I rarely post details about my family and my family life on social media for obvious reasons but I’m afraid I must do so here in order for me to explain why the updating of my blog has been so sporadic.
In April my mother, who is 88 years old, had a fall at her house and was admitted to hospital. She spent a considerable time there while the medical staff dealt with some other medical issues and then she was transferred to a rehab hospital for further treatment. During this time she was able to build up her strength and was pronounced ready to return home.
After only a couple of weeks at home she had another fall and was re-admitted to hospital. This time she suffered some bruising and was pretty shaken up, obviously. While in hospital she freshened up a lung infection that she had pre-admission so that was dealt with as well before she was again transferred to Bulli Hospital for rehab.
While she was in Wollongong we had some “spirited” discussions as to what we were going to do to try and prevent a repeat of the present situation. Mum was widowed in 1969, never remarried and has lived alone in a little Housing Commission house for the last 45 years. In recent years, as her health and mobility declined, she has had a home care arrangement 5 days a week which has helped enormously but, of course, the carers are only there for an hour or so each day and never at night. So it has become clear to us that it was now time for mum to go into a home where permanent care could be given and where help was available 24/7. Understandably, mum has been extremely resistant to the idea, determined that she would, again, go home when discharged from rehab. Mum comes from a family where the women live long. Her grandmother passed away at 93 and in full possession of her faculties and her mother was equally sharp when she passed away at 91 so there is no question that mum’s mental capacity is diminished in any way. In fact, cognitive tests at Bulli showed that she was spot-on.
However, while her brain is as good as it ever has been, her body is letting her down. She has allowed her weight to fall to frightening levels and she is very frail as a result. Medical advice has been strongly in favour of her taking up a permanent care option but, because of her mental capacity, the decision had to be left up to her. Before leaving Wollongong Hospital for Bulli for the second time, her doctor said to her, “If you go home you will be back here withing 3 days.” Nevertheless, the staff at Bulli had no choice but to accede to her wishes and send her home once her treatment was complete.
Sadly, the doctor’s prediction was correct. Withing 15 hours of mum being at home, she went out to the lounge room in the middle of the night for some trivial reason, fell again and broke her hip. Within 24 hours she was back in hospital in worse condition than what she had been in one her previous 2 visits. A protracted stay in hospital again resulted during which time the hip was operated on and pinned. Once medically stabilised she was transferred to Figtree Private Hospital where she has spent the last two weeks learning to walk again with the aid of a walker.
This time, however, there was no going home. Even though it hurt a lot (I can’t begin to imagine how hard it must have been) this time she admitted that going home again was not going to be an option. So, while she has been in rehab we have been able to find a placement for her in a lovely nursing home where she can receive the care and supervision she needs in order to be able to fully recover and get on with her life. She was moved there last Tuesday and we have been working hard at getting her settled in and comfortable there.
As her position there at the moment is one of a “respite” patient, it is understood that this is her home now. Since her house is a rental property we have then had to work at clearing out her house in the two weeks before her respite agreement expires. As you can imagine, this is a huge task, just think about how much stuff you could accumulate in one house if you lived there for 45 years. So that’s where we are right at the moment. My brother and our respective wives have been spending hours over at her house gradually reducing the accumulated stuff and finding appropriate places for it all.
I’m sure you can imagine just how difficult the last few months have been but it isn’t really about us, it’s about her and us trying to do what is best for her. I don’t think I can say that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel yet but I hope we will soon.
MotoGp continues to be fascinating. Despite the prediction of the doom-sayers, spectator attendance at Misano was excellent and the hardy souls sat through a Sunday of drenching rain to watch three riveting races, all different and all valuable for their own reasons. Fenati gave them all a bath in the Moto3 race, winning as he pleased with a bike that appeared to be on rails while more than half of the field crashed out or crashed and remounted (some to crash yet again!)
The Swiss pairing of Aageter and Luthi provided one of the most exciting Moto2 races in a long while running away from a crash-fest behind them and leaving the final outcome in doubt till nearly the end. Points leader, Morbidelli, crashed early and was unable to rejoin and his seemingly impregnable points lead from early in the season has now been reduced to almost nothing with Luthi firming as the favourite.
The MotoGp race was similarly enthralling with Lorenzo out early through an unforced error and then a bit of Marquez magic denying Petrucci what would have been a well-deserved win. They head to Aragon in a week with the points gap at the top eliminated, MM93 and Dovi equal on points with just 5 races to go. It’s going to be tight.
Watch this space.