Cruising to Care Home…

The last couple of months have been really hard to deal with in my personal life. My mum had a bad fall at the end of March which led to complications. She suffered a cardiac arrest and had too long without oxygen to the brain. Physically she has made a full recovery but her brain is damaged and she has suffered severe memory loss resulting in needing 24 hour care.

As a family myself, my brother Paul & my sister Janet have had to make some big decisions regarding mum’s future care as she can no longer live by herself as cannot do day to day tasks as forgets what she is doing so we cannot risk her putting the oven or iron on & then not remembering why.

It sort of goes hand in hand with looking for the perfect cruise holiday – everything has to tick all the boxes to ensure you have a great holiday – we need to find the right place that ticks all the boxes to take care of mum.

Luckily we have found somewhere which was high on our list and has a good reputation. We checked out various care homes in Bolton a few weeks ago which was an awful task to have to do, as I always said I would never put my parents in a home but due to the severity of mum’s condition we have no choice. Dad passed away 6 years ago so it’s just mum to look after now.

The hardest part for me was living in Coventry so I was 120 miles away. I have been up & down the M6 motorway more times lately than the the last 10 years. The beauty of working from home means I can take my work with me & work from my mum’s flat where I have been staying the last couple of times I have been here. I have great family & friends who put me up when it all happened but it is nice to have that freedom & not put on anyone.

So last week we received the call to say they had a bed & it all happened so fast. I took the weekend off and came up to Bolton a bit earlier than planned as I was coming up on the Sunday anyway to spend a week up here. Mum moved in on Friday and so far so good, she seems to have settled in OK but only time will tell. The staff are lovely & very caring which is what we need for mum but she does stick out like a sore thumb as doesn’t really belong there at her age, she is only 70 but I’m sure she will keep the staff on their toes.

I am feeling a bit more relaxed now she is out of hospital and we pray for a miracle that maybe some of her short term memory will return as we would love for her to be able to come back to her flat and enjoy the rest of her life with the friends she has made.

Staying at mum’s flat is like Piccadilly Circus – as all her neighbours keep calling round to see how she is – bless them. I have to put a note on the door not to ring the bell (as it’s so loud) so as not to be disturbed when working.

So it is now day 5 of mum being in her new home, I am staying in Bolton till the weekend so hopefully by then I will feel happy enough to go back home for a few weeks. It’s such a shame as she doesn’t remember when we’ve been to see her anyway but I just need to keep going as she is my mum and as hard as it is I love her. My daughter Kim is driving up from Coventry today to spend a few days with me & see her Grandma, I just hope mum knows who she is – fingers crossed.

Mum went on her 1st cruise last year & really enjoyed it and was hoping to go again this year with her friend as she missed our last one as she was poorly. It’s a shame she couldn’t live on a cruise rather than a care home – maybe that’s an idea!!

Had some great times with mum & maybe one day we can do these things again:-