h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks all. I've got all my own housework jobs done (on this lovely day) while the domestic is at Mum's.

I'm just going to have a sandwich before heading to Mum's then we'll be off to the hairdressers. I'm intending having a long walk around hoping to finish at the shops in St Peter's Ave which I don't usually have the chance to browse. Then I'll collect the glamour puss and return her home before picking Ian up

Oh, is it the 19th May?

to write new journal

Wow, I must be close to burnout or a nervous breakdown as I just nearly lost it

Close your eyes and count to ten really does work, or in the equivalent Internet world, closing the lid of the laptop and walking away. The world didn't end, and there's a meteor shower to look forward to tonight.

with your meteor shower! Have a clear night then.

meteor shower ? I don't need to use soap do I soap!!!!

I did go out at midnight, saw one little fizzer right overhead but I couldn't crane my neck for very long so I called it a night

as usual - large white fluffy stuff fills the sky

Have just been down to put the bins out (at 1.40 am - I'm watching elections)and the sky is bright and full of shiny stars - always the way isn't it ? I hope you're still managing to dodge he rain showers during the day

My sister reports that she saw a meteor last night.

Ho hum!

Onwards and upwards.

I am really enjoying my Sundays off, I can relax with not even having to get the car out.

Oh it's Monday

Onwards and upwards your looking the wrong way thenmeteors come DOWN

My sister joined us for tea yesterday and she asked me how much Mum weighed... I couldn't remember the last time I weighed her and checked the last log book, end of April! So we scrambled to collect the scales and walked Mum into the kitchen for the flat surface. She was 44kg and now weighs 46.5kg, (7st 5lbs) which in old money is about half a stone in almost 6 weeks!

I'm so glad I dumped that soft-food diet and liquid gloop which she hated.

(also)

Websailor

We had a lovely day yesterday with a visit from my older brother and his wife, it's 5 weeks since their last visit. We went out for a carvery then had raspberry pavlova back at Mum's. Unfortunately the day was marred when I discovered the Wednesday tea carer had given Mum her daily Warfarin, *after* I had given her it in the morning (and it was logged by me on the meds sheet, the Warfarin sheet and on the carer's daily log). I rang up the manager and we ended up having an argument which culminated in her sending out one of the office staff to collect all the relevant paperwork, which was replaced with new. Mum's mental state is a constant worry, she told my brother that apart from going to the Curzon she spends every day in the house. I asked her what about the times I take her out in the wheelchair and she said "oh yes, I'd forgotten, Ann takes me out when the sun shines!". Then when the staff member arrived from F'fords, she introduced Keith & Maureen as her brother and his wife. I could understand the confusion if he looked anything like Alf or Eddie, but he doesn't. He's the image of my father before he became ill. Everything else seems to be chugging along nicely.

"collect all the relevant paperwork" did you make back-up photo copies ? just in case "they" deny any error in administering medication

Everything was logged by me in my own Carer's Log (a blank book I write in daily). And I have witnesses to the phone call, and the removal of the original paperwork.

This morning was lovely and sunny so I wheeled Mum to the Boating Lake, one circuit around then back in time for her to watch the end of her favourite chef's programme

that's my girl, please keep it hidden

I've got to admit it took an effort of will on my part to avoid losing my temper when they made a mistake like that at a convalescent care facility my Mom was staying at last year.

She's currently at a board and care facility and doesn't recognize me much of the time.

deep down she will

I bid all a pleasant goodnight

Being mistaken for other family members is one of the things we're all putting up with, including Ian's family. One day Eileen was talking to Ian when she suddenly said "Ian's coming to see me soon!" He said "I'm Ian!" she said, no, not you, the other one I don't see very often (she meant Les, Ian's brother who lives in London - they look nothing alike). When her daughter visits, Eileen insists she's her mother. My mother introduced her son Keith to a carer as her brother, just the other day. It's important not to take these things personally, or be offended by them. I'm sure they can't help themselves. I'm mortified if I call someone by the wrong name and Ian is so paranoid about it that he won't introduce me to anyone unless he can remember their name.

My mom insists that there are two of me, speaks to me as though I were the other one and not myself and not present, frequently mistakes me for her first husband, who died August of 2008, whom she did not like very well at the end of their marriage, though she'd named me after him, sometimes mistakes me for my brother.

I suppose it was natural and right to put the bulk of attention in 20th century medical research on the childhood diseases.

Though there is increasing attention these days on the diseases of old age, progress is slow and painful.

Right at the moment I'm trying to straighten out her documents situation.

Its apparent that she was already suffering from a dementia well before it became manifest.