Friday

Today was the first day that Mum has had without a visitor since she moved to The Home last summer. Given how sleepy she was yesterday, the trip to see old friends on the coast was likely to be completed without her even being aware that no-one came to see her.

The Dog was aware that an adventure was going to happen as soon as she saw spare harnesses, towels, food bowls and meals being loaded into the car. We’ve taken her to Worthing before and we’ve seen her frustration at the lack of driftwood on the beach so we took a bag of sticks too.

A much needed day with friends we’ve known since we were 18 was in order. In spite of it blowing a gale and being freezing cold we managed two trips to the beach. The Dog was exhausted and elated. We book-ended the trips to the beach with homemade chocolate cake and a takeaway curry. In between was a couple of hours on a sofa.

“Have you gone to sleep Nick?”

“Yes.”

It wasn’t an entirely parent-free day. We checked up on Lesley’s dad’s webcam and he looked awful. He was sleeping in his armchair. His mouth was slack and lop-sided.

“Bloody hell! Do you think he’s had a stroke?”

Lesley rang him.

“Dad? DAD!!! Go and get yourself a drink!”

We watched him get up and go upstairs.

10 minutes later…

“Dad? DAD!!! Where’s your drink!?”

“Oh. I forgot.”

5 minutes later, he’s got a full glass in front of him.

“Dad! DAD!! You’ve forgotten to drink your drink! YOU HAVEN’T DRUNK YOUR DRINK!!”

It looks like he’s dehydrated. He’s definitely very confused.

He’s probably been dehydrated for a little while too. His Day Centre manager told us he was very wobbly on Wednesday and had said he wasn’t feeling his best. The lady who helps with his bath said yesterday that he was too weak to use the lift to get in the bath. She also told us that he was noticeably thinner than he’d been the week before.

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