There is no Tuesday TV this week 🙁

Mum has been a bit wobbly so we thought maybe Tesco wasn’t a good idea – I went on my own instead, and while it took a lot less time than usual, it did lack some of the…shall we say…’excitement’ of the usual Tuesday Tesco Trip.

When I arrived at their house with the shopping I was really surprised that Mum noticed I was wearing a new scarf and asked if I’d made it.  It was and I had.  This felt like progress.  Mum is a week into her epilepsy medication and I wondered if somehow it was making things better for her.  That was short lived though…

I took Mum out to see her sister who lives about 30 minutes away.  Mindful of what the doctor said about it being easier for mum to initiate conversations rather than answer questions I was mostly quiet.  Mum did try to talk but had no recall of any names, places or in fact most words. But when we got to my aunts she took on the role of bossy sister deciding they should sit in the conservatory rather than the lounge and making sure her sister was comfortable.  I made coffee, popped the cakes I’d bought on a table and went to see if some lovely friends nearby were in (They weren’t, but I thought having some time without me or my cousin listening in would be good for Mum and her sister so I sat in the car and did some emails).  I have no idea how those 45 minutes went for them – my aunt has alzheimer’s and problems hearing and Mum…well, you know Mum.  They both told me they’s had a lovely time though, so I’ll go with that.

On the way home Mum told me in detail how my cousin has been growing things in her green house.  ‘Tomatoes?’  I asked

‘No…more interesting that that’ said Mum.

I assumed my Aunt had been telling her about this as it’s a topic they are all keen on.

‘Can you remember what she’d been growing?’

‘She wasn’t there very long actually, so I didn’t get the chance to ask her in too much detail’ Mum told me incredibly convincingly.

My cousin hadn’t been there – she is on holiday at the moment…

‘Oh well, you can ask her next time’ seemed to be the only response.

When we got back Mum showed me her knitting.  She wanted to make herself something to wear a few months back so I worked out a very basic paper pattern, but it got too much, so I suggested she go back to the Tuesday blanket as she can knit as big or as small as she likes and if it goes wrong can throw that square away rather than undoing it and leaving Dad to untangle and re wind the wool – something that was starting to test his patience!).

She’d done some great knitting in the last week but it had a big hole – too big for me to fix – so I undid it back to that point, popped it back on the needles and suggested she cast off.  Only it turns out the ability to do that has slipped into the abyss now, and she got very cross that I wouldn’t do it for her (I can’t knit, but suspect I may be learning how to cast off courtesy of You Tube very soon…).

There was so much frustration around between the lack of words and the lack of knitting skills that videoing didn’t even cross my mind.  Mum was not happy with me (because I didn’t finish the knitting maybe?) that she didn’t wave me off like usual – she just stayed sitting on the sofa.

But maybe it is the tablets.  Maybe when they are at the right level things will even out again. But she *did* notice my scarf 🙂