I nearly made a silly mistake on Tuesday when Maureen was having such a difficult day.  As Gail our normal carer was on holiday I decided that a new face in the house wouldn’t help, so I phoned up the Agency and cancelled the call.  Later in the day,when I was on my knees from relentless challenge I asked for the call to be reinstated.

When Kay turned up shortly before 10am  I intercepted her on our drive.  I quickly marked her card on my ‘cunning plan’ for the day.  I explained that things had been difficult on Tuesday, and mood lifting was the order of the day.

Kay played a blinder throughout the morning.  She went along with the ‘lesson plan’ and even moved my aspirations to a higher level.  Within minutes of being here her rapport with Maureen was exceptional.  It helped that she had been here a while ago and she knew how to play Maureen.

Kay had two things in her favour that gave her a head start on other carers.  She is a grandmother and her maturity was a welcome relief for Maureen.  Kay is also a ‘Meggie’, a local, who went to the same Primary School in Cleethorpes as Maureen.  Once I left them too it they got on like a house on fire.

I got it right on two fronts yesterday morning.  Firstly, I went ahead with the call: much needed company after Tuesday!.  Secondly, I stayed around to set the scene, and popped in an out whilst catching up on some domestic tasks.  I have to thank Mel my new Admiral Nurse for the ‘staying here bit’.  As Mel said to me the first time we met: ‘I wouldn’t leave my cat with someone I didn’t know’.  Thanks for that one Mel – it helped to keep me on the straight and narrow yesterday!