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settling back into routine, not yet.


swilkinson

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It would be good to say I have settled back into the routine again but so far the routine has been missing as a framework to our lives. There was no Scallywags this week, the birthday party for our grandson that we had hurried home for didn't happen and today it is cold and windy and I guess the weeding of the garden will have to wait.

 

I did my chat hosting Wednesday morning (Tuesday night Caregiver chat) and it was good to catch up with a few people who are regulars on chat as well as a few people I hadn't chatted to for a while. I find chat is a bit like the talking we do to friends on the phone, it doesn't stick to a topic but wanders from one point to another. In one way this is good as it means there is a variety of things to talk about, in another it is not so good as it doesn't really act as a support. I guess there is more support in the replies to blogs than in chat sometimes, other times there is a lot of support there.

 

Thursday was doctor's appointment, Ray had to have some scripts and we need to go to the doc about three monthly for those. He remarked that Ray seems to have lost weight again. Ray has a problem with appetite. He ate about as much as our four year old grand daughter did while we were away, nowhere near what I would call a "man size" portion. I know this is partly because he is not active so does not burn off energy and get an appetite from that. I "sneak" in extra foods, like making him milkshakes or putting fruit and yoghurt on his breakfast cereal but he never seems to put any weight back on. Still I think on the whole he is pretty healthy so it is not a big problem.

 

We went out with friends for lunch on Thursday. This was in place of our regular get-togethers with our old church friends, half of them only want to met occassionally now so just half a dozen of us got together. It was nice to sit and eat and talk and laugh a bit. I miss those casual friendship days now, they rarely happen in our day-to-day life. Ray is fine if I give him a half size portion and cut it up pretty small. He sits and smiles and doesn't talk a lot but as four of the women were really vocal I don't think his contribution was missed....lol.

 

We went to the shops both Wednesday and Thursday afternoons for a couple of hours each time. This was because I wanted to look as well as to shop so we did half the shopping centre each time. I hadn't done much shopping the week before I went away so a lot of the staple foods needed to be bought. I work on a budget so am always pleased with good buys. We have a large freezer so I can stockpile what is cheap among the frozen items too, so if it is beef mince on special this week into the freezer it goes and is eaten in the weeks to come. So today we ate the pumpkin soup I made in the weeks before we went away, one serving down, seven still in the freezer!

 

Friday there was no Scallywags so I just had three hours off. One hour I spent with my mother, two I spent at Dementia Support catching up on what is happening with other caregivers. I also talked about how we managed while we were away as that helps others who are not confident enough to take the person they care for away on vacation. I came back and picked up Ray and we went out to lunch. I thought I'd better do something special for him, I know he loves Scallywags and was looking forward to going. Next week he will hopefully meet up with his friends there again. He and I shared a seafood platter, he likes to share as he can be in control of how much I put on his plate. We have both always liked seafood and although the place we were eating out at is in the economically priced end of the market the food is always well prepared and highly edible there. So we both enjoyed it.

 

Saturday was supposed to be a birthday party for Alex but Steve had to take over the weekend on-call as the person who was supposed to do it was sick. The funeral directors are very busy, being winter, and short-handed for several reasons. Luckily Alex at two years of age won't be aware of anything unusual and will get to have special food next weekend with a little luck. As all the Dads here know sometimes when the boss says you work you have to work despite the other plans you may have had for the weekend. So we just filled in the day. There is always housework and laundry to do eh?

 

Today it is cold, with a blustery wind blowing. Not too many at church as wisely the oldies don't come out on days like today. After lunch I attempted some gardening but it was too windy. So there is reading and beading and playing on the computer. Ray is snuggled in his bed with an old bedcover over him he prizes as his winter warmer for nap-time. What a contrast with last Sunday when we had a lovely picnic at Centennial Lakes in Cairns with temps about 80 degrees. We had a chicken salad lunch and a walk around the lakeside dressed in the light clothing of summer and enjoyed the sunshine. Ah well! good times never last do they?

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We had the dinner here last night for Alex's second birthday, lots of chicken and sidedishes and the chocolate birthday cake was a big hit. Alex got trucks galore for his birthday presents and was bubbling over with happiness. The other two were a little put-out by him gettting all the attention of course but Tori had a picnic for her birthday in April and Oliver turns one in August so I guess that will be here too.

 

It is good to have the contact with family but it is tiring. Trev helped us clean up when the little ones were gone and I was still picking up chocolate cake crumbs this morning.

 

We got up late and the shower nurse came before we had had breakfast. Ray had a high sugar reading as he had two large pieces of chocolate cake so was pretty slow this morning. Never mind, it was all in a good cause.

 

Sue.

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