Continuing with my catchup of events from earlier this year, in relation to caring for my mother, I’m now going to share my journal from July. And things took a more serious turn this month, as she had her first (and sadly not last) fractured bone as a result of a fall, which didn’t do her anxiety and poor confidence any favours at all. It was the sort of thing that I’d feared coming, hence I also tried to request a carers assessment this month. And we were able to arrange appointments for other forms of help as well that might be useful.
So again, I really appreciate you looking through these diary entries for awareness, even though it’s not an easy read. I’m just glad I’m getting all this stuff out there so people know what’s going on.
Contents
- July 6 – Heatwave & another fall.
- July 9 – Mum’s shoulder & sleep.
- July 13 – Collarbone fracture & dentist.
- July 20 – Frailty team & hospital.
- July 27 – Frailty team & mental health.
Sunday, July 6
Heatwave & another fall.
This week started off with another heatwave on Monday and Tuesday, the hottest days of the year so far, with temperatures up to 34 degrees Celsius. So Mum naturally found them difficult, but thanks to the fans she was reasonably comfortable and I was able to focus on my work quite well. She did panic at one point on Monday that she wanted to get out of the living room, but I guessed correctly that it was because of the heat or humidity, and reminded her that it was the coolest room in the house, relatively speaking. So she quickly settled again. She didn’t drink as much as she probably should during the day, but she did have a couple of ice lollies, and she did eat most of her roast lamb dinner. Wimbledon has also got underway this week, so she’s enjoying listening to that on the radio.
Once Tuesday was out of the way she was relatively calm, although because she hadn’t had much sleep during the heatwave, she was very tired on Wednesday, to the point where it was quite difficult to wake her up for dinner and she didn’t have much of it, and just ended up going to bed on her own and sleeping without any prompting or pills. So that was good really.
Yet on Friday night, she went to bed about 9pm after sleeping in her armchair for most of the evening, and kept calling out for me during the first hour, most of it worrying about things that weren’t true (saying she’d lost the teddy bear when she was holding him, claiming her door was shut, asking me to put towels in the bathroom that were already there, etc). So the sleeping pills clearly still aren’t working. They have been helping a little bit, but they only really have an effect if she’s very tired to start with, and they do take quite a while to kick in. So we’ll have to try a higher dose or something else next time we talk to the doctor.
Mum had two other medical appointments this week anyway – feedback from her latest blood test during a phonecall on Thursday morning, and then on Friday afternoon she had a pre-diabetes check-up in person at the surgery, where a nice trainee GP nurse asked about Mum’s lifestyle, took her blood pressure and checked her weight. And overall Mum’s in very good health, she’s just a bit high in sugar and cholesterol, and that’s partly because she’s forgotten to take her statins sometimes recently with everything else going on.
Mum’s wrist (from where she seems to have sprained it) seems to be slowly getting better too, as the pain didn’t flare up during this latest heatwave compared to the last one, she hasn’t requested as many painkillers, she felt able to have a go at showering on Friday morning, and she’s been able to put some washing out on the line. So while it still hurts a bit, she is getting there. She’s also still enjoying the Strawberry & Raspberry infusion tea from M&S, though I couldn’t find any more of that when I went into M&S on Friday morning to pick us up some more treats (as I had the day off before my weekend shift at work).
She had a good day for most of Saturday though, in the sense that she was calm throughout, indeed sleeping through a lot of it. She slept from 10:30am to around 4pm, missing lunch entirely, so I made my own. But she woke up refreshed and was able to cook dinner for the first time in a few weeks, so we had it at the right time. She then went back to sleep again during the evening – which was fine, until she got up, went over to her chair by the TV, and then picked up the phone and started pressing buttons. As she was clearly in a daze, I stopped her and sat her down, and shortly after she went upstairs to the toilet and I helped her go to bed.
When I then spoke to her on Sunday morning, she said she remembered using the phone, because even though she recognised her chair, she thought she was in a different house, and as she’d found a phone she was trying to call 999. So that really frightened me. She was surprised at how anxious I was, as she thought I’d be happy for her taking the initiative, but I gently made it clear that she could call out for me, or for Alexa, or use her pendant, before doing something like calling the police. It’s really worrying that that’s the first option she went for.
She then had a little fall about 9:30am on Sunday morning as well, by the dining table in the living room. It doesn’t look like she tripped over anything, she just lost her footing when trying to turn around. She got up pretty quickly from it, but her shoulder or collarbone hurt for the rest of the day, making her anxious, and me frustrated and upset, because she’d been looking forward to doing more stuff. Plus she started feeling scared that if she went to bed she wouldn’t get up again. So she did get a little bit ratty with me in the afternoon when I tried to reassure her, before drifting off to sleep again. She was able to have dinner – though I did have to cut it up for her, which I’ve never had to do before, as her shoulder hurt too much to use her knife – and after sleeping in the armchair during the evening I was able to get her up to bed.
On the plus side, I had a call from a lady at the local carers community, who took various details and got me signed up with them, plus she’s sent me a newsletter. They have monthly workshops, some of which might be useful, and other events from time to time, plus there are links to discount cards for carers which might be handy too. As advised by her I’ve also applied for a carer’s assessment for me, and a care needs assessment for Mum, through the council, so we’ll see if anything comes from that.
Beyond that, I also published an update on my blog about the latest shambles in Parliament regarding the proposed cuts to PIP, as well as my latest Favourites post for June, again without a video to make my life easier. Meanwhile on TV I’ve finished the latest series of Taskmaster, and I’m nearly through this year’s new series of Black Mirror. So I’m ticking things off nicely at the moment, and I’m glad I’m able to watch TV most nights again. I just dearly wish Mum would get better without having more falls to set her back.
Wednesday, July 9
Mum’s shoulder & sleep.
It’s been a difficult start to the week, with Mum’s shoulder being in quite a bit of pain, and frustrating for me because she wouldn’t go to the doctor, when I really think she needs to get it looked at. On Monday and Tuesday mornings she woke me up early to give her painkillers, at 6:30am and 4:30am respectively, though she didn’t do it on Wednesday. I also had to cut up her dinners for her to eat one-handed.
She’s also had more moments of confusion, still getting lost in the living room of course, and on Wednesday evening she even walked out of the lounge and into my study while I was washing up, so I had to go and rescue her. She said she thought there were other people in the room – because her vision was dark and she was listening to the radio at the time – even though I’ve made it clear several times that there’s never anybody else in the house.
There are some good things though. On Monday I had a free day off work so I tried to make it productive. Among other things, I filled out referral forms online for RNIB counselling and the Sightline befriending service, and a lovely lady from Sightline rang a couple of days later to get Mum set up on their waiting list. I also booked another appointment for her sleep issues on Wednesday.
We had a nice long chat on Wednesday morning too, as I was able to be flexible with my working hours that day. So I clarified how the room was laid out, which she said was helpful (though when she woke up from sleep later she still forgot of course). We also floated the possibility of moving house, which Mum never thought I would be up for, so has never mentioned it. I think she’d get lost wherever she was, but it does sometimes feel like this place isn’t suitable for her, and we could afford to try and get somewhere more modern and fit for our needs, perhaps a single-level apartment. After all, we only live in this house because we inherited it, plus we could afford to move and let someone else do this place up. I do rather like the idea, but I don’t know if she’ll be up for it after careful thought. I’m not banking on it, but we’ll see. It’s not priority at the moment anyway.
Sunday, July 13
Collarbone fracture & dentist.
Well, what a week this has turned out to be, hence my splitting it into two entries. Mum started off alright on Thursday morning when I got up, but not long after I’d started work her pain had returned, plus she was concerned about the swelling in the front of her neck, and she said she needed to call someone. So I rang 111 and explained the issue, and a lady called back to say that Mum needed to go to hospital.
So I got us a cab and we went to the hospital. And while there were long waits between each step of our visit, the staff who saw us were all lovely and professional, explaining things clearly and making sure Mum was comfortable.
We first saw a consultant who had a quick look, and said she needed to go for an X-ray. So she was taken in a wheelchair for that, and I was quite fascinated to see the high tech equipment being used, with the camera on a large contraption hanging from the ceiling. Mum first had to face a large cushion and grab on to a rail behind it, then the other scans of her shoulder were done with her sitting in the wheelchair. I had to stand behind a screen in the corner of the room with the operator for most of it, but at one point he needed a bit of help positioning a board behind her, to reflect the X-rays back properly. So he got me to put on a big, heavy, very thick, protective robe-like thing, so I could stand behind her safely and hold it up.
Once that was done, Mum was placed on to a trolley to wait for a doctor to come and see her. One particularly nice, cheerful, young lady attended to us during the afternoon, so it was good to see her every time she popped by. At one point she gave us a light lunch to have – ham and sweetcorn sandwiches, sea salted crisps, an orange, and a little pot of orange juice, which was nice enough and kept us going. There was also another woman who stopped by every so often to check Mum’s temperature, pulse and blood pressure, calling Mum sweetie-pie at one point.
But it was a male doctor who came and examined Mum a bit more thoroughly, and was quite impressed at how well she could move her arm, and could breathe in and out without it being painful. He confirmed that it was a collarbone fracture, and that the swelling in her neck was the direct result of that. There was talk for a little while about Mum having a CT scan – which almost required her to be taken to a different hospital because their machine wasn’t working. But luckily she didn’t need that. All she needs to do is wear a sling for a while. Mum was given a colourful band with smiley faces and paw prints on, that attaches with velcro, but it was pretty useless really, so I’ve ordered a sling from Amazon to be delivered at the weekend.
It was also explained to us that Mum had been referred to the frailty team, which automatically happens when people over 75 have a fall and injure themselves. So if they get in touch, they might have a look at what’s been happening with Mum lately and get her (and me) some much-needed support. I won’t get my hopes up on that, but I got the impression that the doctors had passed on some of the things I was saying about what’s been going on with Mum recently, as I was clearly concerned.
Before Mum could leave, they wanted her to have a couple more X-rays, just so they had a clear picture. So we had to go back to that area and wait a bit longer. Mum had coped quite well during the day up to that point, because she was being looked after, but she was now tired and rather keen to go home. So she did end up crying in my arms a bit, though she had stopped doing that by the time the guy came to do the X-rays. He just had her turn her head and lift her chin while positioning the camera in a few different positions to get a fully rounded picture.
We were then asked if we could get a cab or would like patient transport home. So we opted for the latter, given that it was free, but had to wait over an hour for it, which frustrated Mum even more. In the end, we were just about to leave to get a cab instead, but then the ambulance guy did turn up with a wheelchair, and we were taken out to an ambulance, where they also had another patient to take as well. So we got home pretty quickly that way, and they made sure she got through the front gate safely before they left us. We’ll get a cab home in future as it’s clearly going to be quicker, but it was nice to have a free ride in an ambulance anyway, as it was for a pleasant reason.
So it was a long day, but we got through it, and it was good to finally have an answer regarding Mum’s injury, verifying that it was well worth going to the hospital, as it would only have got worse otherwise. Plus if it leads to us getting further help at home, it could be a blessing in disguise. We have since been given an appointment for Mum at the fracture clinic next Friday, so they’ll check on how her collarbone is doing there.
You’d think we could have relaxed after that, and for a little while we did. We managed to sort out our Sainsbury’s order online for Friday morning, and I called my aunt to keep her updated, and then we ordered pizzas from Domino’s as we were pretty hungry by then. But as I was eating my Meateor pizza, on the penultimate slice I felt something hard come out of my mouth, and realised it was a filling from a tooth at the back, on the top left. And I could feel there was a sharp corner sticking out. So that made Mum sad for me, and we both expected me to be in pain. So just to be on the safe side I took some painkillers, as well as giving her a couple.
I was expecting to wake up in pain on Friday morning, but thankfully I didn’t. I rang the dentist surgery we had been to in the past, but as expected we were no longer registered with them as we hadn’t been for so long, and they’re no longer accepting new patients. So they advised me to ring 111, which I did, and they arranged for me to go to another dentist a short bus ride away.
So I went down there, filling in the medical history forms on the bus as they asked me to do them online, and of course I had to pay £27.40 as I don’t get any benefits that would qualify me to get it for free. I was naturally a little bit nervous, but the 2 ladies who worked on me were very nice and I was very calm.
It basically transpires that my wisdom tooth at the top left needs to come out, because it’s all decayed and broken. So at least it’s not an important one. And it also explains why it’s been quite sensitive there now and again in recent months. I just thought I hadn’t been cleaning it properly, and had kept any occasional sensitivity at bay by taking painkillers once a month or so, as well as focusing more attention on cleaning it.
So they numbed that bit of my mouth, cut the nerve to stop it being sensitive, and gave it a temporary filling and dressing. But they’ve referred me to a specialist to get it taken out fully. So that’ll be an operation that leaves me with a sore mouth and jaw for about a week, judging by what I’ve read online since. But it’ll be worth it to get it out of the way, assuming there are no complications, and that should cost £75.30. They think it will be done locally, and all being well it should just be under local anaesthetic, so I can be in and out the same day. But we’ll see what happens.
It meant I couldn’t do as much work as I wanted to, and I wasn’t fully focused on what little work I did do that afternoon, partly because of that, and partly because we’re in yet another heatwave, which is lasting from Thursday to Sunday with temperatures around 30 degrees. My aunt popped round in the early afternoon as well though, which was nice of her, and she rang me in the evening as well. She doesn’t fully understand what Mum is going through day to day of course, and nor could she, but I’m glad she’s keeping an eye on us.
Fortunately the weekend since then has been quiet. I went out to M&S on Saturday morning to get some bits and pieces, including Southern Fried Chicken that we had both days for dinner, but otherwise we’ve just been taking it easy in this heatwave. So Mum’s been listening to the tennis and other sport on the radio, or just sleeping, though the sling I bought her from Amazon wasn’t great so I’ve ordered another couple to try on Monday. As for me, apart from doing a little bit of work, I’ve mainly enjoyed revisiting Live Aid, as we’ve had documentaries on the TV and radio, along with a 7-hour compilation of the concert on TV, so I’ve really enjoyed all of that.
Sunday, July 20
Frailty team & hospital.
This has been a pretty busy week for us, and particularly for Mum. For a start, we had a couple of visits from an occupational therapist with the frailty team at the hospital, who seems quite nice. On the first visit on Monday, he asked us all sorts of questions, and then when he learned we had been given a long cane for Mum, gave her a little lesson in how to use it. He then gave her a little bit of homework to practice with it in the lounge, before he then came back with a physiotherapist lady on Wednesday, and they walked her around the house with it, going upstairs to the toilet and her bedroom. It’s clear that she needs a lot more training with it, so they’re going to refer her back to our local disability support service.
A female nurse from the frailty team also came round on Wednesday, to take Mum’s blood pressure and a blood sample, and asked her various questions. It turns out Mum should be taking paracetamol rather than ibuprofen as a painkiller, as the latter can disrupt the stomach lining. Wish we’d been told that before! But we’re trying it now, so we’ll see how she gets on with that.
Mum was then a bit agitated on Wednesday afternoon, I think because she’d had a caffeinated tea just after lunch, complaining that she didn’t like getting so much attention, not understanding why I was being so much more attentive and caring towards her when I apparently never cared before (obviously not true), and doubting that the volunteer will want to talk to her, because someone had given up on her 40-odd years ago when I was growing up. She did calm down a bit later though. But as I’d lost quite a bit of time at work, I did some more work that evening to catch up with bits I’d missed. So Mum’s anxiety is eating into my work hours as well now. I did get a call from a lady asking some questions in preparation for my carers assessment though, so hopefully that will happen soon now it’s being arranged.
Talking of phonecalls, we also had a nice call from a lady at Sightline this week, who had managed to find a volunteer to ring Mum up already, which is nice and quick. So they’ll ring at the same time once a week for as long as Mum wants it. She was very anxious and restless on the day of the first call though, worrying about it and not wanting to do it. But the volunteer did call on time and was very friendly, calm and patient. And as Mum settled, she actually had a nice conversation, leading it sometimes as she told the volunteer various things about herself. The call lasted for less than half an hour, but it helped to break the ice, and the volunteer will ring again next week.
Anyway, Mum slept through my lunch hour on Thursday, then woke up and was very confused and restless, and still quite anxious, because she was worried about her hospital appointment on Friday, So she was calling out for me repeatedly for about half an hour or so, to ask where things were and where I was, and she wanted to feel me a couple of times, so I had to tell her I needed to work. She went to sleep after that though. And I had a few phonecalls from lunchtime onwards – one from a lady at the carers community telling me about one of their upcoming workshops, another from the nurse who said Mum’s blood test results were all good with everything in range, and one from the physio in the frailty team who said they will try and come round on Monday.
Mum was then anxious and panicky on Friday morning, thinking we’d spend a long time at the hospital, but actually we got there and back in about an hour. We had a bit of trouble with the first taxi that came, because it was a big car with 2 steps up to get in, which Mum couldn’t handle, so they sent a lower car instead, and I’ll have to remember to specify that in the future. But we got to the Gateway Surgery fine after that.
We only had to wait around 15 minutes to be seen as well, and the lady we saw was very nice. She had Mum’s X-rays up on her computer screen, and she felt Mum’s collarbone through her skin, and she was happy that it was gradually healing nicely. She said in adults it takes an average of 6 weeks to heal, and that it does heal itself. So there’s no need for Mum to have any operations, and she won’t need to return to the clinic either, so that was very reassuring for both of us. She also gave Mum a proper sling to wear as well, which is better than the strap-like thing we were given last week and the slings I tried buying on Amazon. She doesn’t have to wear it all the time, and certainly not in bed, but she can just wear it whenever she wants to relax her arm.
So we were pleased to be able to leave quickly with such positive news. Mum did get very panicky in the taxi on the way home though, because it was hot and because of all the speed bumps the driver had to go over when navigating the back roads to get to the bottom end of our street. But we got home, and had rolls for lunch, and I was able to have an uninterrupted afternoon of work for a change, which was good. Mum did fall asleep though, and while I was able to wake her up enough for dinner, she didn’t eat much of it and made quite a mess.
She was then alright during the evening, staying awake to hear the football commentary and recognising when it had got to 10pm to go to bed. So I took her up and gave her painkillers as usual. She did come down an hour later, and I was able to encourage her to go back upstairs, and likewise again an hour later, before she finally stayed there. But she was in a bit of a huff with me the first time, so I could tell she was tired. The second time she came down she said she’d heard the woman she sometimes mistakes me for though, which worried me.
We seemed to make a bit of a breakthrough on Saturday morning though. Mum was restless to start with, getting me up at 6:30am to turn the fan down and waking me up at 8:30am to ask when I would be getting up. But I did have my lie-in, getting up shortly before 11am. I came downstairs to say hello as usual, and as we were chatting about this woman’s voice, it suddenly dawned on me that I had been putting on a calming, soothing air to my voice out of natural habit, in the hope it would help her to relax. But evidently it sounds more feminine, and I guess it does really. So I was able to switch between the voices in front of Mum, while she was feeling my stubbly face at the same time, which made her laugh and has reassured her that she’s not going mad, her hearing is fine, and the calming voice is actually me. It hopefully therefore means it’s something we have some control over – I’m going to try and talk normally rather than putting on a calming voice, and she can ask me to switch my voice if she wants to.
We then had pies for dinner, before I popped over to M&S to pick up some nice goodies, including some beer battered fish fillets and cheesy garlic bread, among many other things. Mum was asleep when I got back, and didn’t wake up until about half an hour later, after I’d unpacked everything. I then cooked my fish and chips and garlic bread, and did some garlic bread for her too, and all seemed fine.
She then nodded off again, only to wake up a bit later in the evening in a panic, and no matter how much I assured her where she was and who I was, she kept calling out for help for the best part of an hour, before eventually going to bed. And it was only when talking to her on Sunday that I found out she thought I was that woman again, despite me using my normal voice. So now we’ve agreed that I’ll try getting Alexa to say something to Mum first if she’s panicking, to tell her that I’m the only person in the house, though I fear that won’t help either.
It had been difficult for me to have a lie-in that morning as well, incidentally, because Mum called me on my mobile at 7:30am, startling me awake, somehow thinking that I was out because she thought it was the woman that had gone to bed the night before. So that irritated me, but I did go back to bed and stayed there until nearly 11am again. So Mum’s interrupted both of my lie-ins this weekend, which is really frustrating as she never used to do that.
Sunday afternoon was calmer at least, as after we’d had Southern Fried Chicken for dinner that I bought in M&S, we were both able to relax a bit for the afternoon. I experimented with setting up some more Alexa messages for Mum, such as how to find the toilet from her armchairs and a list of programs on the washing machine, which she seems to like. It’s a voice independent from the family that she trusts because he sounds nice and remains calm, and i can make it say things without openly saying a command to it, so she quite likes it. I’m hoping it can reassure her as to who I am when I’m about to speak, so she knows I’m her son and not some strange woman, but we’ll see.
I also completed a couple of online training courses I had to do for work, before I then had a big lasagne for tea that I’d bought from M&S, and Mum woke up while I was cooking it, so I was able to do her hot cross buns as well. We then had a nice relaxing evening too, during which she stayed awake to watch TV until 10pm, when she went up to bed. She did come down around 1am, but when I told her what the time was she went straight upstairs.
As for TV, this week I’ve started watching and blogging about the 5th series of Doctor Who, which is Matt Smith’s first series, and I’m really enjoying it. So that’s going to keep me happily occupied for the next few weeks at least.
Sunday, July 27
Frailty team & mental health.
On the whole we’ve turned a corner this week, as Mum’s finally conceded that she needs support with her mental health. She got into a real state on Monday morning, saying she couldn’t cope with the multiple versions of me that she keeps getting confused about. So that finally gave me the green light to contact the GP surgery about it, and to their credit they gave her an appointment the very next day.
So on Tuesday, we spoke to a lovely lady GP who listened and actually understood what we were explaining to her, about Mum’s brain trying to compensate for her loss of light perception but making a mess of it, leading to visions, panics, poor sleep, etc. So she’s referred Mum to the old age psychiatry service, or psychogeriatrics as it’s called, which is a specialised area of psychiatry that we’d never been aware of before, but it makes sense. We don’t know how long the wait will be, but the fact that she understood, and made good notes on the referral I saw on Mum’s medical record, and referred Mum to a suitable service, has given us a lot of reassurance that help is on the horizon.
On Wednesday, the guy from the frailty team came with a lady to see how Mum was doing and to do a little more work with her long cane. But Mum was really anxious even before they came and continued to be in heightened state while trying to do the training with them – which I’m glad they saw, as it shows what a mess she gets herself in. They have asked Mum to try and do a bit of practice when they’re not here, but it’s so hard to get her to do that. I have managed to get her to walk towards my voice without the cane, and while I was going to get her to do it this weekend, we never got around to it because Mum wasn’t up to it.
Thursday to Saturday were then quite calm days for her really, with occasional little panics, but nothing too major. She found it much easier to have her second Sightline call, chatting with the volunteer for twice as long as last time. And my aunt popped in on Friday to see how Mum was doing and to give her some strawberries she’d bought in the market. We also got an email from the RNIB counselling team giving Mum a telephone appointment in August, so that’s good. Then on Saturday I went to M&S in the morning to get lots of nice treats, and the rest of the day was quite relaxing.
So it felt like things were going well, but then on Sunday morning she got herself into a right state. She had been listening to In Touch on Radio 4, and they had been talking about cuts to Access To Work, which upset her. Plus she was feeling frightened by the green colour she was seeing in her eyes. So she woke me from a deep sleep around 8am in the morning, pleading with me to get up. I tried to tell her that she was fine and safe and that I needed sleep, but she wouldn’t stop pestering me. So I went downstairs and spent some time with her until she had calmed down, before going back to bed again.
But I wasn’t in bed long before she got into a panic again, saying she didn’t like being on her own and didn’t know why I didn’t want to be with her. So despite trying to reassure her again, I had no choice but to get up to keep her quiet, which I wasn’t happy about as I was still half asleep. So I got dressed, went downstairs and sat with her for a little while. Then I sat down in the big armchair in front of the TV, without turning the TV on, and just rested there for an hour, nearly dropping off to sleep but unfortunately not actually doing so. I can only sleep when I’m lying down. Mum did at least stay peaceful while I was doing that, and even got some things in from the washing line that she’d put out there earlier in the morning while trying to distract herself from panicking. And then ironically she did fall asleep in her chair, so when I was ready I went into my study for a bit.
She wasn’t asleep for too long, and we did have another chat about me wanting to get more sleep before lunch. But she interpreted it as me having a go at her, making her feel worse about it, so I apologised and comforted her. I’m still irritated with her for doing it, but I can’t really show it. And I’m kind of hoping that if she remembers what I was like this morning that she’ll be more reluctant to wake me up in the future. Mind you, I also suggested that she could sit on a chair next to my bed if she wants to be near be while I’m still sleeping or resting, which she hadn’t thought of before and seemed to be open to, but I also tried to make clear that it should be when she has big panic attacks like that and not just every night!
Anyway, I cooked us dinner once she was feeling good again – roast chicken breast fillets, just as we’d had on Saturday, which were lovely – and she did eat all of it. I also bought her Eccles Cakes in M&S this weekend, so she had one cold on Saturday and one heated up Sunday, and really liked them, particularly when hot as it means the pastry isn’t so dry. So it looks like that’ll be another thing I end up buying for her quite regularly.
Beyond that, she was in and out of sleep as usual during the rest of the day. But she did have a hot cross bun for tea, and she did hear the England team win the Women’s Euros Final on the radio, which was good, even if was decided by a tense penalty shootout. So the day finished much better than it started.
Conclusion
So that’s it for this post. Next time I’ll start to bring you up to date with events in August, which unfortunately have only added to the difficulties Mum’s been facing lately. There is still help on the horizon, but the journey towards it certainly isn’t proving easy. We’ll get there in the end though, hopefully. And thank you for persevering if you’re still reading these!
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