It took a real team effort to ease Maureen into Ashgrove Care Home yesterday. She was at her articulate best to frustrate any plans to remove her from her home and separate her from her husband. However one carefully construed last throw of the dice eased her way into Respite Care.
I had never met Sue, the Mental Health Nurse from the Home Treatment Team, before and it was our chat in the garden that was the turning point in proceedings. We then played out our plans to persuade Maureen to have a look at a place that was not too far away. Gail our carer accompanied Maureen as ‘her friend’ holding her hand as she stepped into unknown territory. Once through the door Joanne the Manager of the Home came into play as Maureen was guided to her room. At this point I read the hand signals of June and faded into the background.
My phone call to Ashgrove from the Buddhist Centre at 7 pm told me just what I hoped to hear. Maureen had settled in well; had been singing, dancing and had befriended Margaret. What a relief to hear such genuine good news!
All I can do now is take it one day at a time. We are both in places where we are surrounded by kindness and will hopefully get the rest we need.
I actually made it to Cleethorpes Leisure Centre yesterday morning to self-administer a bit of TLC to my tired body and mind. The aroma in the swimming pool, sauna, and spa, was a pleasant relief from what had accompanied me on my 
Just after midnight Maureen appeared at my bedside and woke me up. She had come looking for me after choosing to sleep alone in the marital bed. It was clear that she was very frightened and confused by the events of the day: struggling to make sense of where her brother had gone and why we hadn’t all gone to sleep at her Aunty’s. I joined her in the marital bed for a while but couldn’t sleep. I lay awake thinking how plans that had emerged from my meeting with our Social Worker would not come to fruition.
