Nursing Home

By Nick Gilmore

Published: 8 Oct, 2024

Tuesday

Got to The Home late again. Too late to speak to any of the senior nursing staff on the day shift as they were doing the handover to the night shift. I’ll have to wait to find out what the GP said about Mum’s blood tests.

It was another one of those days that got away from me. It started with an update from Lesley’s dad’s carer. Dad had had a bath after some negotiation but had declined to have a shave. That was very odd. In the forty years I’ve known him he’s never, ever not had a shave. He couldn’t be bothered today. That didn’t sound good.

Today was a dog-walking day. Our neighbour normally works from home and can walk her dog herself during her lunch break but she had had to go into London for a meeting at short notice. Covering dog-walking duty for her when she has to go into the office is actually no problem at all, We love to do it. It’s good for Our Hound to be with another dog and the neighbour’s dog is the only dog she will tolerate being anywhere near her. There was something extra this time though.

“Um, I’m actually looking after my mum’s dog too. It’s very old, very deaf and nearly blind. She won’t want to go on the walk but could you let her out in the garden to go to the toilet please?”

“Absolutely! Of course we can!”

Four times that old dog was offered the garden. Three times it chose to relieve itself in the middle of the kitchen floor instead.

That kind of set the tone for the day.

The reception area at The Home was busy when I arrived. Most of the night shift were there early and were busy scrolling through their phones before getting changed into their uniforms. As usual, one of the residents was also there. He likes a cup of tea and a biscuit in reception of an evening. Come to think of it, he’s there whatever time I arrive.

“Good evening Alan! How are you?”

“Morning! Alright ta.”

“Jolly good!”

Mum was wide awake when I walked in her room.

“Hello Mum! It’s Nick. Are you alright?”

“Ooh, I’m glad you’ve come.”

“I see you’ve had a haircut. That looks much tidier.”

We talked a bit about the haircut, whether the lady that did it was nice, whether Mum had felt looked after. All good. Then…

“Oh blimey! I didn’t pay her!”

“No need to worry about that Mum. I’ll sort it out.”

“Oh, Good.”

She talked a bit more and mentioned her dad.

“Has he been to see you today?”

“Yes. He didn’t have any money.”

“Didn’t he? Next time I see him I’ll give him some. We don’t want him going short do we?”

“No.”

She talked a bit more and mentioned someone else who she owed money to. It wasn’t clear who, why or how much.

“Don’t worry about that Mum. What they do here is they run a tab for you and at the end of the month they let me know how much it is and I settle everything for you.”

“Do they!? That’s a good idea!”

“It is. It means you don’t have to have any money in your room and no-one can pinch it.”

“Ooh!”

She talked a bit more and I thought she said something about not trusting someone.

“No, you can trust everyone here. They’re all lovely and they all know me. Even the ones I don’t know seem to know who I am.”

“Well, they don’t know me!”

“They do you know! Only the other day a girl came up to me and said ‘Hello Nick!’ and then told me all about how you had been. I’d never seen her before!”

“Oh… Are you staying with us tonight?”

“Yep. I’ve had a word with them and they’re sorting me out.”

“With clothes?”

“Yep. And a bed.”

“Good”

Then she started hunting around in her bed.

“MY PURSE! I’VE LOST MY PURSE!!”

“Don’t worry Mum. I’ve got it at home.”

“Oh good.”

There was more rummaging around in her duvet and picking things up only she could see. She’d then hunt for somewhere safe to put whatever it was she’d found.

“Here Mum, give it to me. I’ll keep that safe for you. You don’t want to lose it!”

She handed them over and watched me put them in my bag.

She talked some more and looked out of the window at another wing of The Home.

“They’ve left all the lights on in that house at the end.”

“Oh yeah. It looks empty.”

“Yeah, they’ve gone…” she said, followed by something indistinct. I guessed it might have been a wartime memory from when she was a child.

“Did you say they’d been bombed out!?”

“No!” she said, looking at me like I was an idiot, “They just made them leave.”

“I’m sure they’ll be alright where they’re going.”

With Mum’s anxiety over money and the eviction of her neighbours settled, the conversation turned to preparations for leaving. I’m quite used to the room being full of Other People only she can see. That happens for a couple of days every week. But it’s been quite a while since the room had been full of Other Stuff. She went round the room pointing at all the things that needed packing away and boxing up.

Mum got interrupted by the sound of a trolley laden with teacups clattering up the corridor. A carer popped her head in the door.

“Is Iris asleep?”

“No. Not yet.”

“Would she like a drink?”

“Do you fancy a cup of tea Mum?”

“If she’s making one…”

“Yeah. She’s making one.”

Mum carried on talking while her tea got cool enough to drink.

“There’s two boxes down there.”

“OK”

“Go on! Look!”

I got up and looked under the bed.

“Yep. I see ’em. They’ve got your name on so they won’t go astray.”

“Good”

She carried on with her inventory of what what was and what wasn’t hers.

“It’s going to be easier if I just pack everything. If I pack something that isn’t yours then they can sort it out later.”

“Yeah. OK.”

She carried on with her inventory until she saw someone by her wardrobe.

“Who’s that!?”

As it was where she normally sees her mum, I made an assumption.

“It’s your mum isn’t it?”

“I HOPE NOT!”

Suddenly there were lots of Other People around us including one on the back of my chair. I was then largely ignored. Not all the Other People were people. She could see something flying around just above her head and was blowing at it to make it go away.

“Look Mum,” I interrupted, “there’s a ton of stuff to go here. It’s going to take a few trips to move it all. If you hang on here, I’ll fill the car and take some of it before coming back for you.”

“Yeah, alright.”

It then dawned on me that she still might be able to see all the stuff I said I was moving.

“What I’ll do is leave all this here and start with the stuff that’s already packed downstairs. It’ll make it easier to get this lot out later.”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. I’ll be back. It might be a while but I’ll be back.”

“Alright. And don’t forget Aunt Lou!”

“I won’t.”

She turned to her Other People. Jean was there again. I’ve still got no idea who that is. She asked them all if they wanted some of her tea.

I met her carer again on my way to the lift.

“Did she drink her tea?”

“Yeah, well, half of it. She wanted to make sure the Other People got some.”

She looked at me blankly.

“Oh, you don’t know about her hallucinations? They happen every week but she’s hidden them from staff until recently. She sees Other People. Usually aunts and uncles or children who I think she played with when she was very young.”

“Oh!”

“Yeah, Reggie was the first one to see her hallucinating and then Juliette. Then on last Wednesday’s day shift, everybody saw it. She was really loud about it too. It’s been happening for more than a year though.”

“Oh.”

I left her to process that news and headed home. Alan was still in reception on his own.

“Good night Alan!”

“Morning! Thanks for coming to see me!”

“My pleasure Alan!”

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

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