After a lovely surprise visit with mum on Saturday unfortunately I won't be visiting mum this week as the CH has suspended visiting at moment. They said on phone they have had to halt the the visiting temporarily while they get some more guidance because of new measures announced but they are hoping to have it sorted soon. Deputy manager has been really sympathetic over it as he says he know its hard for us not being able to just come and go visiting mum when we like and spend time in the home with her and now not to be able to visit at all at the moment. I don't know how long that it will be suspended for, or how it will be if they do reinstate it yet. I'm so glad I got to see mum on Saturday as it had been 3 weeks since she went in to CH and I'd not seen her and was so worried how she was. Now it might be a bit before can see her again. I was half expecting they might change visiting after reading of others experiences on here but I still cried when I heard yesterday.
My sister called the home today to speak to deputy manager and ask how mum is doing and while they'd been monitoring mum if thought she was in right place and also if knew when CHC meeting would be.
He said he will chase up the meeting as not heard anything recently and when he knows he will let us know. He said they will probably tell us anyway but he'll let us know when he knows too just to make sure so we can attend if we want to. Although at minute he's not sure how meeting will happen if in person or by phone maybe.
He told sis that he does think mum is in the right place, he thinks she needs emi residential, which is what they do and they also do emi nursing but she doesn’t need that. He said that some of the others are definitely further on than her but that it all depends how you look at it because mum can seem ok one minute but then she will say something that is totally wrong and by afternoon she is quite confused. He can’t get over the way she is caught in the time of 30 years ago, he’s never seen anyone so consistent with a particular time.
He said mum is doing well and is ok today. That mum spends quite a bit of time with the chap who went in the same week as her and they chat, and she likes spending time with the staff, who apparently have a soft spot for her. Which was nice for sis and me to hear.
He said they have to keep an eye on her with some of the other residents as Mum still tries to help them, leading them round by the hand, but they give her something else to do and my sister said she told him mum will love having little jobs to do. Ocassionally mum says Are you going to let me go home yet? but she says it with a smile rather than angry and most of the time he said mum just rolls her eyes and laughs at him when he says no. My sister said he said something about mum costing him a fortune in chocolate, she thinks maybe he is using it as a distraction. Sis told him mum has a stash I take her and he said mum won't let him near that.
He said mum tends to pick and graze rather than eating full meals and likes a cup of tea and a biscuit so they let her do that if it helps her. My sister said he mentioned how mum likes her tea making, which is a bit unusual, and that she likes hobnobs so sis was pleased he knew that about her and they did it how she liked. I'm not sure if mums not eating full meals because she doesn't like the food cos she's a really fussy eater and only eats a few things. Or if it's cos she's feeling a bit sicky from taking her tablets all together and on a morning because she got like that at home at first so I gave her some with lunch rather than breakfast when she ate more but hospital and home give them all in a morning by sounds of it. Or it could be mum got in a habit in hospital cos she wouldn't eat much there cos she was upset and unsettle wanting to go home. I hope it's not cos she's upset and unsettled there in CH as she does seem more settled there than hospital but it could be she has got into habit of not eating much at mealtimes. Last year when mum had a bad bout of her diverticulitis she was hardly eating anything and that carried on for a while afterwards. It took me quite a while to get her back to eating full meals again so it's a shame if she's gone back to it again now. Also mum's used to having her main cooked meal at evening and I think care homes do it at lunchtime so that could be a factor. I hope as she settles more and gets used to their meal times and food they make and she starts to eat more again. The home don't seem worried about it yet, and neither does my sister so I'll keep taking her crisps biscuits and sweets in as she will eat those and see how she goes on.
He said mum's sleeping well and taking her meds well which is good as she wouldn't take them at first. He said they'd had to ask for some from DR as it hadn't got them all on her last prescription so my sister told him I'd got couple of text from pharmacy for two tablets and that they were issued from memory clinic so he thought that explained it. So hopefully they'll get it worked out before next one.
He said mum's still not keen on being told to go in the shower and they have to talk her into it but I don't think he didn't seem too worried by it. He said that she is doing really well, really settling, if she ever does get funny she is easily settled and there is a difference in her now and when she first came in. My sister was pleased by how much he told her and seemed to know about mum already. We were a bit worried at CHC meeting with hospital and SS social workers that they might say should move her and she didn't need EMI care and wasn't in right place cos others more advanced than mum so sis was reassured that he said he thought mum was in right place .
Mum's been in home 4 weeks now and the hospital SW said CH place was only supposed to be funded for assessment for 6 weeks so I think meeting should be soon where we discuss and decide if SS is going to take over funding mums place and keep her there or not.