Tuesday

Tuesday

I hadn’t got the impression that Mum had reached her Peak Active Mum phase when I saw her yesterday so I was surprised to see her totally and utterly unresponsive already today. She was still slightly mobile – fidgeting in slow motion – but I don’t think she had any idea I was there.

She may have known someone was with her though. I sat and held her hand for a few minutes and even though she didn’t return a squeeze of her hand, she did visibly relax and started snoring loudly.

I left her to sleep and didn’t attempt to wake her up.

I was determined to make amends for not spending more time with Audrey yesterday. I sat with her on my way to Mum and again on the way out. She did seem less agitated than she had yesterday.

Her initial concern was to tell me a very long tale about problems with her feet. I think she was trying to tell me that her feet were swollen and she couldn’t get her shoes on. Her shoes were by her chair and she was wearing a pair of thick Christmas socks.

“They do look quite fetching Audrey.”

“Shut up you cheeky bugger!”

We returned to the topic of her escape several times. Each time I ran through the plan and tried to reassure her that everything was under control.

I stopped at the office on my way out just to check with Juliette that I had the right date for her transfer.

“Audrey seems very distressed and doesn’t know what’s going to happen or when.”

“But we must have told her a hundred times!”

Nobody not wearing a uniform is allowed to walk past her without getting instructed to sit down and discuss the plan apparently. Not even the manager.

I wondered what the staff think about a visitor spending as much time as I do with other residents. I’ve never seen anyone else do it but they all treat it as being perfectly normal when I do.