Weeknote S09:E36
Theme — A lot
“Weeks are the four-on-the-floor kick-drum of eternity” Russell Davies
The last couple of weeks have been difficult. My Dad broke his hip outside in the rain and had to lay there for a couple of hours while we waited for the ambulance. He was in hospital for eight nights and then came home to their tiny bungalow.
We have dealt with:
- Denial “It’s just bruising, chuck me in the car and we’ll go home” — Refusal to let him get move, made him as comfortable as possible.
- Delirium “Someone claiming to be a nurse wants me to take some tablets” — Explaining all of the medication and that it is all basic stuff.
- Lack of sleep in the hospital due to noisy bay mates, alarms and 3am obs — Taking in ear plugs and noise cancelling headphones.
- “I don’t like water” so refusing to drink enough causing blood pressure drops — found some juice that he likes
- Lack of space in the bungalow making it difficult for him to manoeuvre the walker around when he needs the loo etc — move things around, took the door off the loo for now.
- Difficulty managing all of the medication he needs to take — Using a 7 day pill holder for a day to split out the tablets he needs to take into the various times.
- General crossness e.g. frustration at how long it takes to get through to the GP — “you don’t have to do that, I will do that.”
It has been a lot and I am very tired along with everyone else. He is doing better every day with moving and coping with the walker etc. However, he is not a patient man.
- Luckily we had just finished some life admin for them. We have applied for a Lasting Power of Attorney and they are still in progress. They have recently made wills. They have funeral plans. This all meant that we have recently had useful conversations about health, money and what their wishes are around health etc.
- I recommend starting these conversations as soon as you can.
On Wednesday I went to London to be at the launch of the Buckland Review of Autism Employment, a report by Rt Hon Sir Robert Buckland KBE KC MP. It was very interesting and the recommendations look great. Anne Collis of NeuDICE was quoted in the summary:
On Saturday I met Royd Brayshay who was in Dorset with his daughter who was sailing. We had a spot of lunch in the Lobster Pot at Portland Bill. It was great to catch up about all things NewRedo and Agile Yorkshire. I plan to offer another talk in the summer when up visiting.
If you are visiting Dorset and fancy a hot drink with a view let me know.
This Week
- As this weeknote is a little tardy, the updates are for this week rather than next. On Thursday 7th March I will be running a virtual session on the Liberating Structure, Troika Consulting Join us.
Have a great weekend
