Mum back to her usual self

Today I went up to the nursing home to see mum, who had been taken back there from the hospital on Monday evening. The residents were singing Christmas carols as I made my way into the building and I could hear them from where I waited for the elevator to take me upstairs to the first floor. I found mum in the dining room in a large wheeled chair and I took her back to her room.

I tried to contact my brother on the iPad but when he answered he said he was having computer problems so I signed off and got mum ready to go outside to the park. We went out of the building and across the road. Up on the grass mum as usual pushed her walker through the rough patches and along toward the benches set up around the oval.

We sat on the second bench. I had asked mum if she wanted to go to the closest bench or to the second bench because she was vocalising as she walked, indicating that she was having some difficulty. "I'll go to the second one," she said. So we did. Once we had sat down on the bench we talked about her recent sojourn in the hospital, which she did remember although a bit hazily. I told her what she had said about the nursing home while she was in the hospital. She seemed surprised that she had been so definite and negative about the place. "But you did say it," I impressed upon her. "Well it's not the sort of place you'd want to go for a holiday," she countered promptly. "But they do look after you and wash you and feed you," I offered. "Oh yes, that's true," she said.

We sat in the park for about 20 minutes and then found that the flies became a bit boisterous for our taste, so we made our way back inside. Mum picked up some small fallen branches as she walked, as she is wont to do in order to introduce some of nature into her residential environment.

Once back in mum's room I dialed my brother up because he had sent me a message telling me that his computer had stopped playing up. Mum and I sat in the corner of the room and talked with my brother for about 20 minutes until it became time to have lunch, at which time I escorted mum out to the dining room and made my way to the nurse's station to sign out. Mum's GP happened to be sitting in one of the chairs so we talked for 10 minutes or so about mum's progress.

During one of my telephone conversations on Tuesday I had been asked about mum's advance health directive, and the assistant manager, whom I was talking with, said that she wanted to go through it with me at some point in the future. I had seen this person when I arrived today but she didn't pursue the issue with me at that time. I will have to follow up on the matter with her next time I see her in the residence. I said goodbye to the doctor and got in my car for the drive back home.