A Christmas to remember – but I suppose I’d better start with Saturday the 20th and keep things in order for posterity, whoever she is. The 20th was dry; quite pleasant but chilly. Both of us had a bad night and so got up late. I finished off cards and delivered the ones for Aspland Road, then posted three at sorting office. Had chat with Jon, who was sitting in his car after cleaning the inside of his windscreen. Don’t ask.
Dot drove to Morrisons , mainly to get flowers for Angela. Later a parcel from David was delivered. I cleared up some leaves and put them in the bin, but felt tired out as a result. Spoke to Mary: Bob is not too well. She invited us round on Monday but don’t think we’ll make it, as we’re at Anne’s. (Or are we? – ED) Later helped Dot get Christmas decorations out of the loft, and she put most of them up, with not much help from me because I was washed out. Did cook dinner, though, and cleared away afterwards. In soccer news City drew 1-1 after conceding in the 96th minute and Spurs lost to Liverpool 2-1 after having two men sent off.
Sunday – Damp and cold. Leanne had an upset stomach, so couldn’t visit. After lunch, we drove to Dereham via NDR and arrived exactly on time (1.30) at Phil and Joy’s, where we had tea and quite a long chat, and exchanged presents. Then on to Angela and Rodney’s for afternoon tea and more chat and present exchange. Good to see them. Angela’s brother, John, seems in a bad way. We left around 6pm and went back via NDR. Quite misty, but not too much traffic. We had to be careful on back roads, though. Back home, Dot cooked an excellent chicken meal, and we watched cricket and football. Both pretty tired.
Monday – Dry but chilly. Bit of a blur from here, because I only got three hours’ sleep on Monday evening. Carrie came round in the morning, but I can’t remember why – I think it was primarily to pick up eight packets of sugar that had failed to make the Roudham cut. After she left and we had lunch, Jonathan arrived to bring and receive presents. While he was here disaster struck: laden with presents, Dot fell down two or three stairs. She screamed several times and had diarrhoea. Jonathan left fairly quickly, because he is a solicitor. I got Dot up to the bathroom, and she sorted herself out, but was clearly in a lot of pain. Eventually we rang 111 – a suggestion from Anne when we warned her we might not be coming to see her – and they said it would be passed on to ambulance if a clinician did not ring her within an hour.
After a couple of hours I rang Carrie for advice (she’s a nurse), and when the doorbell rang, I assumed it was her. But it was the ambulance. They examined her and were concerned enough to take her to hospital with gas and air. Carrie and I followed in my car. We transferred to the ambulance while they went to check her in – took some time, but we eventually got to the amusingly named Rapid Response unit, and some time after that to x-ray, at which point I took Carrie home. When I returned, Dot was in what I thought was the Trolley Park, but was in fact a temporary “ward” – still part of the A&E. People there very kind, which was just as well, because she was there for a long time waiting for the orthopaedic surgeons, who were apparently dealing with a serious road accident. One of the nurses was a grandson of the head teacher who Dot had worked with at Surlingham.
I was eventually encouraged to return home at some point (can’t remember when), but returned after a few hours because there was no communication possible, which was not very helpful. I returned home again in the early hours and got to sleep between 3.30 and 4, waking again about 7.40 and not feeling well rested.
Tuesday – Cold wind but dry. Up at the hospital Dot had had no food because they thought they would have to operate (nil by mouth) but in fact they decided that the broken bones were sufficiently aligned to heal on their own (hopefully). I received this news at home, because no-one knew when the surgeons would turn up. I returned to hear advice from physios on managing at home. I was also given a commode, crutches and walking frame. Very difficult to get commode in car, but was assisted by A&E male nurse.
The idea was that I would go home and be ready for when the ambulance arrived with Dot. So I went home, and after many hours I (and Oliver) noticed she was on the move, and they arrived around 10pm. After reconnoitring they managed to get her into the chair and into the house, depositing her on the bed. She was in surprisingly good spirits. Or maybe it was the painkillers.
All this time I had been communicating with various people, including David, often with conflicting information. The outcome (no surgery) was good, but she has to go to fracture clinic on the 29th (if she can move) to make sure everything is OK. I don’t even want to think about what happens if it isn’t.
Wednesday (Christmas Eve) – We both woke at about 8 and everything proceeded as expected, except that I was still exhausted. Sorted out loads of stuff to get Dot comfortable and thought we were getting somewhere. She has decided against the commode – it is very awkward. The walker is very good. Breakfast and lunch as usual, and did some washing as well as having a bath and rearranging various objects. Dot has written more texts than she can count; so most of Norfolk now knows what happened.
Watched Beyond Paradise on Dot’ s computer, interrupted by Howard on phone, who is very keen to help. I cooked Dot (and me) meal of fried egg, bacon, fried potatoes and tomatoes. She is trying not to take too many painkillers. At 6.15 I went to Paul Henderson’s Christmas Eve event and chatted with Joe, as well as Paul and Holly. Couple of other people there. Had been very difficult to park. Paul gave us plant and another present. Drove home and got Dot some tea, then we had quite a long FaceTime with David and Oliver.