After dealing with mums commode and reminding her to keep her phone in her pocket, not to drop off of the step at the bottom of the stairs, not to go into the bathroom, to txt me when she had got up and had had her breakfast etc. etc. I set off for work. On arriving at work I felt sick at the thought that something might happen to mum whilst I was out. I went to see Colette, my boss, and promptly burst into tears when she asked me if I'd got everything sorted out. I was tempted to get back in the car and go home but knew it wasn't fair on the kids, so gave myself a good talking to.
5 minutes into my first lesson with my 6th formers my phone rang. I explained I would have to answer it as my mum was quite poorly. I answered by saying 'what's wrong, are you ok?' in a high pitched, panicky voice! My mum then said 'there's nothing wrong, why would there be anything wrong? You told me to let you know when I was up and had had my breakfast!' My stomach had been turning sommersaults when she rang as what I had asked her to do was text me. I told her this and she informed me she had tried that but just couldn't get it right. The best laid plans! Gave my 6th formers a laugh anyway!
Mum had a steady stream of visitors throughout the day. First the OT and physio arrived with a walking stick. They showed her how to use it and have decided she's better with that than the frame. She seems quite happy to use it. Then Christine, her lung cancer nurse, paid her a visit. Christine is an angel and had left me a long message on my voicemail detailing what she had discussed with mum and what mum had agreed would help her to feel safe and also put my mind at rest when I'm at work. Carers? - No don't need them! Hospice day centre - Nope, absolutely not! Red button alarm system - Yes!!!!!! Major breakthrough as that's what I felt would be best to maintain her independence and keep me from going out of my mind with worry when I'm out of the house. I've made contact with the people who operate the system in our area and they are ringing me back tomorrow to sort it out. Result!!!!
Finally her GP paid her a visit, the second since she was diagnosed last November. His receptionist had phoned last night to say he needed to see mum to discuss her latest bloods as her sodium was low. Mum tells me he came in, asked how she was doing, how much she drank in a day (4 cups of tea/coffee which he says is fine?!) and informed her that her sodium was low and he'd come back next week and see how she was. OK so why did he need to see her? What did he suggest she do to improve her sodium level? Nothing!
In the mean time Christine had told me that she had checked mums blood results on the system, the sodium was pretty low and that could be adding to her being unsteady and a little confused at times. She told me she was going to ring the GP to ask him to prescribe mum a tablet to help with this and that they would contact me when the prescription was ready. Tonight another GP from the practice phoned me to say Christine had requested he prescribe mum a tablet, he gave the name. He asked did I know it and was I ok for him to give it to mum? He went on to inform me that he didn't really know the drug, had looked it up in the book and was uncertain about the doseage. I pointed out that I was not a medical professional and that I relied on the Doctors to know what to give mum to improve her sodium levels. He told me the drug stopped the kidneys getting rid of too much salt. I said that sounded right to me as that should increase mums sodium levels but was there a problem with the drug that meant he was concerned about mum having it? He said 'no not a problem really just that we don't really use it in general practice, maybe the hospital are more used to using it and it might be a good idea for me to speak to Christine and check the doseage!' Funnily enough I agreed this was the best way forward as he wasn't exactly filling me with confidence. I'll speak to Christine tomorrow.
Anyway now that I've bored you all to tears with another long rant the upshot is mum remained safe throughout the day and we have moved forward in terms of sorting some things out to improve her safety. I managed to stay in work and really enjoyed the day. I must say I teach some lovely young people.
