And the void screams back

[rattfan]

The weather got warmer again, though we're warned winter is still on the way. At least it's been easier to get around, important when your transport is an e-bike.

For my own amusement and anyone else's who wonders just what you do when you're carer for an elderly person, here is my last few days.

Normal wrangling last Saturday, a couple of hours - give the medication, tidy kitchen, shop, water plants etc. Had Sunday off. My bro did long distance Mother's Day stuff but I'm honestly not sure M noticed.

Monday

M was due for a flu jab, which means I needed to give her doctor a heads up. The doctor visits the Beaumont on Wednesdays, so needs to know to bring the injections. Thank ghod the doc is willing to go up and give M the jab at home, because it doesn't matter whether I write down the appointment time or perform it to her in interpretive dance; she's not going to remember. So I went to the Beaumont to get her on the doc's list for the next visit.

I needed to help M get ready for a shower, as she was pretty shaky that day, then stand by during, trying to see nothing. Afterwards, I talked M into letting me kidnap the blue dressing gown and wash it. It misses nearly every laundry load the service does for her because she's always wearing it. Ditto one of the nighties.

Tuesday

I took the laundry back. Later same day, some calls with the Shine community care bunch, when their person couldn't get in to do the cleaning since M had gone off to take a nap and locked her front door. In future I'll be able to just tell them to ask reception, but good thing I turned up again this time, because I had to persuade M to abandon the nap so that the bed could be stripped and changed.

All that ran the cleaning late, so the lady told me she wouldn't have time to finish everything. No worries, I sez, just get as far as you can. So she was going to start the washing machine and I left a note for next day's person to please take the sheets out for M. Only to discover, when I called Shine to give them the heads up, that if a person was booked for personal care, they couldn't do housekeeping tasks, because the government funding is only for the personal care.

[screams into the void]

Oh yes, and after getting the laundry off the clothesline, I saw that there were some blue black splotches all over the nightie. Some on my stuff as well, but the nightie had been Ground Zero for whatever birds had been eating berries in the tree above and dropped them. And yes, they were berries and not the other thing they tend to let fall. Repeat nightie wash in sink with the stain removal stuff. More riding back and forth.

I hear myself lecturing M on sanitation and the need to launder things and wonder what has happened to my life! I tell you this much, it may not be full time, but I don't think I could do the job I had with all this going on. They didn't like people doing phone calls in the office as it was, and it was nowhere near as intensive as now. And I certainly couldn't do the drop whatever and ride over there, which I have to do a lot because M isn't great at explaining anything on the phone.

So Wednesday, today, was just riding over to rescue the meals before they defrosted. Somebody had put them at M's door but she hadn't heard. And despite what I was told, someone had taken the sheets out and hung them up, which would have taken all of five minutes. So common sense may have prevailed there, and not mentioning it to home office. I did a few tidy up tasks and that was basically it. M did remember having the flu jab, which was good.

Tomorrow I don't know yet, but the hairdresser visits on Thursdays and Fridays, so M's going to let me know if she decides to go. They're really good there; somebody will get M home if I get her down there, if I'm not able to hang around.

I've been getting some reading done - more library books from two libraries - and a bit of writing when I'm not being distracted. I abhor AI for anything creative, but I did try it out to make a list for me of what a doomsday prepper should take if he was put into a retirement home! It banged out a long list so fast you would think it got asked this frequently. That, I think I will find useful, though I need to adapt the list for Australian purposes.  I've got a scene where Trump is zombified; might post that here if folks are interested? I don't know if I'll keep it, it was mostly for my own amusement. Probably if the thing ever gets to publication, I will need to feature an imaginary President. But you'll know who I really had in mind.

There are just over two weeks till Swancon.

Comments

[aozora_in_exile]

It sounds very very uneasy. 🫂

[rattfan]

It's not that bad, just that I need to get everything coordinated and remember who needs to know what. And think of workarounds needed because I'm dealing with somebody who can't remember what happens around them.

[chaosmanor]

Yep. I have a carer for 3 hours a week, but only for *outside the house*. All he can do inside the house is help me get my bag and walker organised, and get out the door. Outside the house? Anything. Would I like to take my dog for a walk? Potter in the garden? Do food shopping? Have coffee? Go to medical appointments? Go to an art gallery? Go to a pool and do my physio exercises? All of that and much more, he is funded for. Nothing inside the home.

And I have a kitchen helper, 2 hours a fortnight. But she is only paid to help if I also participate. No lolling on the couch while she cooks. I have to be engaged and active. So, I buy the food and plan what we're cooking, and then sit on a stool at the bench and whack away at chopping veg to the best of my abilities, while she competently turns what I cut up into actual meals for my freezer.

The restrictions are kind of hilarious.

Thank you for the reminder of how close Swancon is. I should, uh, make plans. Prepare.

[rattfan]

The community care people explain it all by saying "the government organised it" and that really is all you need to know, isn't it? I get the impression they think if they could set it out as they want, it would make a lot more sense. It's nuts. There's money left over, so why the f..k can't more of it be used for the meals orders?

So if your guy can only help with outside gardening, that would be no watering the houseplants? [Facepalm].

See you at Swancon.

[mific]

Ha! re the orange menace. Would we be able to tell if he was a Z?

Oh, and yes, defs want to read that bit if you feel like posting it!

[ganimede]

You're lucky that M actually has her flu jabs. My mum flat out refuses any. It infuriates me no end. A lot of caring is behind the scenes stuff, making phone calls and organising things, which generally takes twice as long as any in-person caring stuff.

Getting reading and writing done is good though! I've been doing a lot of them both too. I think I've just got a couple of chapters left to write on my current novel-in-progress which I'm completely amazed and excited by. I've been managing about 1000 words a day so far this month so if I keep that up, I might be able to get it finished by the end of the month. I hate AI for creative stuff too. I did find out that there's an AI image creator on Bing so I tried it to make a cover for the current novel. It actually came out with a really good one, I was seriously impressed.