So Tuesday dawns and it is a day to which we always look forward being the day when we meet up with our friends in the Waitrose cafeteria. We anticipated that we would be one short in number today, as indeed we were because her flat was being redecorated and this involved the supervision of items of furniture as they were moved around the room. It was a pretty fine day today so we were happy to get out and have a pleasant walk down the hill with just the hint of a cooling breeze to keep us comfortable as we walked. One of our favourite Waitrose partners whose job it is to attend to the flowers section of the store and to throw away dead or dying stock presented us with a bunch of roses each so Meg and I came home with a beautiful bunch of yellow roses. Once we had returned we had the late morning comfort call for Meg and after that the carer came along who we know quite well who was on sitting duty today. I received a telephone call from a person in the Transport and Highways department of Worcestershire County Council who explained that he had some good news about our pavement problem. But the good news turned out to be telling us about about a road reconfiguration which is going to take place near us at some time in the future and might be of some assistance to us. The officer from Worcestershire explained that the day-to-day management of the plan and the scheduling would now rest with the planing department of the District Council so I should contact them for any more up-to-date news. As the road reconfiguration is probably not scheduled for several months if not years ahead then the net result of all of this is that we would get nowhere. So the next result of all of these activities is that everyone concerned at official level seems to be passing the buck and the responsibility for someone else to solve and always at some indefinite time in the future. I cannot be surprised by all of this but I think I think it is faintly amusing that if a ‘problem’ arises on someone’s desk, the first response is to pass it on to someone else so that from their point of view, the problem is sorted and so on, ad infinitum. I am reminded of the story of the communication between a GP and a consultant, both noted for the terseness and brevity of their communications. So the GP wrote to the consultant regarding one patient ‘Please see and treat’ to which the response came back shortly ‘Seen and treated’
The carer who came to sit with Meg gave her a spin around the house in the wheelchair and upon my return from a mini shopping expedition was intrigued by the wedding photos that we have on our iPhone dating all the way from 1967 (i.e. the date of the actual event but the digitised versions only appeared in time I think for our 50th anniversary nearly seven years ago now) I managed to get out on the road for half an hour buying some important non-food shopping and managed to obtain a supply of much needed toiletries as well as seizing the opportunity of buying a couple more cushions. These happen to be just the right size and shape to fit behind Meg’s back to help to keep her vertical and not slumping in her wheelchair and were were quite a useful buy. Once returning home, we finished off the meal of fishcakes which turned out to be a fairly delayed lunch and then what should have been the mid-afternoon career’s call came an hour or so earlier than we would really have liked. So we made the best of a bad job of scheduling and Meg and I then spent some time in the back garden where we sat in the shade and enjoyed some cooling ice-cream to boot.
Last night, Meg had another rather disturbed night again which seems to occur every other night at the moment. So this means that various domestic jobs that I have lined up to do in the evening now get neglected or postponed as I have to supervise Meg in the evening to ensure that she does not attempt to get out of bed or to fall out of bed. Were Meg to actually ‘fall’ or should I say slither out of bed, the the carers are not allowed to pick her up and put her back into bed again. They are instructed that they must call the ambulance service and/or the falls team and these carers also are instructed that in the event of falls (or rather slithers) people have to be admitted to A&E. So I try very hard with a combination of techniques to ensure that Meg stays intact in bed each evening and if she is asleep this is not a problem. If on the other hand she gets agitated and attempts to get out of bed, then we are living dangerously, not to say on a knife-edge and, of course, I cannot convey the seriousness of all of this to Meg who cannot understand fully why it is essential that she stays put when put to bed for the evening. A request had gone in to the Occupational Therapists for a bed with sides but we are awaiting for an assessment, and then a recommendation and finally perhaps some provision but this might be some weeks away. I think the month of August is going to be a nightmare month as so many services are short whilst the largely female staff with families are taking them off on holidays in the six week period between the third week of July and the first week of September. I often wonder if these carers look forward to the summer holidays in the same way that turkeys look forward to Christmas i.e. with a degree of excitement but some trepidation about the weeks ahead.
© Mike Hart [2024]