At 9 minutes past nine last night the email came through with dad’s covid19 test result. Negative yay. We knew it would be negative but we needed the result to show the care home in Cardiff before they would take him in. He will be far better off somewhere with someone on call 24 x 7. He is 86 and has Parkinsons.
For us it has been an exhausting 6 weeks or so. Sleep patterns were back to the days of small children. Dad was in the room below us and I could hear every movement. The other night I thought I heard him call out my name but when I went down he was fast asleep. Last night the TV came on loudly at 2am. I had to go and negotiate the switching off.
It’s been a privilege having him here. He is after all my dad and if nothing else it is Christmas. However it has been tough going, even with carer’s coming in to help him get up in the morning and then to help him get ready for bed at night. Just taking him to watch sport in the shed was an expedition in itself. Too slippery for him to walk so it was a wheelchair job which entailed putting on coats and taking him out the front door, around the side of the house and across the lawn.
Dad is now quite excited at the prospect of going back to Cardiff. I told him the test result at 2am and he seemed happy with it. In fact when carer Jayne arrived we found that he was already up and dressed. Bear in mind it can take him over an hour to do this himself. Parkinsons has made him very weak.
The place he is going to has a hairdressing salon, a small cinema, bar and restaurant with chef. Also a chauffeur to take him on local trips. My sister Sue lives 8 minutes walk away (more like 3 hours walk if you are dad). It will give him some independence back which is somewhat ironic considering that people of his age see moving to a care home as losing their independence.
I have total respect for people who serve as full time carers for their parents, whatever their age. Also total sympathy. Their lives are not their own really. We have been fortunate in knowing that it was only for 6 weeks, or at least subject to the covid test results coming back in a timely manner (not) which certainly kept the pressure on. Had the result come back positive the cat would truly have been amongst the pigeons. Was an unlikely outcome mind you.
Dad is not the only one departing the Davies house today. I’m taking John back to his garret in Birmingham where he is at University. It’s another dash for independence. Away from the parental gaze. Half way through his final year. It’s been a crappy year for him. John is a DJ and had a blossoming paid gigging scene in Brum. Covid has stymied that. Once the sh!£$how is over he will rise again.
The whole family has been affected one way or another really. Just I’m sure like every other person in the UK. Hopefully getting the Christmas Holidays out of the way will let us focus on getting back to normality, however long that takes.
Mind you not everyone will have made it to 2021 and my thoughts are with them. It’s a private thing. You don’t need any names. I’m sure most of us know at least one covid casualty. No matter what you think of Bojo and his (pri)mates we do have to look after ourselves and our friends to get through this.
Just 2 days left of 2020 to endure. Stick with it 😉 In the meantime it’s a beer from the fridge in the kitchen and not from the pub. Ciao.
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Back from an afternoon trip to Brum to drop John off. A tedious drive with the various covid announcements on the radio – cranking up lockdown to more of the country. I found out about Lincolnshire when the Lincoln Golf Centre rang me to ask if I still needed the tee reservation for New Year’s Eve and explained we were now in Tier 4 so rules applied. I had to come clean and tell them they had the date wrong on their system and we had already played on Christmas Eve!
Anyways what I really wanted to talk about was the full moon visible when driving home. I first noticed it when driving around Leicster. It was very artistic with wisps of cloud covering parts of it so that you couldn’t see that it was a full circle. Then I approached a pedestrian bridge and a man walking his dog was perfectly silhouetted in front of the moon. I was very disappointed not to be able to take a photo. Even had I had someone with me in the car it probably wouldn’t have come out very well.
By the time I got back to Lincoln the moon was fully visible, the clouds having parted like celestial curtains. That’ all folks. I’m home now.