Friday

On arrival at The Home there was the normal light-hearted banter with Audrey as I passed through the rear lounge. It makes her laugh. It makes her gang laugh. The staff like it too. Jacqui told me to shut up.

Jacqui was new. She’s the one who was protesting about being stabbed the other night. More of her later.

Mum was more or less awake and more or less aware that it was me. A bit more chatty, a bit happier but still very low key. She complained about the things on her feet. Turns out the weight of the duvet was too much so I did my best to rearrange things. She was a bit non-committal about whether she was more comfortable or not though.

She was trying to deal with an itch on her back. This isn’t unusual at this stage in The Cycle. Not for the first time, she asked me to scratch it for her. They hadn’t put pillows down each side of her to stop her falling over today but she still wasn’t able to roll to one side to let me get at her back. After some pushing and pulling I hit the right spot. Now she was comfortable.

I recounted the news of the day. Lovely and sunny but a bitterly cold wind. How another practice run for The Dog to The Vet was completed without incident or upset. How I actually got some gardening done while Lesley did a supermarket run. How Lesley responded to a letter to her dad from the cancer clinic in Oxford. That sort of thing.

I missed out the bit about Dad’s GP phoning to say she’d had the letter too and commiserating with Lesley that her suspicions had been confirmed. The doctor clarified some of the statements in the letter and then spoke about the referral to the Memory Clinic. She said he’d have to do some blood tests and an AMTS test. I Googled the acronym quickly and it turns out the test was the one consultant in Oxford did when he presented the results of the CT scan.

“Ah, he’s done that. He failed on question 4 {What is the year? He said 1994), question 8 {When did World War I begin? He said 1939} and question 10 {Count backwards from 20 down to 1. He got as far as 15}. He also almost fluffed question 9 {Name the Prime Minister. The consultant said “Rishi Sun-something” was close enough}”

While Lesley was detailing this, the GP found that he’d recently had blood tests she could use already. She took Lesley’s record and the bloods and signed off the referral straight away. That saved a shit-ton of faffing around.

For reference, an AMTS (Abbreviated Mental Test Score) of 6 or less is a clear sign of dementia or delirium. He got 6 and a bit. I would guess Mum is a 3 on a good day.

Anyway, with all that out of the way, Mum noticed a figure at the door.

“Who’s that?

“Hello Shirley! Are you alright?”

“Yeah. I’m alright. Are you alright?”

“Yes thank-you. Mum? It’s Shirley. Have you met her before?”

Mum said “Yeah” with surprising confidence. Sheila said she’d better go.

“Do you know where you’re going? Are you looking for the lounge? It’s down that way.”

She headed off in the opposite direction and started trying the doors.

“I’m going to take Shirley to the lounge Mum. Back in a bit.”

“OK”

We’d only gone a few feet when Al came round the corner looking like a man who is one down on a headcount.

“Come on Shirley. Have you been making a nuisance of yourself again?”

“No, she hasn’t. She’s been perfectly lovely”

He gave me a look that said “Really!?” and then a thumbs-up.

I turned back towards Mum and heard

“This way Shirley. The lounge is just down here”

“Ooh. That’s a long way”

“Shirley’s all sorted now Mum. Does she visit you often?”

“Yeah… No…”

“From time to time?”

“Yeah. From time to time.”

The night shift arrived. Residents were being put to bed.

“Read to me Tony” Mum said.

I got half way through the first chapter when I heard that it was Jacqui’s turn to go to bed judging by the screaming. I couldn’t compete with the noise and stopped reading. The noise was getting closer. We heard the protests at being touched and the claims that she hasn’t got any money and the desire to have every light everywhere turned on. I noted there were two carers dealing with her tonight rather than just the one.

When the screaming stopped Mum said

“Carry on reading. I am listening”

After two more paragraphs, Glenys arrived with the meds.

“Hello Iris! I’ve got new medicines for you!”

These new formulations are quick dispersal. They’re supposed to dissolve quickly in the mouth. I assume that’s to stop the recipient from spitting them out. It didn’t stop Mum from having a bloody good go though.

Bloody hell.

Author’s Note

My Mum is in a nursing home in a small village in the Thames Valley. The photo is not of the home. I used an AI image generator to give the reader some idea of the home she’s in.

All, some or maybe even none (you’ll never know!) of the names have been changed to protect privacy and hide real identities. If you think you recognise someone then let me know and I’ll edit the post or remove it entirely