Thursday

Visited Mum on the way back from a sub-par session at the gym. The visit started like yesterday’s…

“Mum? MUM!! It’s Nick”

She half opened her eyes and nodded once.

It went downhill from there.

“How are you feeling? Are you alright?”

A single shake of the head.

“Comfortable? Warm enough?”

There was a very slight curl of the top lip which I took to be a firm NO.

She refused a drink and there was no response to my offer to read so I did anyway. Halfway through the first chapter she rolled away from me and didn’t respond to anything I said. She didn’t even react when I said Eldest Sister was coming to see her with all three kids and her youngest son’s girlfriend. I knew she wasn’t asleep though.

I wanted to find out how they manage getting her to eat and drink when she’s in this state.

Sean was sitting with Audrey and her gang when I returned to the rear lounge. Before I’d even asked him anything he told me that Mum had refused food all day and all she’d had to drink was half a milkshake.

My impression was that he was a bit upset about it but I might be wrong. I definitely know I’m not wrong about how miserable Mum was though.

Bibliography

Tales from the Parish: 31 humorous short stories about community, family and village life, set in the English countryside

Kindle Edition

by Stefania Hartley

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