Saturday

 This visit was mostly a video call with Brother and his wife. Mum was barely awake but that was much better than I thought she’d be. Her speech was mostly inaudible and when I could hear her it was hard to understand. But she did know who was talking to her and said she enjoyed it afterwards.

Terri came in with a cup of tea part way through and Mum drank almost all of it. Unsurprising as she still has two entirely untouched cups of squash on her table. She must’ve been gasping.

Mum drifted in and out while we were talking but I think she appreciated the sound of familiar voices and laughter even if she wasn’t directly involved.

Lily had been busy reconnoitring, both solo and with Callum, during the call. After the call she came in a couple of times and asked for directions. So did Shirley only she wanted me to go with her.

Then Mum’s tea got delivered so I made my excuses and left.

I got a proper chat with Reggie on the way out. He confirmed my feeling that Mum’s active spells are less active and the sleepy phases are lasting longer. He did say that if you catch her on the right day she can be very engaged though. The other day when he was doing the morning meds round she told him she was fed up with her tablets and wanted some different ones.

Our conversation was interrupted by Pauline who came up to say hello on her way to the toilet. I waited until she was out of earshot.

“Is that another set of stitches in her head? Really?”

“Man, I tell you. It’s every day. I’ve given up going to the gym I pick her up so often” 

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