Today is evidently going to be a day of very mixed fortunes and I am not sure how things are going to turn out. We knew that we would have some visitors this morning and indeed, an OT and a physio turned up this morning and agreed that as a matter of priority should have a hospital bed and an accompanying hoist downstairs. In our ‘L’ shaped lounge, I have an area designated for where should a bed should go and also sought the opinions of two carers on the assumption that three sets of eyes are better than one and we are all in agreement. Tonight, I will need to do some furniture shifting but that is not a difficult job as it turns out. The good news is that a hospital bed is going to be supplied to us on loan from the NHS as long as it is needed and the hoist that will be supplied along side it will evidently work in conjunction with it. Also, it appears that the bed will have adjustable positions and have a specialised mattress which all ought to assist in getting Meg’s legs into the right position so that the DVT can gradually right itself. Once these ReAblement professionals had left, although it was midday I decided that I would take Meg out in her outside wheelchair as it was such a beautiful day compared with yesterday, when it seemed to raining all day long. As we passing the church friends of ours who are avid gardeners, they took the opportunity to have a break from their labours as they were both busy in the garden and invited us round onto their terrace where we enjoyed some delicious coffee and biscuits. Meg had a coke which she has probably not drunk for years now.
From this point on, though, the day started to go a little pear-shaped. Half way through our repast with our friends, I got a call from the manager of the care agency who informed me that he thought their staff were at risk having to handle the dead weight that Meg presents whenever we attempt to use the Sara Stedy or even to stand up. So he informed me that Meg should be confined to bed until a hospital bed and hoist had been installed and, presumably, his care staff have been instructed not to depart from these instructions. So that presents me with a short term management problem how to cope with Meg under these constrained circumstances. Later in the afternoon, I got a call from the OT of the ReAblement team to let me know that a bed and hoist would be delivered tomorrow which you might have thought was good news. But the care staff could not use it before Monday midday at the earliest as the OT staff had to come along to assess health and safety as they bold me that a hoist had to be operated by two care workers at once. So the OT will come along on Monday and let us hope that everything will be usable from that point on but there is a certain degree of unpredictability about all of these things.
I also got some rather devastating news from my University of Winchester friend who has been caring for his very ill wife and battling with the bureaucracy to get continuous funding to cope with her care. But the devastating news for the two of us was that the application for continuing care funding has been refused even though my friend had been through a two stage assessment and in the critical assessment, six of the seven panel members had thought that continuous funding out to be awarded. But the chairperson was the one dissenting voice and when this put to the whole of the Integrated Care Board, the Board as a whole backed their chairperson and ignored the other six votes. Evidently an appeal must be prepared but this extends the whole agonising process, made even worse by the fact that my friend had been thinking that his chances of success were reasonably high. We are going to telephone each other night to console each other although my friends’s woes are so much worse than mine. At some time I shall have to start thinking about bedding and the kinds of facilities we need to have on hand for a ‘bedroom downstairs’ as we are moving in that direction. I have to wait until Meg is safely and soundly asleep before I start on these domestic matters but the trouble is I am fighting a degree of tiredness after I have been caring for Meg during the day. Today is one of those days when she resolutely refuses to try to sleep after our lunch which means that there is no real respite. Neither of us felt particularly hungry this lunch time, even though I had a fish pie in the oven. I have left it there for the time being and I fed Meg and I on a thrown together salad meal which all I feel we felt like today. It is quite a problem getting the requisite amount of food and drink inside Meg these days, even though those who needs for an absolute number of calories must have been diminished as her activity levels are so low.
It looks as thought the Trump case may be heading for a resolution within days now. The case hinges upon whether each of the jurors agrees with the Michael Cohen (ex Trump lawyer) version of events, even though he is a proven and convicted liar. But the one telling defence that Cohen has is to admit that he did lie and lie and lie again but he did it to protect the interests of ex-President Trump. Despite the various revelations, Trump’s poll standings do not appear to have been damaged as such but one interesting thing has emerged from the trial. This is that Trump often appears to doze off even whilst evidence is being given against him in the courtroom and this is leading some experts to wonder whether Trump might be showing the early stages of dementia. But dozing off and making elementary mistakes in recall seem to have been a problem with Jo Biden so the great American public are faced with the prospect of electing one of two equally senile presidents. Even if Trump is convicted, there will be an instant appeal and the case will drag on for months yet, which will be to Trump’s ultimate advantage. Indeed, I saw an ardent Republican giving her opinion that Trump would be convicted initially but would almost certainly win on his appeal.
© Mike Hart [2024]