Morning...
What can I say...in some ways having the responsibility of all the laundry upon someone else's shoulders is a wonderful feeling, but some of the other stuff can 'irritate' when you hand over all care to the 'professionals'.
The staff are wonderfull with the residents & treat them with respect at all times but, of course, they have more than one person to look after. The other evening ( about 6:30 I guess ) Mum was incredibly sleepy so I used her bell to summon help; that wasn't an easy choice to make, but when someone eventually arrived ( they have different buzzers for the level of urgency, & do adjust their response times accordingly ) & I explained Mum would be more compliant if they did what they had to do then, rather than let her fall asleep in the wheelchair & become ... feisty, shall we say...later if they woke her to do it, it was well over an hour before they came back. It's that kind of thing that is upsetting, but I knew it was because other residents were probably in the exact same position.
On the other hand, she will be getting a lovely hair-do Weds morning from a hairdresser who has extensive experience of working with PWD, in the afternoon a fashion show put on for the residents by B0n M@rche with a tempting 20% off all purchases and - best thing is - it's her birthday too!
There's no way I could do anything to make her days at home even slightly different, being in a flat & no lift, & of course I wish I had the resources to have a full-on dedicated nursing team to care for Mum in the custom built apartment in the west wing, but I don't live in Downton Abbey...we're more like a make-do tent in a lay-by... Doesn't stop me dreaming though.
Then again, in my world, there wouldn't be pain or suffering in the first place...
What can I say...in some ways having the responsibility of all the laundry upon someone else's shoulders is a wonderful feeling, but some of the other stuff can 'irritate' when you hand over all care to the 'professionals'.
The staff are wonderfull with the residents & treat them with respect at all times but, of course, they have more than one person to look after. The other evening ( about 6:30 I guess ) Mum was incredibly sleepy so I used her bell to summon help; that wasn't an easy choice to make, but when someone eventually arrived ( they have different buzzers for the level of urgency, & do adjust their response times accordingly ) & I explained Mum would be more compliant if they did what they had to do then, rather than let her fall asleep in the wheelchair & become ... feisty, shall we say...later if they woke her to do it, it was well over an hour before they came back. It's that kind of thing that is upsetting, but I knew it was because other residents were probably in the exact same position.
On the other hand, she will be getting a lovely hair-do Weds morning from a hairdresser who has extensive experience of working with PWD, in the afternoon a fashion show put on for the residents by B0n M@rche with a tempting 20% off all purchases and - best thing is - it's her birthday too!
There's no way I could do anything to make her days at home even slightly different, being in a flat & no lift, & of course I wish I had the resources to have a full-on dedicated nursing team to care for Mum in the custom built apartment in the west wing, but I don't live in Downton Abbey...we're more like a make-do tent in a lay-by... Doesn't stop me dreaming though.
Then again, in my world, there wouldn't be pain or suffering in the first place...