Halloween

Well, I never!! It ain’t like it used to be, is it? We decorated the porch and it looked good. Trick or Treaters came and went, and lots of fun was had – until two-thirds of the way through the trick or treat hours, when some little blighters nicked all of the sweets!!

Daft old me had left the basket of sweets under the Halloween display in the porch. Clearly the thieves noted that and came back for a second helping – or two!! I had to turn some of the children who came later away. That is, until Andrew came home and went up to the shops to buy some more sweets so we were able to satisfy the last few who came a-knocking. But crikey! I wasn’t expecting that! A bit of nasty trick, don’t you think?

Meanwhile, indoors, John was generally resting in his chair, where he had been pretty much all day. He had got up and out of bed at six o’clock this morning, making his way to the loo, amid much moaning and groaning. Naturally, I heard the kerfuffle and went down to investigate. He had managed to make himself a cup of tea and get to the loo, but it was a bit of a struggle to get off it again. Good job I was there, eh?

Anyway, we made our way back to the lounge courtesy of the wheelchair, and drank our tea very companionably. We had a little bit of chit-chat, had our breakfast and then both sat quietly for a bit.

Harry, John’s chatty-man from MacMillan came and the gents sat down for a natter. However, I could see John wasn’t best, so suggested he tell Harry when he’d had enough. As it turned out, the Community Nurse turned up to sort John’s catheter out, so Harry went on his way. John had had enough after about three-quarters of an hour, anyway.

The nurse did a good job of tidying John up, but commented that the hospital had been ‘a bit naughty’ sending him home with the hospital catheter, as it was a trip hazard. Hm…..

The hospital had been busy yesterday when I collected John. He had five bags and a suitcase (heaven knows how that came about!), and was in his chair, waiting. “Can we have a wheelchair?” I’d asked. The nurse was non-committal. Basically, if you can find one, you can have one, go and look for yourself….. I went to the car and brought John’s own wheelchair instead. We sat him in it, and the nurse wrapped the tubes of John’s catheter round and round, so that they wouldn’t tangle in the wheels. “Erm…….can you change this hospital catheter for a home one?” I wondered. The nurse shook her head. “The District Nurses will come round and do that,” she replied. Oh. “Can someone help me take John down to the car?” I wanted to know, eyeing all the bags……. the nurse shook her head again. “We’re very short-staffed,” she answered, gesturing to the empty space where staff should be. Ah……. I made a couple of trips with the bags and then took John down. It wasn’t too bad, but we felt just a bit short-changed.

And it took a phone call to the Community Nurses to come and deal with John’s situation this morning. The nurses hadn’t planned to come and check on John until Thursday, so he would have been a bit at risk of tripping until then, wouldn’t he?

Anyway, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful, with a bit of nap this afternoon – who? Me? Hehe.

Take care everyone. God bless.