Morning all,
Lovely pic 2jays - I have (I think) 3 robins who visit fairly regularly. One older bird who will come quite close and will also 'shout' if I don't fill up the table quickly enough, and two shyer ones, who hide in the wisteria, then dart onto the table to grab something then fly off - the only reason I know that there are two of 'em is because they seen to always be together - maybe sibling fledglings?
Spamar, mealworms are very popular here with a lot of the birds. I fill a plastic bowl (from an old picnic set) with a mixture of peanuts, seed, suet pellets and mealworms to put on the bird table, and the blackbirds, thrush, sparrows, and starlings definitely seem to pick them out first - in fact the starlings make one heck of a mess, flicking the other bits of food out of the way (and usually off the table) to get at them.
Haven't found the time to find a card yet, Amy - but the pound shop is a good idea
Had a very busy weekend, which included (at last) a visit to Mil yesterday - which was just horrible
OH and I arrived, and as we turned into the hall that leads to the lounge, we could hear someone yelling. It turned out to be Mil. She was just inside the lounge door, trying to get out, and gripping onto the arm of the staff who was trying to distract her, with Mil digging her nails into the poor womans arm as hard as she could. The staff was quietly telling Mil to 'let go please', but Mils face was all twisted and there was no way she was complying. She only loosened her grip and stopped when she spotted OH, flinging her arms round him and sobbing really loudly. I asked if the staff was OK - she assured me she was, and was lovely. But it was clear that Mil had had quite a go at her. Mil must have also grabbed at the poor womans neck, as her uniform around her throat area was covered in food that had clearly come from Mils hands (she had not long finished lunch).
OH and I got Mil to a chair, but she sobbed every step of the way, and was more agitated than I've seen her for a long time. It was just horrible. She was shaking, almost manic - yelling about how she couldn't tell us what was wrong because 'he' would 'smack' her, pretty incoherent, clenching her fists, loud harsh screams and then she started tearing at her own hair - and I mean tearing at it, it must have really hurt her. Just horrendous. We tried to talk calmly, we cuddled and hugged her (thankfully, whatever was going on in her poor head, we didn't feature as bad guys), but with little success. A new chap kept coming up and asking 'Are we in Wrexham? Is it Sunday?' and that was clearly annoying Mil, as was a lady in a nearby chair who was also calling out quite loudly - didn't take long for Mil to start screaming obscenities at the lady.
A member of staff came over and suggested that we try taking Mil to the sensory room - apparently they have been trying this as an alternative to her own room, when they can. Mil agreed and we made our way there - a large, quite, cool room, with fairy lights, a bubble tube, comfy seating, a lit up tree and classical music playing. At first, it didn't have much effect - Mil started screaming again, and shouting that she was going 'to 'kill him' (no idea who 'he' was), but that then changed to Mil ranting about some woman and how she was going to kill her. Gradually she calmed, staff brought drinks and biscuits which I think helped, but even though the loud crying and sobbing and the screaming stopped, the agitation was still there - Mil couldn't sit still, she kept clenching her fists, making shuddering groaning noises - the upset was just bubbling away under the surface. And she was doing a lot of talking, much like the rapid fire constant chatter we had seen before when she was agitated. Tales of how she had been given the lights in the room, had been working at a factory, tales of school, a firm declaration that she was '16 now', how she had been to the theatre in 'Lane end' . . . on and on, with just brief quiets spots as she ate biscuits or took a drink of her tea.
We stayed in the sensory room for nearly an hour with her, before the agitation started to be slowly building again she didn't blow, but you could see it was building. She wanted to 'get out of here', so we suggested she went and watched TV in her room - nope, she didn't want that, but she agreed to go back to the lounge. We got her settled in a chair there, and she slumped back, looking exhausted. Hoping she would doze for a while, we left and on the way out I had a word with one of the staff about the level of agitation. Its a daily occurance at the moment, apparently, and we have just been lucky that we haven't seen her that bad on our visits over the last 3 or 4 months. Staff have mentioned to me about how they have been consulting with Mil's GP about her agitation, but seeing her like that was a definite and unpleasant eye opener. Especially seeing the level of aggression she was giving the poor staff when we arrived.
On the way home, OH burst out with how he hoped the dementia would 'get a lot worse, quickly' if it meant that she wasn't so tormented. Just heartbreaking
Busy week ahead, I worked several hours yesterday so I can hopefully finish after my last project session before Chrstmas, next Friday afternoon. Big day tomorrow, part of a national project for the charity, where I'll be working with young people to pack care packs for the homeless, helping them host a coffee and mince pie afternoon for representatives from local homeless shelter and the day will also include a 2 hour craft workshop whenre they will decorate the care packs and labels. Another project this morning,one on Wednesday morning and the final session before Christmas on Friday morning. And - of course - admin
Batter get moving now and get ready - out of the house at 7.45 this morning!
Take care everyone x