Tempus Fugit

Mum died at 11am this morning. The decline was rapid. Last week we were talking about getting her home to die, by Thursday we knew we wouldn't disturb her.

She was a strong-minded woman and had made lists of things to do and bequests to individuals. Dad died on 13th March last year. It's the end of an era.

Some of you know that my Mum (83) hurt her leg somehow in early December. The doctor said it's muscular (bursitis), took x-rays to check and told her to rest it. She struggled around the house with a walking stick and my sister moved in to help her. She spent Christmas being pampered by my brother at his house for a week then returned home. She has a fold-up bed downstairs and also a wet-room on the ground floor so she doesn't have to climb stairs. My brother bought her a walking frame from Argos! Best present ever. At last she could move about, albeit slowly. My sister stayed with her for the first week in January, then I took over last week. Progress is slow but happening. She was talking to me one last week then we both spotted that she had crossed her legs without realising! Getting in and out of bed doesn't involve acrobatics anymore, which gives her a chance to sleep properly. A side-effect of the inactivity has been fluid retention in her ankles but this seems to be reducing, as well.

The point of all this is to explain why I've been quiet online recently. I did get an iPad from Jenn and the men for Christmas and I'm having fun playing with that but it's nowhere near as good as a proper keyboard for writing at length :) An amazing app for identifying celestial bodies is 'SkyView Free' and I've completed the glorious 'The Room' and am most of the way through 'The Room 2' :D

Having two days off then returning to Mum's on Sunday for a few days. She only needs us now to make her meals because she finds it difficult to manoeuvre round the kitchen to cook for herself. Hopefully, she'll be completely mobile in the next couple of weeks.