Removing furniture from the house

I've again been on to another charity who take furniture - this time PDSA.

I got the familiar refrain that yes they could take it in principle but (a) there's a backlog and (b) their men can't collect from an upper floor.

So there is a problem getting rid of the unwanted furniture from upstairs. I would like to offload that dresser and unused chest of drawers from the top deck.

Can someone find some able bodied men to come and dump this in the back lane? I am sure that once this is done they items will be removed very quickly.

Today's visit

I went to see Mam today for about 1.5 hours - getting there at just after 2pm.
Mam was sleeping when I entered the room and no sooner had I sat down than Fr O'Connor and a young curate entered!! So I sat outside for a few minutes. Fr OC asked me how Mam was settling in but I said it was still too early to tell. Actually Mam was very flustered by having so many people arrive at once so for quite a while she wasn't making much sense (she'd just woken up, after all).
I sat with her for a while and gradually she brightened up. Things were helped enormously by the arrival of Sister Mary Bridget who is very nice and we three of us had a chat - yesterday (Monday) Mam had been out with the other residents in a minibus mystery tour. Mam had enjoyed it a lot, I think. It took in the new quayside, Gateshead and South Shields where Mam had an ice cream.
So that was nice.
I offered to help them out if they need any help with their website.

Saturday visit

I got there at 2.00pm in time to give Mam a wheel around outside and get back in to set her up to listen to the match. I got the impression from one of the staff that at the moment Mam seems to prefer her own company and stays in her room. If she's happy with this then OK. Perhaps her awareness of her communication problem makes her shy of meeting others.

Her watch is nowhere to be found. Was it ever taken to the LSoP?

She needs a wastepaper basket for her room as well as a biscuit tin. Her moveable table is looking very cluttered.

Also took her an Evening Chronicle. She'll need a Radio Times and perhaps one of those cards showing Newcastle United's fixture list for this season. As Adam and Jolyon are Newcastle fans, couldn't they send her a postcard once a week with their thoughts about the match. Just a thought.

Too tired to spellcheck this stuff.

Don't seem to hear anything from anyone else. We will need to discuss getting the telephone account changed over and probably the utilities. Mam shouldn't be paying for resources that she isn't using.

Paul

Thursday's visit

I saw Mam again this afternoon. I took her out for a ride in the wheelchair through the grounds which she really enjoyed. While I was there a nurse came in to take a look at her legs which have been quite dry (I dont think Mam's been using her diprobase cream for a while). The nurse is going to ensure that the carers once a day put a cream on her to moisturise the skin on her legs.

Mam again mentioned the issue about two members of staff being not very nice. I think that she said that one of the sisters had sorted it out and told me not to do anything else.

This is a little more serious: Mam had a fall last night around 8pm whilst she was coming out of her en-suite bathroom/toilet. She didn't have a blackout, she said. But she did say that she found using the bathroom toilet there difficult - which is something I suspected might be the case. I don't know where the on-site Occupational Therapist is based. Can somebody maybe give them a phone and ask if something can be done to coach Mam in getting into and out of the bathroom?

Paul

Visiting Mam 20th August

Went along to see Mam today. She seemed OK but was finding speech difficult. Maybe it was tiredness as earlier in the day she'd had Uncle Jim and Aunty Lucy; and also a visit from Peter.

Points to note.

• Mam said that one of the staff had been "nasty" to her but the circumstances weren't clear to me. Seemed to have been an incident in a dining area where the residents were being marshalled by the staff and Mam complained about their treatment and said she got treated quite rudely. Mam may just be finding it difficult to adjust to the regime there. There has to be a certain amount of regimentation, I'd guess.
• I'm not sure whether Mam is keen on attending church EVERY day. Is this compulsory? Can someone check?
• Mam also claimed (and I'm sure this is incorrect) that her medications had been withdrawn.

Today (Thursday 21st) there has been a call at the door from a man from the pensions service. He had a form with my name written into one of the fields but not my phone number. I assume he wanted to talk to Peter - it concerns transferring the handling of Mam's financial affairs (at least, the pensions aspect of this) into someone else's hands now that Mam can't really do this herself.

Can you give me an indication that any of you are bothering to read this stuff?

Paul

Visiting Mam today

I walked over ot the LSoP today to see Mam. She looked very well and was having breakfast when I arrived. I took her some things which'd been forgotten yesterday - nail files, Nivea, creme puff, lipstick and some combs.
She seemed very happy. She'd had a nice bath and her feet had been seen to. All in all she looked better than she has in ages. She again asked about heminevrin but I managed to get her off the topic.
The place looks very nice and I hope this works out for her and that we can find a funding model to finance her long-term care there, should she wish to stay. This is something we'll need to talk about, I know. I wish I could help out more but I have needs of my own - not least to get myself a better job because there's as good as none to go back to at Northern Rock. I have a good chance of a job down in Chesterfield but it's not an ideal location for me. I'm hoping to hear this week about a job in north yorkshire which would be closer to the sea. Also a possibility of an IT job with the Swiss government.
But Mam looked so well, which was good. I hope it continues.

Mam's homecoming and my operation date

Mam is due home this afternoon. I saw her earlier on as I came back from seeing the surgeon for th epre-admission appointment.

On Thursday morning I have to be up at word 33 for my operation. May be home the following day or perhaps kept in longer. Have been told to take things easy for a while.

This may affect Mam's care and place additional burden upon Peter. Can anyone else come round to help out if needed?