Monday

The day started badly. The carer due to visit Lesley’s dad was sick and wouldn’t be going. The vomiting bug that his kids brought home last week had been passed to him.

Ordinarily, Dad would get himself up and ready in time to be picked up for the day centre. I think he likes to do it on his own occasionally to prove that he can still manage on his own. But today, he couldn’t. He slept in until almost nine. By that time, Lesley had already cancelled his lift and arranged for the day centre to deliver his lunch instead. He slept most of the rest of the day again too.

When I got to The Home I found that Mum had still been almost totally out of it today. Almost.

She did open her eyes when I told her I was there and nodded when I asked if she wanted a drink. She tried to refuse her afternoon meds but nodded again when the nurse asked her to promise to finish a milkshake.

When the milkshake was finished she went properly asleep again. Totally unresponsive.

The nurse said later that if you give Mum time she will actually eat something on an Active day. The problem is that they only get 2 or 3 of those a week now.

I asked about Mum’s weight. They haven’t been able to get her on the scales for a while now. Weigh-ins are done on Wednesdays. Mum has either been too sleepy and weak to sit in a wheelchair or awake enough to refuse to cooperate. She said they would keep trying though.

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