D.I.D....

Thinking of you too @Smc ....

Thanks everyone... @Faith-and-Hope @Former-Member @Determined @outlander @Shaz51.

Safe trip home. The doctor at the MHU spent about an hour talking with us, and has given us a lead that may be worth following up. An increase in medication seems to have calmed the compelling "voices" for now, so we're hoping she's had a safe night.

@Smc trust the new lead and med tweak proves to be beneficial 🙏

How are things going @Smc ?

@Former-Member- she held out until Saturday night before SH. The hospital mental health nurse was very resistant to her coming in, but it did need repairs, so it had to happen. Eventually they agreed to send out a taxi to get her there and back.

The situation gave me an opportunity to talk about why they didn't want her coming in. I don't altogether agree with how they're handling it, but I do agree with the overall aim- which is to keep her out of the emergency ward. I pointed out that it's both not good for her, and ties up facilities that others need. That if she comes in via ambulance, it might be an hour or more before the paramedics have finished handover and can leave, and meanwhile there might be someone else who needs to get to emergency really fast- stroke, heart attack, all sorts of critical possibilities. If she's taking up a bed, the ambulances might have to wait a bit longer to drop off their next patient.

So I'm trying to encourage her to resist the SH compulsion; to go to the local medical clinic and pay them for treatment whenever possible (free at emergency, carries an affordable charge at the doctors; and to be a bit discerning about whether an illness/ill feeling is actually urgent, or whether it can wait for a doctor's appointment the next morning.

Emergency ward is just the wrong place to spend so many nights of her life. Hope what I said sinks in.

She's got a follow up appointment in the city on Friday. That also happens to be Valentine's Day, and therefore our engagement anniversary. Am hoping that we can talk her around to a train trip instead of us doing a long drive... hoping, but not really hopeful.

How are things going @Smc

Forgot I hadn't reported back for a bit... Older Daughter did end up going to the appointment via train, but rang up an old friend of ours in the city to ask her to come with. So my attempts to get her to travel independently were half successful. Said friend works in MH support, so she knows how to keep appropriate boundaries.

Current situation though is with my Mum. She had surgery today to get a skin graft over the cut on her leg from a few months back that hadn't healed. She rang late Monday to tell me the admission had come up (been waiting a couple of months) hoping I could be there for when she had it. But I found out yesterday that it was happening today, so there was no time to get there. It's a full days' travel, leaving 7:30 am and getting there about 4:00 pm, plus an extra hour or more to get to the hospital via public transport (and nothing going back the other way in the evening, I'd guess).

So that was scary- with her compromised health, the mortality risk figures would have been somewhat elevated. No idea how much, because we haven't had a chance to talk to the doctor. It's really hard trying to keep up with what's happening from so far away. Mum is legally competent to make her own decisions, so we don't come into it, but she's not good at passing on information. 😞

She's in the surgical unit for at least three days, am guessing it could be longer. If so, my sister can get a few days off work so we can travel up. But if she does go straight back to the aged care home, we'd be better off waiting for the planned trip that we're doing in mid March.

Am tired of spending time in hospitals. And tired of being tired. But at least she's safely through the surgery.

@Smc

Thinking of you and family.