Mum and I got up this morning and decided we'd ring the wig supplier in Blackpool and see if we could get an appointment to try some new wigs. Mums NHS prescription will only allow her to have certain wigs and it doesn't include monofilament. We've also found out that while some hospitals will allow you to put your prescription towards a more expensive wig and pay the difference Blackburn doesn't allow this (another post code lottery) so I said I would treat mum to whatever wig she wanted and not to consider the prescription thing.
We got an appointment for two o'clock and set off to Blackpool just before 1pm. The girl in the shop was lovely and couldn't do enough for mum. She tried on wig after wig and eventually we chose two that we liked but one was in the wrong colour and so it was hard to judge. The girl is going to order the right colour on Monday and then we'll go back over when it comes in to make the decision. The monofilament wigs are a lot more expensive but I must admit I was amazed at how much more realistic they are. It is still a synthetic wig but because of the way it's hand tied on the top if you look through it it actually looks like mums scalp and you would never know it's not her own hair. Both of the wigs will need trimming as they seem to all have quite heavy fringes which mum doesn't like but the girl will do that for us when we make our choice.
When we came out of the shop mum asked the girl if there was a 'wee pub' close by where we could get something to eat. She pointed us in the direction of a place called Gwilligans and we had a lovely meal and a 'wee lager'! The weather hadn't been great when we got there but the sun came out when we left the pub and we strolled back to the car in glorious sunshine. When I say strolled I strolled mum was in her wheelchair. I told her she'll have to lay off the french fancies as she is getting heavier to push!
The use of the wheelchair was the only indication that mum still isn't 100% but she's still here and doing well so, hopefully, her legs will get stronger as time passes. I think she's nervous more than anything. Sometimes she has a wee stagger. In fact she did it this morning before we went out and I think that's why she used her chair. I asked her today if when she staggered she felt dizzy or whether her legs just felt weak and she said it's her legs. I must admit it worries me and I feel a sense of panic each time it happens. When she was on the slow release morphine she was often unsteady but this was accompanied by confusion. She doesn't have the confusion now and is no longer taking the MST, however, she has taken the odd 5ml of oramorph to deal with the pain in her mouth so maybe it's that? Could it be to do with the low sodium? Anyway, as usual, I'm being a panic merchant and have drifted from my original point which was that we have really had a nice day and that's a blessing as in November last year there seemed little chance that she'd be with me now.
