Christmas Day was very quiet this year, with just Mother, my husband and self present. We thought children and great grand children were coming, but they decided to leave earlier so as not to miss their camping spot at an East Coast Beach. My other two sons were having Christmas with their wife’s side of the family. We were disappointed, but the plus side was less work and effort was required for the day. It turned out to be a pleasantly relaxed Christmas. My husband cooked a turkey and leg of lamb, as he usually insists on doing. . .more suited to the Northern hemisphere cold, I thought, but appreciated this was his thing that he liked to do every year, regardless of hot summer temperatures. (A tradition brought out by early settlers from the Northern hemisphere).
Mother was funny when I first told her we were having turkey. “Turkey!” she said screwing her nose up. “I don’t like them!” “Have you ever eaten it?” I asked. “No,” she answered, “I’ve never eaten any, but I don’t like them! They’re awful, they wear black clothes . . horrible things!” she said screwing her nose up again and shuddering. I wondered if she had a traumatic turkey encounter as a child and asked her. She told me she had seen some once in Blenheim, but didn’t remember anything else, just that they were scary horrible things. Mother eventually decided to try turkey after a support worker told her it was similar to chicken. Of course, having a sweet tooth, she loved the desert which included traditional pavlova with strawberries and cream topping.
The day after Christmas, we decided to travel up the Coast to visit the kids and see how their camping was. It was a trial to see if we could take Mother camping. The trip took 40 minutes, which mother said was too long. The beach was beautiful, white sand and blue sky, with the peaceful rhythmic sound of waves crashing and rolling onto the shore. The kid’s camp was on an elevated grassy spot above the beach with a fantastic view. We had taken fresh bread, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce and ham for lunch, which we all enjoyed. Afterwards my husband and son walked off down the beach to go fishing, while mother and I stayed with my daughter-in-law, enjoying the 2yr old and almost 4 yr old grand-daughters, who excitedly kept us entertained. After a while mother looked sleepy, so we helped her onto the large double sized blow-up bed for a rest. It was difficult getting her back onto her feet afterwards, but we managed, and she managed the chemical toilet OK, but found the ground uneven for walking, even with her walker. It took a bit of effort in assisting mother in the different surroundings and we were ready to go home after a few hours. The trip home seemed longer for mother and she decided that it was too far to go again. Anything over 30minutes long seems to be to far for mother these days.
After a couple of days home, we were pleased to hear mother’s youngest son and his wife were coming to stay. Mother was excited. It was great to have them present and mother constantly smiled with pleasure. Mother announced that she always used to stay up with her mother to wait the New Year in. We decided to do the same with her, but at 8:30pm, mother suddenly announced she was off to bed and had lost interest in seeing the New Year in. “It was silly” were her words as I settled her for bed.
Our city always had a New Year’s Day fireworks display which I thought may be of more interest for mother the next day. With the extra hands to assist, I suggested that we take mother for a walk up the path beside my home to see the New Year’s Day fire-works that were held in the evening nearby. Mother was wrapped up warm and we walked her to the spot, then she sat on her walker to watch the display, which happened just along the river, where two river’s meet. From where we were the reflection of the fireworks could be seen in the river, as well as above it, as our spot looked down the river towards the venue. Further down the river banks were crammed full of spectators and a band was keeping them entertained as we awaited the darkness required for a good display, which was later in the summer in NZ (9:30pm).
Mother loved the display and was excited like a child throughout. As soon as we assisted her walk home though, mother went straight to bed, exhausted but happy. The next morning mother was up ready to go somewhere, so we took her shopping for new shoes she wanted. I noticed mother beaming at everyone she came across as we escorted her into the shop. I think she felt special and proud having more family with her. That afternoon, we took mother to visit another son and his wife, who live locally.
It was later at dinner time I found mother changing her patterns. A sign, I realised, her LBD symptoms were resurfacing. We‘d had almost a week free of the worst. This particular night Mother became unreasonable about a table knife she decided was hers and insisted on taking it to her room, where she would hide it. I knew the routine, as we had been around this circuit before. I immediately wondered if mother had been drinking enough water in the hot 27-32o C temperatures. Mother later, insisted on wearing PJ’s under her night gown, on a hot night! I went with the flow, and kept alert for more activity. Later, as expected, in the middle of the night I found Mother up sitting on the side of her bed, confused and talking about a bill a man said she had to pay. She had been hallucinating, so I guided her that nothing could be done about it till morning, and she let me resettle her in bed. Mother appeared OK the next morning, though tired and not quite herself. I guess all the excitement had it’s toll, but the pleasure mother gained from the week was worth it. Luckily the symptoms settled after a couple of days back in her normal routine.
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