Now don't bite the nurses!

Back home after a traumatic few days! Mom still in hospital, confused and ill. But I achieved:



1 list of ranked nursing homes based upon my impressions,t he council reports and mums friends impressions

2. Suitcases packed and full of labeled clothes ready to go to the home when she leaves hosital - very sad to look at 2 suitcases and think thats what your life comes down to.

3. Brokered a deal to sell the house and ideas on how to sort out the furniture etc - all to be dealt with when we go back on "holiday" in June!



So, got quite a bit done whilst still visiting the hospital on a daily basis. Plus I saw most of my cousins, the Grundys (friends from Botswana) and saw lots and lots of bluebells and glorious rhododendrons - nowhere like England in the Spring!

I extended my stay by a few days and flew back on Monday 5th. Got to Heathrow early only to find that my flight had been cancelled so they put me on an earlier flight and the whole change of arrangements actually worked out better than the original - less time to wait in boring Dubai airport and home at 4.15 rather than at 11.30 at night. Plus the very nice woman at the desk in Heathrow decided not to charge me the penalty of 50 GBP for changing my flight when I produced the Drs letter - said we would use our discretion even though my flight contract said I could only change it if I had died!

Gosh England is expensive - petrol is 1.22 GBP per litre, the car hire cost over 400 gbp...yikes, poor little credit card!

Eating out is expensive too - 29 gbp for a meal for 2 when I took Bruce "out for a curry" and another 20 when I took Dorothy - the neighbour from over the road. But they have both been so good they deserved it. Nothing gets past Dorothy - she even beetled over to ask me what I had put in the dustbin one day! :)

I went out for a very funny meal with my cousin Linda and her husband Mike at a pub called the Blue cap. Mike is a very good cook and is quite demanding as to service etc so it was very entertaining. The Blue Cap has recently been taken over by new management (3 days previously) and obviously hadn't got to grips with things yet. The table next to us had been waiting 2 hours for their meal and demanded to see the chef as they refused to beleive that it was "on its way". 3 men at the table opposite us got their food in relays so that they all ate at different times. Well, Mike started to mumble but we waited. Mike and Linda's prawn curries came - very nice and then along came my salmon (can't remember the fancy name) well it was a lumo of fish on some boiled potatoes with a bowl of freshly defrosted vegetables - it looked disgusting. Called the waitress (poor girl was having a really rough evening) and asked her where was the pastry, where was the asparagus? (Had sounded like a fishy wellington from the menu) so off she went with my plate and came back and said that the chef said that salmon blah blah didn't have pastry and asparagus - so I gave her the menu and off she went again. Well, by the time Linda and Mike had finished mine rea-ppeared - this time beautifully presented and very nice. Give them a few more weeks and they may be worth visiting again once they've found their feet!

Leaving the hospital on the Monday morning was very very hard, Mom was quite lucid except for the odd comment about whether I had seen my dad, but I noticed the gel for her sore mouth at the back of her table. This gel was now being used after I had my 1 hour meeting with the ward sister about all the things I thought they were doing wrong - the dirty teeth etc, followed up by a meeting with the "consultant".

Basically the confusion is not because of the diabetes or the infection but as a result of the stroke - says we just have to see what happens. So, a heart attach in Feb and a stroke in April, not looking good - and she is so thin and frail. She just does not eat enough but they cannot keep her on a drip in perpetuity.

So the nurse said that, no, she had not had the gel that morning. Why not? Because she bit the nurses yesterday! So, I gave her the gel, then I was handed her tablets to see if she woudl take them when I gave them to her - swallowed them as good as gold! So, when I left, I said, now behave yourself and do as you are told and Don't bite the nurses! She laughed and so did I - she hadn't known that she had!

So, off I went to drive to Heathrow - cried like a baby in the corridor but then came right and off I went. Thankfully no delays on the road which I had been worried about as it was a Bank Holiday - lovely sunny day too! I did have lovely weather.

Back home - am in contact with the social worker, the hospital and the neighbours - so just going from day to day waiting for news.