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All posts for the month September, 2014

Should I go or should I stay?

Published 22/09/2014 by damselwithadulcimer

 

The stresses and strains of the last eighteen months have taken their toll of my sister and of me. A few months ago Peter suggested that we take another holiday as it was apparent that I needed a break and an escape from life at home. Mum’s gradual deterioration, as well as the touch of pneumonia that was diagnosed a few days before our intended departure, had me in two minds. Sarah, the Community Matron, advised that I needed a holiday. I knew that I would be able to jump on a plane back from Italy if necessary but I was still ambivalent. It was only 48 hours before we were due to leave that I changed my position from ‘if we go on Friday’ to ‘we’re going away at the end of the week’.

A little more than two days travelling to Italy’s Ligurian coast provided the start to our late summer holiday. We were unable to locate the satnav and this navigator took her eye off the map a couple of times so we meandered a little more than we should have. The route wasn’t supposed to include a drive through the centre of Brussels with its many tunnels, nor did we intend to cross and re-cross into Germany, but we found an excellent little hotel with a very good restaurant in the Rhineland Palatinate. At journey’s end, with the car unloaded, we located the satnav under the suitcases and have no idea how it got there.

The best thing to happen was an email from my sister, informing me that mum has now been granted NHS Continuing Healthcare and funded Nursing Care. I’m not exactly sure when this will all kick in but at least mum will be taken care of in her own home with no further financial burden on her own savings, so that’s another worry lifted from my shoulders. We are both so thankful to Sarah and her efficiency in taking care of the situation and making mum’s needs so urgent and imperative.

So now I can return to enjoying what is left of the holiday. Just two more days in Italy where it appears that the unsettled, overcast weather has finally come to an end. Two days lazing by the pool under a blue sky are just what the doctor ordered and I intend to make the most of them. Here’s to la dolce vita.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the Old Man’s Friend Came to Call

Published 10/09/2014 by damselwithadulcimer

The Respiratory Team paid one of their routine visits to mum at the beginning of the week and were concerned enough to feed straight back to the Community Matron. Sarah put in an appearance later in the day, listened to mum’s chest and diagnosed the beginnings of pneumonia. Luckily we had antibiotics and steroids in the flat just in case of such an eventuality, but one of the inhalers had run out over the weekend, so Sarah set off to the GP’s surgery to make sure that the relevant prescriptions were issued and that mum’s doctor knew she was unwell.

Having smugly congratulated myself on producing the standby medication so promptly I was surprised and worried to find the box of Amoxicillin was empty… I made a further frantic phone call to the GP, sharing Sarah’s earlier frustration at having to go through various menus, to ensure that a script was sent direct to the pharmacist and then despatched to mum before the end of the day. Trust me to choose that day to visit without my car.

Whilst I was worrying about the missing antibiotics I decided it was time to move the furniture in the bedroom. We had been advised that the bed (with its rubber mattress) should not be alongside the radiator, so Emma, the carer, and I emulated Pickfords removal men whilst we dragged chairs and chests of drawers out of the room in order to swing the bed around. Initially we placed it facing the wrong way, where the telly would not be visible, so we had to disturb mum again, much to her annoyance. After plugging the mattress and the control pad back into the wall we found that the pad was doing nothing at all and the mattress was flat. Cue more complaints and moans from the patient. The light was on but it was completely unresponsive at 5.10 in the afternoon when Medequip had gone home for the day. The emergency number that was supposed to be on the equipment was not there and googling for it was impossible given that the flat is in a mobile phone black spot. Although I had no car I at least had my mobile WiFi so was able to get online, find a number and make the necessary call. It was all so simple once I was told how to rectify the problem, but why on earth weren’t those instructions delivered with the bed?

The next day was spent trying not to worry about mum and hoping that she would respond to her medication as the alternative was hospitalisation and we were fully aware that she would not want to go there. I know now that she is doing better, so that’s another mini crisis averted.

Sarah was also concerned that mum has generally deteriorated over the 10 days since she last saw her and that her COPD has worsened so she delivered an End of Life Pack, containing the necessary injectable medication for making mum comfortable when the time comes. She also informed me that she is making an application to the local council for continuing funding. Whether we get it will be another matter, but we are keeping everything crossed. We have been using mum’s personal savings to fund her care and the money is disappearing rapidly; it would be a relief not to have to fret about finances too.

So for now we can wave goodbye to the Old Man’s Friend and hope that the funding is approved and that mum remains stable.

Dementia isn’t just forgetfulness

Published 05/09/2014 by damselwithadulcimer

My mum’s dementia sometimes means that she forget things, especially in the short term. She can ask me several times an hour what day it is; her memory banks are entirely erased between the questions. She once saw a photograph of my father that was taken on their wedding day and she didn’t know who he was. She has even asked me (on more than one occasion) if dad is still alive, even though she went to his funeral more than 30 years ago. At other times she has asked me what he died of, or if he was killed. (He died of kidney failure after suffering another heart attack.) She insisted that a cousin of my father (who also died some years ago, and whose funeral we attended) brought her home from a family funeral a few months ago. She has repeated this scenario at least twice.

She gets confused about money, sometimes handing over 30p when it should be £30. Before she became bedridden she would have a couple of sleeps a day. Often she would wake up and be surprised to see me sitting on her sofa, although I was there before she took her nap. And yet when I visited this week and reminded me that it would have been her brother’s birthday, she immediately knew it was 4 September.

There are other changes that aren’t related to memory. Last year when she became housebound after breaking her hip she stopped wearing a bra, gave up applying makeup and refused to look in the mirror. She always used to be smartly dressed, insisted on wearing supportive foundation garments (bra and corset), never went out without applying slap to her face, and wore shoes with heels even though she had an arthritic back and legs. Above all she used to have a daily bath before dressing. Although she needed an electric seat to lower herself into the tub and then to lift her up again, she had difficulty using this after hip surgery, but eventually managed to get to grips with it again as long as she had assistance.

Over the last few weeks since she became bedridden she can just about get out of bed (again with help) to use the commode in her room; the bathroom is too far for her to manage now, even with her frame. As she doesn’t drink enough fluids, she rarely needs to empty her bladder. Sometimes she tries to get up, sits on the edge of the bed, and then just has to lie back down again.

In addition to these alterations, her personality is changing. She has round the clock care because she gets anxious when left alone. She may say that she doesn’t want somebody just sitting in her room with her, but if I leave her for a few minutes, believing she has nodded off, she soon calls for me and tells me that she needs somebody to be there. If she is left alone for a few minutes after her daytime or night time carer leaves and the next one hasn’t yet arrived, she frequently presses her alarm to call Careline.  Whilst she is awake there is very little to talk about now as she doesn’t have a great deal of interest in what is going on in the world. I often don’t have a lot of family news and wonder if it would be insulting to keep covering the same ground as I’m not sure if she remembers what I’ve already told her.

She also gets very impatient with me. If I need to leave her – perhaps to take a phone call or to send an email – I can hear her shouting and complaining in the other room. In her opinion I have come to visit and it’s rude to leave her to do whatever I need to do, or to make a fuss of her cat (as she often believes I am doing). She has been rather nasty with me on occasion, particularly when her hospital bed was delivered and she didn’t want to get out of her own bed. She told the driver to throw me on his van and get rid of me; likewise she made the same sorts of threats against me and my sister when we called for an ambulance a few weeks ago and the paramedics tried to persuade her to go into hospital as they were concerned about her. Life can be so cruel.

The independent, feisty Phyllis of old is a different person. I manage her financial affairs, make sure her bills are paid, and collect her Attendance Allowance. It wasn’t that long ago that she would take the money from me and put it in her purse, and she always kept her bag with her, whether in the lounge, in the bedroom or on the bed. Now it lies on the floor at the foot of her bed and I put the cash into her wallet. She is removed from the world and obviously has no idea that we are using her savings to fund her care. What the future may bring is anybody’s guess and I am in touch with her social worker to find out how we will be able to manage when the money runs out, or if they will be able to put the same amount of support into place once her money falls to the level at which they would help to finance her care. Life can be so cruel.