December 2011 had been a good time as David was able to visit for a week, He stayed with me and we kept the programme fairly simple just doing the things that Mum was familiar with, Garden City, lunch at Miss Mauds, Madisons at Claremont and then a Christmas lunch at Matilda Bay. It was a good time. David went on to N.S.W for a conference
March 1st 2012 we celebrated Mum's birthday at The Red Herring and had a nice lunch. Our routine continued lunch and shopping on Wednesday plus a visit on Monday afternoon and Saturday afternoon. She still had a lot of time to put in on her own. Bob had noted that Mum had lost quite a lot of weight and I had noted she wasn't managing the T.V channels all that well so we did feel she was only just coping. At the end of March after a Wednesday visit I got a call from a workman working on the pool next door that he had heard her calling out and she had fallen at the rubbish bin. The fractured hip had happened.
Of course hospital emergency room and then operation although that didn't happen until Saturday morning so the two days waiting for it were fairly unpleasant for all. She had been seen by a geriatrician. Never having been a compliant patient this did not change and she could be very resistant to people doing things to her so on the day of the op I was called to theatre to sit with her until she went under and again until she came around.I told the anaesthetist that it was along time since I had been in theatre. "Were thay using ether then?" he joked.
After two days she was transferred to Kaleeya where she managed to stay for about a week demanding at the top of her voice, there were difficulties with her hearing aid, to go home.It was very trying for all especially the people who shared the four bed room with her. While this was going on we had a visit from John and Maggie Breese her brother's son and his wife who made a big effort to visit her and were amazed at how well she was doing.
Well she was eventually discharged home to our care with a good programme in place to help with transition. Hospital in the home it was called and was very good. So she made progress. Just as she was at the eight week mark she fell in the bedroom and broke the other hip so we had to go through it all again. She was markedly disorientated in hospital trying to climb out of bed so they sedated her resulting in her sleeping the whole of one day. She was demanding to come home. "How far does she have to be able to walk?" the charge nurse asked ."Well at least as far as the toilet"I replied. "We will do a test" they said "Is that far enough?" "yes" I replied . So her discharge was arranged within two hours, admittedly with good help with showers and physio at home.
Having broken her second hip I did not feel there was any possibility of her managing on her own and she realised her house had be sold and this we accomplished fairly quickly. Mostly she was very little trouble but she did have the occasional hissy fit that I became more adept at managing. I just did not listen to her euthanasia rantings and I stopped showing her her bank accounts as she was not understanding them.
Holidays for me are of course essential. The first we booked in October 2012, a visit to Brisbane to view the Masterpieces from The Prado exhibition followed by the bridge week at Noosa which was great fun. I also did a lovely trip to Edmundi and The Glass house Mountains and Montville. Home Instead did a holiday roster 24hrs 7 days a week . The total cost of care for Mum was $8500 which of course she could afford . "It was hell" says Olwen on my return and didn't speak to me all day on my first day back, sitting and sulking all day. I did hope on the next holiday she would accept residential care, she didn't, but thanks to Don holding the fort at night it was abit cheaper so five weeks after her hundredth birthday we had a ten day holiday in Japan. Not covering night duty made it a lot cheaper but Don found it quite demanding
No comments:
Post a Comment