And it has also been making her wrist hurt more, even though it’s been gradually getting better, and she has said she can move her fingers a little bit more now than she could. So it’s getting better, but slowly, and I’ve had to help her with things like cooking and putting the washing out, and calming her down if she gets a bit panicky. I’ve also made us cheese on toast on a couple of evenings, and trifle with ice cream for dessert, thanks to my M&S shop last weekend. We also had a Domino’s pizza order on Thursday night, which was lovely, including a couple of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream tubs, which I realised I could empty into a bowl for Mum to make it easier once it’s melted a bit. And on a couple of evenings when she’s gone to bed early I’ve cooked myself fish and chips, using the delicious triple cooked chips from M&S.
Because of all that, I haven’t been able to go out much, which is a shame. I was going to go out for a walk on Tuesday afternoon, which Mum insisted in the morning she was happy for me to do, but when I’d got ready and was about to head out, the increased heat had triggered one of her mood swings and she was a bit ratty, telling me to clear off and leave her alone as she knew I didn’t want to stay at home. So I had to refuse to go, as I couldn’t very well leave her in that state, and she cried a bit because she realised she was being nasty again, so I had to comfort her about that.
Likewise, I had a couple of Spice Social events booked on Friday night and Sunday afternoon, but the heat and tiredness was causing Mum to move chairs around the lounge for no reason whatsoever when she was only half awake, and having seen her push items off furniture in the past as well, I just can’t risk leaving her on her own. It really upsets me not being able to go to socials like that, having only just started doing so again, but until – or if – we can get her back to normal, it just doesn’t seem feasible.
To deal with the heat, however – as our little desk fans aren’t enough for this level of warmth – I’ve also bought a few new table fans from Amazon. We received one on Monday, and because it was so quiet yet powerful and very cooling, I ordered a couple more that came on Wednesday. So they really do help to keep her cool, even making her feel a bit too cold occasionally, and helping her to sleep in the afternoon and occasionally at night. My aunt also rang on Friday evening to see how we were doing in the heat, so it was nice to talk to her.
Talking of night, I am able to watch TV most evenings now, which I’m glad about. So I’ve been going through my Back To The Future Blu-rays, which are really good, as well as Black Mirror, Taskmaster and the new series of Not Going Out on iPlayer. Mum still comes downstairs now and again, but she doesn’t stay long because she doesn’t want to interrupt me and isn’t interested in listening to what I’m watching. So it is convincing her to try laying in bed for longer, even if she doesn’t sleep, and having a fan by her bed helps in that regard. She actually slept quite well on Saturday, with a few hours in her chair during the afternoon and a few more in bed that night, which meant she stayed awake and alert until after lunchtime, when of course she started drifting off again while listening to tennis on the radio.
One downside, though, is that I’ve had to get up about 5:30am some mornings to put the fan on for her in the living room, and open the windows in the living room and kitchen. She’s happy for me to go back to bed again after that, but it’ll be nice to get back to sleeping through the night as usual when the temperature gets back to normal. I’m going to try sticking bumpons on the fan in the lounge, and/or its remote control, so she knows which buttons to use.
Anyway, we have got another appointment with the doctor to try something else for her sleep, after I emailed the surgery. Sadly it’s not until next Wednesday, but at least we’ll be able to try something else then. I also took her down to the surgery on Thursday morning for her 6-monthly blood test, which is thankfully in an air-conditioned building.
So it’s been a mixed week. I’m glad that I’ve had a week off work, during which I’ve been able to keep Mum reasonably comfortable in the heat. But I’m also frustrated that I’ve had to knock my socials on the head and haven’t been able to go out to enjoy the glorious weather. So we’ll just have to hope that things continue to get a little bit better for Mum in the weeks ahead.
Sunday, June 29
Sleep appointment.
It’s been back to work this week, although thankfully only for 3 days, as I had Monday and Friday off. Which is just as well, because Mum was very restless on Monday morning. She got me up at half past four to get me to open the windows and put the fans on this time because it was warm, and then again about 15 minutes after I’d gone to bed to get some painkillers, and then came into my room yet again about 8:30am because she was restless and couldn’t stop moving around.
So I felt very irritated, albeit hiding it from her, because I just couldn’t get any rest. It hadn’t helped that for a period of time the previous afternoon she’d been having little panic attacks and calling out for me every few minutes as well. It gets very frustrating that I can’t just relax, on top of not being able to go out for walks or socials like I used to. Still, she did seem to calm down once she’d had painkillers for her wrist and a cup of the Dreamy tea with chamomile from M&S.
She also had a funny moment on Tuesday, as she got a bit panicky in the morning. And then she made our lunch, but she also remarked that she’d forgotten to ask Linda what she was having, and we obviously don’t know anyone called Linda. So I had to remind her that there is nobody called Linda, and also had to reassure her there were no other females in the house. So that really worried me, as while she’s occasionally asked about my aunt or Nan or Dad, she’s never mentioned a non-existent name. I can only assume it was a name she’d heard while listening to the radio, as she did have it on before she started doing the food. She then had a long sleep in the afternoon, waking up with a bit of confusion at one point but otherwise sleeping through most of it, so I had to cook our roast chicken dinner.
Talking of tea though, looking up information about caffeine online, we’ve learned that it can linger in the system for a lot longer in older adults because it takes longer to metabolise in the kidneys and liver, and it can increase anxiety and restlessness, so she’s now cutting back on it. You just have to be careful to wean yourself off caffeine gradually, as you can have withdrawal symptoms. We wondered if that’s what happened on Wednesday, as she had a couple of big panic attacks during the morning, where she was getting really upset.
So I did pop down to M&S on both my days off, as we needed a few treats and other things, so amongst it all I picked up some different caffeine-free tea infusions for her to try, and so far she’s particularly fond of the Strawberry & Raspberry one. She might have to gradually wean herself off caffeine teas rather than just stopping them abruptly to avoid withdrawal symptoms and the anxiety they can cause, but one hopes that having less caffeine will mean her nervous system is a bit less stimulated.
Anyway, we spoke to the doctor again on Wednesday, who agreed that cutting down on caffeine was a very good idea. He’s prescribed her some more of the Promethazine 10mg tablets, but this time to take 2 per night rather than just 1, with a warning that she needs to be very careful if she gets up to walk about because of how drowsy she might be. And they do seem to be having a bit of an effect. On Wednesday night she slept quite soundly and got up at her normal time, around 5am. She did have a couple of cups of normal tea in the morning, so maybe they fuelled her later panic attacks, though it’s hard to tell.
Then on Thursday night it took her longer to settle. She was reasonably awake most of the day but then naturally started dozing off in her armchair in front of the TV, and even started calling out for her mum when she woke up, though quickly remembered she wasn’t here when I reminded her. Maybe it was because she was having a go at watching old sitcoms on U&Gold for a change instead of The Chase on Challenge, and decided to try holding her teddy bear as well to relax a bit, and it transported her back to younger days perhaps, but I don’t know.
In any case, she then went up to bed about 9:45pm, but came down shortly after midnight for a cup of strawberry tea and a couple of biscuits. That made me really worried that she wouldn’t sleep – but when I got up shortly after 7am on Friday morning, she had only just got up as well, and she hadn’t heard me go up to bed. So she was asleep between 2am and 7am at the very least, possibly longer than that, which is good.
She then remained calm during the day on Friday, but that night she didn’t get much sleep. She had about an hour, then came downstairs briefly, before going back upstairs again. Then she came downstairs around 2:30am, because she was surprised I was still up. I thought she knew I stayed up late at weekends, but she was surprised about it, so we had a chat about it which reassured her – although on Saturday morning she was anxious because, unbeknownst to me, she’d seen one of her visions of me while we were talking, so hadn’t been entirely sure if it was really me. I’ve been trying to get into the habit of saying I’m not a vision when I talk to her in the past few days, but had forgot on that occasion. It would be better if she told me when she was having visions, but she doesn’t always remember to do that.
She was calm for the rest of the day on Saturday though, apart from one or two slight panics when she woke up. And that night she did stay in bed for the most part. She came downstairs shortly after 1am and was surprised I was still up, but only because she didn’t know what the time was. So she went back upstairs and didn’t hear me come to bed around 3am, and got up at her normal time of around 5am, as she told me the next morning. I was able to have a lie-in until 10am, and she only came in to my room about quarter of an hour before that to check I knew what the time was, because she was hot downstairs. She was then calm during the morning on Sunday.
Beyond sleep, her wrist is still hurting, and is making it difficult to do things, but she has had days where she feels she can do more. So she does help with lunch and inner preparation when she can, and has put a few bits of clothing in the washing machine or out on the washing line sometimes. But otherwise I’ve had to do a lot of the cooking, and I’ve had to do all the washing up.
We don’t think her wrist is seriously injured, as it doesn’t hurt when she’s resting it, it’s not been swollen in any way, and if I press or squeeze around the area it’s not painful. It’s just when she tries to turn it in certain ways that it hurts. She can do little things for a little while, but then has to rest it, and if she over-uses it on any given day, she has to rest it more the next day. But hopefully it will be alright in the end. I’m hoping it’s just her old age, not resting it enough and sometimes the heat that means it’s a bit of a slow recovery.
As for me, apart from my visits to M&S I haven’t been out anywhere. But I have been a little bit productive. Among other things, I had a phone call from a lady at the local carers organisation, who arranged a proper telephone appointment with me for next week to get me registered and sort out all the support I might need, which is reassuring. And I’ve also written to the counselling team at the RNIB to see they can advise or do anything for us. I’ve also completed watching the Back To The Future films and extras and made a post about those, which I’ve really enjoyed. So I’m keeping myself occupied as and when I can. I wish I could do more and go out and about again, but i just have to be patient.
Conclusion
So that’s it for June, I hope you found it insightful. We were going to have further appointments regarding Mum’s sleep, but events in early July swept that aside as a lower priority, as I’ll explain my next post. As if things hadn’t been stressful enough, her falls were about to become more serious.
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