It is with great sadness that I write of our wonderful mum’s passing. On March 24th with all of her children at her side she slipped away peacefully and is now at rest. She was unbelievably brave throughout her illness and even though she lost a lot of her personality and physical abilities as the Alzheimer’s took hold she remained gentle and calm . Between the three of us children someone was with her holding her hand until the very end. We can now build back the memories of mum before the Alzheimer’s, which until now have laid buried in our minds.
The hardest thing was going to tell Dad in hospital, (he is still recovering from his hip surgery) the three of us went and we pre-warned the nurses so they could give us some privacy and keep a special eye on him. It broke our hearts to see our Dad hold his head in his hands and cry. It has been an incredibly tough few weeks for us all.
Everyone has been so kind we have received so many flowers and cards and we have taken such comfort from all of the kind words and messages. Dad is making slow progress and has needed encouragement to eat and drink well , between the three of us he has at least two visits a day to try and keep spirits up and to take in food, as the hospital food is pretty uninspiring.
It has been difficult getting back and for to the hospital to Dad as I’m still not driving but between Steve and my amazing friend Em I have managed it pretty much every day.
2 weeks after my op I had an X ray and a check up, the consultant was really pleased with the way things are going, which is great, though he did ask me not to swim until the brace comes off at the end of April. I was a bit disappointed by this but I will heed the advice. The wound has healed well so far but my knee is still painful and gets very swollen in the evenings as most days have been spent on my feet. Sleeping is very uncomfortable still but I haven’t been doing much sleeping.
I have tried to stay as active as possible, time allowing, I’ve been out for walks, and have found all sorts of innovative ways of using my crutches to do my leg lifts and other conditioning exercises.
I have started on upper body and abdominal strength exercises with the odd one legged turbo session thrown in too! It seems this isn’t as mad as I thought, as on chatting to a friend who is a triathlon coach and after reading a few articles about this, it seems that unilateral strength training can be beneficial for the injured side. (Thanks Juls!) There is already a marked difference when I compare my quads, my right being so much smaller now, so maybe the one legged squats will make a little difference.
It has been a very difficult few weeks and I am emotionally and physically exhausted, but I have tried to hold on to the wise words taken from a prayer that Mum would live by, ‘Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference’
She was an amazing lady who we miss so terribly.
Love you Mum xxxxxxx Kitty