Later having completed my required four hours for the week, I receive a request from my granddaughter's Mum to take her shopping, I reply that I am free. She lives near Aldi at Oxford Square but as it happens she wants to venture to Morrisons, so I think I will get Mum her beloved coffee that she is so desperate for! I pick Jamie-Lee and Olivia up and off we go, I go and get my few bits for home along with Mum's shopping of Coffee and Chinese Meals (which are far nicer from Morrisons you know!) while Jamie-Lee and Olivia get theirs and I return to the car. I ring Mum to say I have got her some shopping from Morrisons and that I will drop it off as I take Jamie-Lee and Olivia home, "Oh lovely, Thank you" says Mum. Jamie-Lee and Olivia return after a while and we just drop Mum's shopping at the door after ringing the bell, otherwise I will never get home in time to make our tea.
Within ten minutes of me arriving home to make our meal, Mum rings. "I wish you would have popped your head in, I left the door open as I was having my tea. You could have called in." Me - "No we couldn't Mum, as you are still shielding and so I just dropped the shopping off." Humph goes Mum "Well its a shame you didn't ring me while you were at Morrison's as you know I wanted some Rainbow Trout, not fillets like before and you could have got that while you were there!! Plus some other bits, you didn't get my Bramley apples either!" I come off the phone incensed as I know my Mum expects me to remember everything!! Grr! I spend the night doing some colouring therapy as I am so wound up but thankfully that calms me down.
Tuesday, 14th of July 2020 - Daily Trials with Others..... The day is at least dry but a bit cool, so I decide to do my ironing before going to meet friends this afternoon. NHS ladies that I used to work with in the Training department and I haven't seen since Christmas last year as we were due to meet again just as the lockdown happened. I ring Mum before I go out, she is fine but jealous that I am going to meet friends, even though I explain I haven't seen them for a long time.
Meeting up with Bev (an ex-nurse) and Pat (ex-team leadership course organiser) is like a breath of fresh air, as we have very similar views especially regarding the Pandemic. We talk about infection control training and how Nursing Homes were always the least likely to attend training as the owners often objected to paying for the training! Plus the risk of using agency nurses who venture from home to home, with the chance of spreading more infection, although obviously this practice stopped when lockdown happened. Pat laughs as we say how protective our husbands have been and that neither of them were happy about us venturing out when 'lockdown' happened. Pat sadly says that she has nobody to worry about her, although we reassure her that we as her friends do. We all also talk about our aches and pains like three old ladies, although I am the youngest at 62, while Pat was 70 earlier this year and Bev was 71 in April. However Pat has not been so well lately, she fell down the stairs at the beginning of lockdown and obviously injured herself badly as we see her faint bruises and scarring even now! Poor Pat, it really has knocked her confidence and you can see it upsets her as she talks about the fall. When Pat is out of the room, Bev expresses her concern that Pat is not well, I think Pat looks okay and say that the fall has obviously knocked her confidence, as she walks with her hands feeling from one piece of furniture to another. I leave soon after and arrive home in time to make tea, ready for Gary arriving home from his first day back in the office.
We have tea and settle down for a relaxing evening, although Mum rings and asks if there is any chance I will be shopping at Morrisons for our weekly shop, "No Mum, you know we do 'click n collect' through Tesco's and I already have it booked!" Mum puts the phone down without saying any more! Grrr I can see it will be one of those nights. 9.30pm my phone rings but it is not Mum but my friend Bev, who says "Are you sitting down? I don't think you are going to like this!" "What is it Bev?" I say and dread what is coming next and think that maybe Pat has had another fall. Bev says "Well you know how Pat was a bit breathless?" Me - "Well you mentioned it but I thought she was okay." Bev - "Well I mentioned it to my daughter who has obviously been dealing with Covid patients while working on the A&E department at Royal Preston Hospital and she thinks Pat should go and get tested, as breathlessness is one of the symptoms." Me - "Really? I didn't think she was that breathless." Bev - "Well I am really concerned about her especially with her falls, I think she may be suffering from mini strokes." Me - "Well we talked about that earlier Bev but it is impossible to see a Doctor at the moment as they are only doing telephone consultations, even the Hospital Consultants are not doing face to face appointments." Bev - "Yes but if she has got Covid she needs to be tested, she won't listen to me and won't go tonight" Me - "Well no I don't expect she will go tonight seeing as it's nearly 10 pm and there's probably nobody testing at this time of the night anyway." Bev - "Well maybe you could persuade her to go for a test tomorrow?" Me - "Okay leave it with me I will see what I can do." I ring Pat who doesn't sound breathless on the phone and immediately says "Oh no not you as well!" We have a chat and I offer to talk her through booking a Covid testing appointment on line, which she does, although at the same time she is concerned that she has an appointment at the Hairdressers and after nearly 4 months she doesn't want to miss that! I say she shouldn't really go if there is any chance she has Coronavirus but Pat doesn't reply. As Pat lives on her own I realise she is going to be in turmoil waiting for her appointment in the morning and try to reassure her that Bev is probably just playing safe for her sake and hope all goes well. We finish our conversation with Pat saying "Well you know you and Bev will have to self-isolate' until I get the result, don't you?" I reply "and our husbands too, but nothing we can do about that" while I dread the confinement of the next few days awaiting Pat's result.
Wednesday 15th of July 2020 - If it's not one thing, it's Mother amongst others!! ..... I get up on what would usually be a Park gardening day but thankfully it is raining and so it is easier to call off the Park gardening than tell everyone I am having to self-isolate, otherwise it will just be a nightmare for all concerned. Next I realise I need to sort out a home delivery for Mum and luckily enough manage to secure a slot through Iceland. I start to put together a basket before I ring Mum as she will need to spend £35 (about an average weekly shop for Mum) to get a free delivery, then I ring for her list. Mum - "Oh good I was thinking have you changed your mind? Do you think you could get my shopping at Morrisons? As I really would like some Rainbow Trout!" I explain what has happened and that I will have to self-isolate for at least 48 hours until we know the result and may have to isolate longer if the result is positive. Mum responds - "Oh I suppose this means that I won't get my Trout after all then!" Nothing mentioned about the fact that my poor friend might have Covid or that I might have caught it just by visiting her!! Mum says she will have to get her list together and I say I will ring back.
I sit at the laptop and look through my emails only to find that instead of setting up my Aunt's standing order to be paid monthly through her bank, it should have been 4-weekly!! Another problem to solve, which means ringing my other Aunt in St. Annes to see if we can resolve it by computer or whether she will have to go in to the branch. I do not mention my friend and her test, but realise that the self-isolation complicates matters as my Aunt cannot visit me and I cannot pop over to see her to sort this out!! What a nightmare!
Meanwhile Bev rings me, "Have you heard from Pat, has she had her test and when will she hear the result?" I tell Bev that I haven't heard from Pat although I have sent Pat a text this morning but I don't think she will hear the result for 24-48 hours. Bev - "Well that's not good I am supposed to have my grandson tomorrow morning and I have had to arrange for my shopping to be delivered!" "Yes me too! I am having to arrange for a delivery of my Mums shopping and I also should be having Olivia to stay on Friday" Bev - "Oh well hopefully we will have heard by then." Honestly you could not make this stuff up, I cannot believe that my friend the ex-nurse is creating such a fuss over something that she started in the first place, when Bev says "Well hopefully Pat will get to see a Doctor about her falls and they will find out what the problem is!" Unbelievable! I am sure Pat will not mention her falls and even if she did would not be seen by a Doctor any time soon. I really feel for Pat as it is not a pleasant process being tested and she will no doubt be worried sick. In the meantime Gary, my husband is also concerned as obviously this means he also has to self-isolate and as he has just found two suspicious looking moles on his shoulder he was hoping to talk to our Doctor about them, but no chance of that either at the moment! Whatever next!! I know having completed the Iceland shopping delivery, they say if items are not in stock they will not be delivered, so you just know Mum will not be happy tomorrow morning whatever they deliver, there is bound to be something wrong! I just hope today gets better!!
No comments:
Post a Comment