Saturday

Mum had a standard Day One Awake day today. Uncomfortable, Unhappy, Uncommunicative and Uncooperative.

A carer appeared almost as soon as I’d sat down with Mum.

“Would you like tea or coffee?”

“Coffee please!”

“Milk and two sugars?”

At least I didn’t feel told off about having that much sugar this time. My coffee came with two pieces of freshly made cake.

“Could you make sure Iris drinks her milkshake please?”

Mum was keen to drink the milkshake and finished the squash as well but declined her piece of cake. She didn’t want anything to eat.

In spite of not having visited Mum for two days while she went through the latest Sleepy phase, I didn’t have much news.

“No long walk with The Dog this morning Mum. I think she’s broken. She hurt herself jumping off the bed and when she got up this morning she wouldn’t put her paw on the floor. She won’t let me look at it but I think she’s hurt one of her toes.”

Mum didn’t say anything but what little body language there was said “Oh blimey!”

The rest of the news was brief. Rotten weather again, son-in-law’s birthday tomorrow, a long day for Lesley at her dad’s yesterday…

“Shall I read to you for a bit Mum?”

She nodded.

“Let me see what I can find. You probably won’t want the book I’m reading. It’s about economics and government. How Thatcher, Cameron and Osborne broke the country, why nothing works and what needs to be done to fix it. I think it’s very good but I can try to find some stories about that village priest if you like?”

“No, I don’t mind…”

After a few pages I heard “They won’t let me go home. Can I come in?” from behind me.

“Of course you can Eleanor! Let me move the chair so Mum can see you. Have a seat…”

Eleanor seemed less distressed than she normally was but she couldn’t settle. She left us and returned a couple of times. Mum wasn’t interested in her or the book I was reading. She wasn’t interested in talking either.

Mum went to sleep, Eleanor went back to the lounge and I went home.

I got back indoors to be greeted by a sad, limping dog and Lesley.

“I’ve just phoned Dad to make sure he’s alright and all he could say was ‘I can’t hear! I can’t hear!’. So that trip to audiology yesterday was well worth it then.”

The Dog let me look at her sore paw for the first time.

“Aah! I see what she’s done now. She’s broken a claw. It’s split lengthways and the side has come away. No wonder it’s so sore.”

No need for a trip to the Vet’s then. So long as she doesn’t worry at it and make it worse she’ll be fine. Every other time that she’d cut herself when chasing through the undergrowth she’d managed the wound perfectly well herself. She always keeps the wound clean and heals quickly. I only need to worry if she keeps catching the jagged end. If that happens I might have to learn how to cut a dog’s nails.

Bibliography

Failed State: Why Britain Doesn’t Work And How We Fix It. The Sunday Times bestselling investigation of why Britain is struggling

Sam Freedman

Kindle edition

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