Thursday, June 26, 2014

It’s 10:15 on Thursday, June 26, 2014.  I got up at 7:00am and looked forward to a free day, a shower, breakfast and a trip to downtown Victoria.  My only mission was to buy round red stickers for mom to use to mark the furniture that she wants to take with them to Shannon Oaks.  I went on line and found the address of a Staples store on Fort St, drove there, pulled into an open parking spot on the street right in front, saw that the metre had over an hour still on it and felt positively light hearted as I strode into the store, only to be struck by the fact that its shelves looked awfully empty.  I asked a cashier about red dots and he replied by stating the obvious.  “We’re closing down the store.”  Screech!  That was a hitch in my ‘git along’.  But he told me where I could buy them nearby, which I did, and all has gone well since then.  Mom would have been very disappointed if I had shown up for dinner without the red dots because she’s been dying to slap them on the things she wants to take with them ever since I told her about them a few days ago.  I wanted to wait until the financial and medical sides of the equation were finished before doing anything about packing.

Yesterday, we had the financial meeting at Shannon Oaks at 10:00am and all went well.  We took a drive and then back to mom and dad’s place for lunch.  I left for my daily walk by the water while they had a nap and we met again at about 4:30pm for the usual Presbyterian beer while watching the news before dinner.  Dinner was good.  We filled out the final paper for Shannon Oaks, which required getting their medical gold cards and writing in the numbers.  Dad then went to his room for a rest, as usual, after dinner, and mom and I were talking in the living room.  I was about to leave, feeling really relaxed for the first time in a few days.  We seemed to have slipped them under the wire and into a very good place.  Then I heard dad’s voice, plaintively calling mom’s name.  Mom hadn’t heard a thing.  I ran to his room to find him on the floor.  He had taken both hands off his walker as he tried to put his health card back into his wallet.  As his legs are completely useless, he fell.  It took every bit of strength that mom and I possess to get him onto his bed.  He was shaking uncontrollably and his eyes were wide with fear.  As he has no feeling below the knees, he felt he was falling until we hoisted him high enough on his bed for him to feel the pillow under his head.  He finally calmed down a bit but was gasping for air.  I got a cold cloth to wipe his brow and a sip of water.  Mom rubbed his hands and told him over and over that she loved him and to calm down.  When I finally left to return to Barbara and Terry’s, I was not feeling as confident and relaxed as I had hoped I would, but I had at least got a laugh from dad.  He told me to drive carefully and I replied that I would keep both hands on the wheel if he would do the same with his walker from now on.  I have heard nothing from them so far today, so I hope they are having a complete rest. I look forward to going for a good walk and lunch with Barbara and Terry. 

It’s a beautiful day in Victoria.

The view ahead as we walked down the stairs to the path along the harbour in Esquimalt

A heritage home close to where we had lunch

About the home which was built in 1859 by a Finnish sea captain 

Two bottles of Ensure left standing with two shot glasses.  Only in Victoria you say, pity.  This was a niche in a wall at the top of some stairs we climbed.

The scene of the harbour from the top of the hill.