I went away last week. I went to Cornwall.  It was…well, actually it was really, really windy and mostly very wet.  We even had two named storms while we were there.  But it was still stunning, as Cornwall is.

We went because Mr R was running a race.  Along the Cliff path.  For 50 miles.  Partly in the dark.  He won his age category, because he is a very fast weirdo.

We worked most of the rest of the time but we did also fit in the windiest walk I think I have ever been on.

And while we were there things got tricky with Mum and there was much messaging and collating of information and discussing and we’ve changed things up a bit.  Now Mum has one of me, Sister 1 and Sister 2 for a whole day every week. This includes outings and caring stuff and, well, a week in Mum seems to be having the time of her life.

Since my last post Mum also had her official diagnosis – Advanced mixed dementia (Alzheimers and vascular).  The doctor said the rest of her health issues make her too frail for any medication, and at this point it doesn’t make sense anyway.  I’m trying very hard not to be frustrated that had the assessment come though when I requested it (last July), we might have something more to show for it than a care plan that essentially says ‘it’s too late now’.  At least we can now understand why it’s progressed so fast – mixed dementia apparently moves faster than just one type.

So this week, after washing Mum and the now regular conversation of how many pants is the optimum number to wear at any one time, we picked out what else to wear.  I suggested the jumper she got for Christmas.  She said that was only for special occasions.  She didn’t realise it was Christmas at Christmas so saving it seemed more than a bit daft…so I pointed out that there was very little that is more special than having a Pog for a day and that seemed like the perfect reason to wear it.  And she agreed 😁

So correctly dressed we went on an outing, the highlight of which was wondering around a shoe shop when Mum shouted ‘Oh!’ then got the giggles.  She’d turned to face a mirror and told me she thought ‘there was a little old lady coming towards her’…then realised it was her reflection and couldn’t stop giggling.  Which got the shop assistants and other customers giggling too.  Between that and a few other incidents it was obviously all a bit much and when we got home she sat on the sofa and fell asleep, while I did the planned cooking and chatted to Dad.  We covered topics including the wingspan of buzzards and the bite of one of his Dads Boa Constrictors (because actually had three Boas and a selection of others too…). It’s like chatting to Google about nature, chatting to Dad.  Happily it was later reported that Mum and Dad thought the tomato, lime and coriander salsa was very fancy, but apparently Mum liked it a lot, and the chilli went down a treat with them both.

So all in all it was a good Tuesday.

🙂