2 October 2012
Big row with mum, again, about her sewing machine and her
wanting to buy another second hand one
4 October 2012
Another big row with mum, again about her sewing machine and
her wanting to buy another second hand one.
5 October 2012
Mum went to the Hospice Care Day Centre today. She’d
obviously given them her spiel about being a tayloress for M&S because she
came back with a pair of trousers belonging to one of the male nurses. They
were slightly too long in the leg and mum offered to take the hems up.
6 October 2012
I earned myself massive brownie points today by taking mum
into Exeter to but a new sewing machine. However her 75 years experience as a
machinist is of no value. These days you need a degree in Computer Science to
operate a sewing machine. They all looked like the flight deck of a fighter
jet. Even the simplest machine was computer aided with a mini screen. The man
in the shop tried to show mum how it worked, but you can't teach an old dog new
tricks. Eventually he gave up and dusted down an older machine from his
storeroom with no micro chips or computer screen. Mum immediately fell in love
with it and wanted to buy it on the spot. However, I insisted that she try to
use it before buying it. (I didn't have to want to take it back.) So I left her
with the sewing machine and wandered round the shop when a man, rushing into
the shop, came up to me and asked “Can you do instant repairs?”
Me: Yes
Man: I'm going on a sponsored cycle ride in an hour
and I want this badge sewn onto my jacket. Can you do it?
Me: Yes, follow me, sir.
Me: Mother, sew this badge on this man's jacket.
Real Proprietor: We only do sewing jobs on Mondays
and Tuesdays.
Me: He needs it done now and my mother needs the
practice.
Man: How much do I own you?
Me: Your ride is for charity? We'll do it for free.
Me: Mother, give the man back his £10. It's all for
charity.
Anyway, the proprietor was so impressed with mum’s handiwork
that he took photographs to put on his website!
(However, I suspect that the male nurse at Hospice Care will
be less impressed by mum’s handiwork. Instead of taking the hem up, she cut off
the right trouser leg at the knee. I knew she’d come a cropper one day using
that dodgy tape measure that has two inches missing in the middle and an inch
off each end.)
Mum was enthralled by the new sewing machine and bought it.
10 October 2012
Discovered that mum is not washing herself properly.
Apparently, she’s not had a bath or a shower for months. Because of her
arthritis she is finding it difficult to get in and out of the bath. I phoned
Social Services and explained the situation. They promised to send mum a bath
aid,
13 October 2012
Apparently if you have a disabled badge for the car, you are
supposed to let the issuing authority know when you move. Mum’s badge is 5 moves
out of date and was issued in Scotland. Filled in a new application form and
took her to have her to get a photo ID.
15 October 2012
Today, mum phoned me to say that her new bath seat has
arrived, would I go over, unpack and fit it. When I arrived I was disappointed
to discover that it wasn’t a bath board but a chair that goes under a shower.
Mum’s shower is in the bath. Mum didn’t want to cause a fuss (a first) and wanted
to keep it. So I placed the shower chair in the bath.
Discovered that mum had dropped a full glass bottle of milk
on her foot early today. It was very bruised, very swollen and very painful, so
I took her to the cottage hospital. My own doctor, Tom, was on duty; so whilst
she was there, I got him to give her the once over re “gruesome” bumps on
thighs, “gruesome” hips and “gruesome” back pain. I told Tom that mum wasn't
taking any of her painkillers nor using her morphine patches. Tom gave her a
good talking to, which I expect she'll ignore.
19 October 2012
Mum is still unable to wash in the bath. The shower chair in
the bath wobbles and doesn’t swivel. She can’t get her legs over the rim of the
bath to sit in the chair. She needs a bath board that she can sit on and then
swing her legs round. I phoned Social Services to complain that they had sent
the wrong item and they agreed to send a bath board.
25 October 2012
Mother phoned me. The sucking machine for her tracheotomy is
not working. Mum told me that the nurse was too busy to come and so mum wants me
to go out and buy a new one. I told her it’s not her responsibility to buy a
sucking machine. And anyway, where do you buy sucking machines from? A plumbing
shop? Her doctor is responsible for having her current machine serviced. I
phoned the doctors’ surgery to complain that the nurse had not come to mum’s
aid; she needs the sucking machine otherwise she will drown in her own phlegm.
An hour later mum’s Home phoned me to say that the nurse had been and was very,
very angry for wasting her time. The reason mum’s sucking machine didn’t work was
because mum hadn’t switched it on at the electric socket!
27 October 2012
Mum has decided that she wants to dress dolls in christening
gowns and has canvassed custom from local charity shops. They supply dolls. She
dresses them. They sell them at a profit.
29 October 2012
Went over to mum’s – she is still having difficulty washing
herself and she complained again about the wobbly shower chair in the bath. I
phoned Social Services and complained that they still hadn’t delivered the bath
board for mum. I was astounded when the Social Services told me that they had
taken a bath board to mum and that she’d refused to accept it saying that she
wasn’t so old that she needed help. I asked them to come back with a bath
board. Mum of course denied that Social Services had been to visit with a bath
board.
In the middle of a heated discussion about her memory (she
keeps forgetting to use the memory white-board I’d bought her), an old lady
from a Charity Shop arrived with a doll dressed in a christening gown.
Apparently this was an example of what mum should try to do. This was a red rag
to a bull. Mum doesn’t need to be given examples of how to dress a doll in a
christening gown. She’s been sewing for nearly 90 years and has made dresses
for M&S. Not only that, the christening gown on the doll was too long. No
one has christening gowns that long. The old lady explained that many “posh”
people do in fact use long christening gowns. “What do you mean, posh?” shouted
mother. “Are you saying that I am too common to dress dolls for you?” From that
point on there was no reasoning with her. Mother’s language, attitude and
behaviour demonstrated just how “common” my mother really is.
I tried to change the subject by telling the lady about the
trouble I was having with mother’s shower seat in the bath – how Social Services
had delivered a chair by mistake, how it wobbled, how it is too hard and too
uncomfortable for mother to sit on, that I was trying to get rid of it and how
mum hadn’t had a bath or a shower in months. At which point the old lady said, “That didn’t
come from Social Services, your mother phoned me and asked me to get it for her.” Oops.
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