It made sense really. Although I didn't really want to do it, I had looked after her for five months before the carers came, and it made sense to do the last few days before (hopefully) she moved into a care home. We had already lined up a "taster day" at my preferred home - I had looked at three or four already - so I had high hopes that Mum would like it. As it happens, she did, and I asked if she would like to go in for a longer term, like overnight? Yes please, was the response. Caroline arranged for Mum to go in permanently on Monday, and the last time I saw Mum was the Sunday before, nearly two and a half weeks ago now.
It feels really weird. I am used to popping over at any time to see her, getting calls from the carers asking for help, etc. Now she needs time by herself to establish a routine, to get settled and used to her surroundings without our assistance. I get regular updates, she seems to be doing okay. But I can't *see* her. I did catch sight of her on the stairs when I was dropping some extra clothes round, but I don't think she saw me. The home are good at putting up pictures of what's going on on "social media" so I do get to see what she's been doing, but we've outsourced her care, even moreso than we did when we got a live-in carer, and it feels very, very odd.
I am going to see her on Monday, so that will be something. I am not expecting to stay for long; once we've said hello to each other and I have asked how she is doing, I expect conversation will dry up. I will be able to update her on family goings-on, and blather on for a few minutes, but I won't want to stay for too long. It'll be interesting to see how she is. I think that currently Mum's mood depends on what she has been doing for the previous five minutes, so if the morning activities have been enjoyable and lunch tasty, I think she'll be in a good mood. If the morning activities are boring and lunch uninspiring, she might ask me to take her home. I don't know which way it's going to go. I guess we'll see when we get there...
TTFN.
