Tuesday 3rd April

My poor dad is very uncomfortable with pressure sores... I don't know what to do about them - if anybody knows a miracle cure please post it here.

When the nurse comes to dress his wound, the smell of it is horrendous. Much worse than when he's soiled his pad. The amount of gunge and blood on the dressing is awful... we always "help" the nurse with this, which basically involves just holding dad over and reassuring him as he can get quite distressed and uncomfortable when this is going on. It hurts him when the old dressing is peeled off - this sticks on with adhesive, onto already sore skin.

I did my blood sugar today! I found my Dad's testing kit (he isn't bothering to check his BS now as in the grand scheme of things it isn't worth it - his BS had been well under control anyway). So I asked him if I could check my BS and he said yes. It was 4.9 - that was about 2.5 hours after breakfast. I did my sisters this afternoon and it was 7 - but she did confess to having eaten two Hob Nob biscuits half an hour earlier. My mum was chicken and wouldn't have hers checked.

We have to put a concrete base down before we can buy the shed. I am leaving Roy to organise it all, so it should be done sometime in Summer (2009!).

I have no plans for Easter. I'll go home on Thursday night (all being well) and come back on Saturday - my sister has invited Roy and I to dinner at her house. Sunday/Monday we'll be around to help at mums (give my sis a bit of free time with her family) and then we'll go home Monday night.

I'm going to see a very old workmate of mine tomorrow night - she lives about a 20 minute drive from my parents and I haven't seen her for ages. She and I started work (our first jobs) on the same day and we've been good friends ever since. I'm looking forward to a good natter.

I stay at my sister's mother in law's house! It's about a mile from my parents... and takes under 5 mins in the car. I usually get there about 10.30-11pm, have a quick chat with my sis's MIL (who is a lovely lady who was a Nursing Sister up until 5 years ago) and then go to bed. She insists on me having breakfast after my shower every morning and then I get to my parents house about 8.- 8.30am. It's working quite well (but I miss being in my own bed!!!). However, not so much that I'll drive the 140 mile round trip every day.

Email to Mark:
Hi.. sorry about this afternoon - after me saying that things were "steady" with my dad it all got a bit hectic and my mum and sister were running in and out while we were speaking so I thought I should go and do my bit!! We'll try again next week!

Anyway - saw this and thought of you! Actually I rolled my eyes and thought - "here we go again".
http://www.mortgagesolutions-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=439997

The Reiki man who came today said he used to run his own business turning over £60m pa and now he is part time Reiki man/medium, and part time Children's care home worker - quite a career change. It's got me thinking - I could do something totally different.... not sure about being a full time carer though - they are paid just above the minimum wage, it's disgraceful!!

Comment added in May:
This morning, when I was in with Dad doing tablets etc, he said to me "I nearly got away last night". I asked him what happened. "Somebody came for me. Joan Fearon came". I asked what had happened. "She took hold of my hand and said 'come on Keith, lets get out of here'". But you didn't go, I said. "No". He sounded disappointed. Never mind Dad, must have been nice to see Joan, anyway? "Oh yes - I can't think of anybody better to take me when the time comes". I had to agree... I told him that it must have just been like a dummy run!

So later that day, Richard the Reiki man came. He's a volunteer who we got in touch with via Macmillan. He also is a medium and offered dad Reiki plus medium service. Dad said he'd give it a go (which I found odd as he's never been remotely interested in that sort of thing). Anyway, Richard said he had Dad's mum and brother with him. And gave some "proof" that it was his brother. He said they were with him a lot, and would be there for him when he passed, to ensure a smooth crossing. He explained to Dad what happened when you pass over. He then said that Dad's mum wanted to know why he couldn't swallow his cereals... even though they were mushy. She told him to try manuka honey (BINGO - this got me trawling the net for manuka honey as a treatment for bed sores!) as it might help the porridge go down better. He also told mum that her mother was with her and said she wasn't to be so hard on herself about Dad's care, as she was doing a great job, and all that she could. This was a bit spooky as mum had been upset earlier in the day for not hearing dad call her in the night (another funny tale - when she finally woke up and went into him, he said indignantly "It's a good job I wasn't really ill then, or I'd have been dead by the time you came in"!!).

After Richard had gone I had a chat to dad about him. He'd been a bit poorly today and didn't seem fully aware of what was going on (with the medium stuff) but he did say that Richard told him his mum and Uncle Bob would be there to take him. "Hmmf, they're a bit late - Joan Fearon's already been". He is so funny... I'm not sure that he always means to be! I did say that I told him Joan's visit was probably a dress rehearsal.

Joan was my mum's dearest friend - she lived in LA and died 2 years ago. Mum and Dad spent 6 weeks with her in LA about 7 years ago, and Dad was very fond of Joan.