Isolation Day 88

A startled start to this morning. The phone rang – it was Mandy, from Mum’s flats, to tell us that the District Nurse had been trying to see Mum for a blood test in the last couple of weeks. Apparently, the nurse had been round there twice, and was now on her third visit before anyone at the flats told her she was staying with us. I had told the doctor’s surgery, but obviously the message didn’t get through……

Anyway, the nurse said she’d come to us here, there and then. Mum was still in bed – wide awake, but looking bleak. Even bleaker when I told her the nurse was about to stab her with a needle. And even bleaker still, when the nurse couldn’t find any veins or any blood flowing through her arms after a couple of goes. “I’ll come back again, next week,” said the nurse. “Please make sure your Mum’s well hydrated.” I nodded – I’ll make sure she’s up, too – it was all a bit of a faff in Mum’s bedroom this morning.

The trauma over, we got on with the day. Mum did get up about an hour later and, to my great surprise, hasn’t mentioned anything at all about the stab wounds in her arms. I had been expecting a fair bit of flinching and pained expressions, to extract some sympathy, but no. She seems to have forgotten all about it.

John had an exciting day, for two reasons; firstly, he had to mend an outside light which had fused a whole pile of internal ones last night; and secondly, opening all the parcels that have arrived, full of goodies for his ‘project’.

Mending the light was a big challenge, and required drawing a wiring diagram (or two) to ensure the requisite earths and lives were in the right place and leading to the right switches. This light had given us problems before and we thought they’d been resolved, but clearly it was on the blink again. I suggested to John that he might like to ‘phone a friend’ to discuss the problem. He looked up from the drawing and said, witheringly, “Ah, that’d be no good. This is Sleath wiring.” Nuff said.

In the end, John was successful. He changed the whole outside lamp for a new one and, fingers crossed, everything seems to be working. That’ll be a relief to Mum (whose eyes are dim), having struggled for two nights just with a side lamp in her room, as the main bulb had gone; and then again last night, without the main light due to the fuse failure in that particular circuit.

The goodies for the car were spread out and pored over, and the ol’ man seemed pleased with them. Now they just have to be fitted. Well, it’ll keep him out of mischief for a few days.

My day, for what it was worth, had one or two highlights: a ‘path chat’, sewing a button on, ironing, falling asleep, and prepping food – another day of watching wood warp, really.

Linda dropped some ready meals in for my Mum and we had a nice little ‘path chat’ for a few minutes. The only trouble now, of course, is the traffic trundling by in front of our house. There’s a lot more of it and a distanced chat is sometimes drowned out. Our conversation was peppered with “Speak up! Pardon? What did you say? Oh, sorry I didn’t catch that.” Or just nodding benignly at each other and hoping for the best.

I hate sewing at the best of times, so I felt chuffed that I actually managed to sew a button on my cardigan today. The button has been missing for a long time, and I have often thought about replacing it. The thought became action today and now I have the full complement of buttons on my cardigan. Good for me.

After lunch and a spot of ironing, I sat down on the sofa for a few minutes’ rest. Fatal. I dozed off, resurfacing just before it was time to cook the evening meal. Crikey, I’d only just finished prepping lunch! Ah well – it is lock down after all……so why not, eh?

I was pleased for my single friends this week when they announced that they can form a ‘bubble’ with another family or friend. I have several acquaintances in this category, and honestly, the delight and excitement that shone through their messages has been truly uplifting. I do hope their ‘bubbles’ keep them going and lift their spirits for a good while to come. Hoping and praying that this next phase will be plainer sailing and easier for everyone.

And, for the record, 1,542 people were confirmed as infected with the virus as of yesterday at 5 p.m. with 202 deaths in all settings; and the NHS reported 10 deaths in the same period, with 48 having been confirmed for the day before.

If you are ‘bubbling’ now – enjoy. If you are not, keep on, keeping on. God bless.