Friday, August 21, 2009

ELEVEN DAYS

Tests, papers to sign, papers to find, taxis,(lovely driver who recognised stress especially after I hit my head on the plastic safety bubble not once but twice) buses,(lovely driver who insisted on parking just up from the stop so I could step down easily on the curb) walking, stress and more stress.

But today, in all that freezing wind and rain, with a list of nursing homes to visit, we got lucky with our first choice. I had to go to Bonbeach to see a home there so I decided to get in a visit to the one in Mentone to put her name on the waiting list.

We particularly wanted this place as the nursing staff has a beaut reputation and Mum's lived in this area for nearly 60 years. So before I sat down the director said they'd had a cancellation and would we like the bed.

Okay it's a four bed ward but large and Mum's bed is right next to a floor to ceiling window and sliding door which looks out onto a small patio but huge garden with birds everywhere. She can see the street and any passerby.

I rang my sister who was there in a flash, took one look at the window and said we'll take it.

This was at 11 a.m. and Mother moved in at 5 p.m. There'll be a few tears tonight but in a week she'll be right. Her nurse tonight has the same doctor in Hampton. The lady across the way, although completely out of it, lived two streets away in the early days. The home itself is in Brindisi Street, the first street she walked with my father to see his family.

Not everything is done yet. There is a special place in Hell for writers of Centrelink booklets. I'm still trying to get that done and posted. Everybody has said, post do not hand in, they lose it as a matter of course. Tomorrow instead of nightdresses, I have to go over and pick out clothes and label every one.

I've had two visits today and not once did I see a miserable face on a nurse. The home is surrounded by gardens and lawns, bricked pathways for walkers and wheelchairs. I'm relieved but so tired I'm off to bed with a couple of painkillers for my spine and knees, lotion for the stress rash on both legs and dreams not nightmares for a change.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds nice. Isn't a nursing home getting a cancellation a rather loaded phrase.

Jayne said...

Thank goodness!
It's a huge weight off your shoulders and getting lucky with a good one like that means there was an angel watching over your shoulder.

iODyne said...

Tell her it's Sanctuary Cove Resort.
I am so pleased you don't have to be a Housekeeper any more.
Try to visit only once per week, and start looking after yourself.
A Toast to your good health!

Mindy said...

All that karma you built up has paid off. I hope the Centrelink stuff is as easy.

River said...

This is fantastic news. A home for your mum in an area that she's known for years. A bed with a great view, nurses who smile, your mum's very lucky. And what a relief for you too, to have her taken care of, relieving you and your sister from the stress of the last few years.

phil said...

I toast you also. Sounds like you got lucky with the home, it can happen.

All the best

Phil

Maria said...

Good on you. And the best of luck with it ... it sounds like a winner for everyone, happy mum, less work for you.

Shelley said...

I'm glad something's finally going your way.* Hope you have some nice chocolate to go with those painkillers.







* touching wood, touching wood

JahTeh said...

Cameraface, you are awful but no she didn't hop into a deadee bed. It was reserved for a lady who decided to remain in her own neighbourhood and she got a bed straight away.

Jayne, never mind watching, the angels were carrying me. I saw the Lonsdale protest but couldn't see a fat blind chick yelling loudly.

MS, She's actually happy and warm and not too keen on the dining room where an old chap in a wheel chair chatted her up at lunch. Her walking has deteriorated but the physio will help next week.

Mindy, Honestly if I ever get a straight answer from Centrelink I'll probably faint. All I want to know is if I pay the nursing home from Mum's pension or they do and I'm getting no joy from all the booklets they've given me.

River, it's really lovely. My sister checked it out thoroughly this afternoon and pronounced it spotless and she's a nurse. Mum couldn't place where it was at first but once she had it fixed in her mind and she remembered the shopping centre and the playground where she used to take the boys, she was happy.

Phil, I'm still floating four feet above ground. To go from home to hospital to nursing home of first choice in eleven days is right up there on the miracle list.

Maria, She's already had a Samoan nurse and a Malaysian nurse which is good because she's interested in their background and she's having conversations which is stimulating her mind already.

JahTeh said...

Damn it Nails, not a piece in the entire house but there's always Kath Lockett's trick of eating the milo by the spoonful

Helen said...

So happy for you JT.
Here's to you and all the things you'll have time to do (after a period relaxing and doing ABSOLUTELY F>A., I do hope! :-) except sitting in a deckchair and drinking Margairitas!

With the descriptions of your Mum's health issues, I'm amazed she kept going in her own place as long as she did. The human body (and spirit) is an amazing thing.

LOL@ Marshall-Stacks.

R.H. said...

I can't open Milo without spooning some of it into my gob. I've got a formula: six spoons for me, five for the cup.

Shelley said...

Doesn't everyone eat Milo?

hazelblackberry said...

Anyone who doesn't eat Milo isn't worth knowing. Like those freaks who describe themselves as chocoholics while nibbling daintily on a solitary square of Cadbury.

Jah Teh, well done.

Lord Sedgwick said...

Now the only thing to upset this apparent fine resolution is if I were to find out the location of this place and also book my mad misery guts mother in.

Maybe the two of them might have a merciful (for us offspring) fight to to the death over the jam scones, the weak milk tea and first dibs on the Bingo crayon.

JahTeh said...

Helen, I can't believe the woman went around with a rotator cuff injury and didn't notice even with the amount of morphine she was on. It wasn't a new injury either. She also has early onset dementia but the main problem is the two arthritis conditions which are progressing rapidly.

Robbbert, you should be the size of a small house doing that.

Nails, If you want to know why I don't lose weight with my lo-carb protein diet drink, it tastes revolting so I put Milo in it. I am a lost cause.

HB, I don't believe those people, nobody can eat just one tiny square of chocolate. I mean I can do that but it's one square every 30 seconds.

Sedgwick you find your own oasis of sanity, this one's all mine. It's so lovely I'm thinking of putting my name down now, in case my sister can't be bothered and just goes with the weed killer in the g&t.

R.H. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
R.H. said...

Good heavens, that was me, RH, commenting on wrong thread (I wanted the one above). And you know what that means: OFF TOPIC!

Disgraceful.

-ROBBERT!!!!!!

JahTeh said...

Dear Robbert, I read that as "off tropic" and I thought, the swine's
gone on holidays in the sun.

hazelblackberry said...

One square every 30 seconds? Amateur.

Middle Child said...

This has to be a bit of a turning point for you - I'll just bet she is as sweet as sweet to them all