Helen is Here

Margaret was much the same for the rest of last week and her GP visited her on Thursday evening and phoned me to let me know that the fluid level in her lungs appeared to be receding but he would keep up the Frusimide/Lasix  until they were clear.  She is still on Oxygen.  She is definitely showing signs of a recent stroke and leans to her right when sitting in her chair and dribbles from the right side of her mouth when drinking or eating.  The GP doesn't think that there is any point in her having a CT scan to determine the extent of the stroke as she is still a high risk candidate for a heart Attack and/or complete Renal Failure.

I visit everyday now for a couple of hours and on Saturday I took in Louis.  She loves him visiting and after his first excitement at seeing her he settles down and accepts pats from everybody.  Margaret was very exited about Helen's visit and it took some time to explain that it would be about 11.00am on Sunday before she would be there.

I drove down to Brisbane Airport early on Sunday morning to meet Helen's 8.00 am flight and drove her straight to the Nursing Centre, sort of!  Noosa had its annual Triathlon which has 8,000 competitors.  This meant that I had to take a 25 km detour to avoid the closed roads but we got there just before 11.00 am.  Helen went in on her own and received a great welcome from Margaret.  Helen is now the best daughter in the world which is a change as during her last visit she was the worst!  We spent several hours with Margaret before taking Helen home to unpack and eat.

Helen visited mid-morning on Monday and had lunch with Margaret in her room.  I dropped in after lunch and stayed with them for a couple of hours. Helen was a little taken aback by Margaret's physical deterioration but amazed by her improved mental condition.  She still has dementia but is living in the here and now and not hallucinating.  She has difficulty in talking but what she say is sensible and either reacting to real time events or asking sensible questions.  She is also in a very loving mode.

While there Helen arranged to get a present from Margaret to me for my birthday on Tuesday and prepare for the Birthday/Melbourne Cup party planned for next day.

On Tuesday Helen went shopping and I cut up the meat and cheese etc for the party.  We visited at about noon and set up Margaret room.  We arranged tables around her chair and Louis sat as close as he could.  I think the regular tit bits from Margaret helped.  Margaret and Helen had a bottle of Champagne and I drank non-alcoholic diet ginger ale while we had various meats, cheeses, pates tomato and cucumber on cracker biscuits.  At 2.00 pm we watched the big race on Margaret's TV and wouldn't you believe it a French horse won.  Fortunately we hadn't placed any bets but enjoyed looking at the horses and fashions on display.  I left at 2.30 pm taking home the debris and Helen stayed until 5.00 pm. 

It was a nice little party and some of the carers dropped by for a biscuit and pate.  They were involved in the big Melbourne Cup Party in the main dining room where most of the mobile residents enjoyed a special lunch followed by the race on TV.  The tables were set up in a racing theme and the ladies all had hats and dressed up for the occasion. It was a lot of work but I think the residents liked it.


Today things will be back to normal and we shall visit later today.