Fish, chips and veg

Today I had a long-scheduled appointment to meet with the local social prescriber, so I was somewhat unsurprised when mum woke up with a terrible stomach ache which saw her return to bed, unable to even get up to lock the door behind me.

I made sympathetic noises, promised I would be home in a couple of hours, and locked the door from the outside. A few minutes later, mum emerged, miraculously improved enough to at least come and tell me to be careful while I was out.

A lot of the time I don’t think mum knows herself whether she’s genuinely ill or just trying to manipulate me.

The meeting with the social prescriber was very worthwhile: he’s given me a multi-page booklet of clubs, groups, and events that take part in the area, and will go with me to any I want to try so I don’t have to go by myself. One of the groups, aimed at people rather older than me, is one mum used to volunteer with; of course she didn’t remember this when I mentioned it, but she did express an interest in going, as long as I go with her.

That’s such a vast improvement on her attitude to going anywhere that I’m not going to say anything more in case I jinx it.

The social prescriber also gave me yet another referral to physiotherapy, and this time I’ve got a step further in that a member of the team actually called to discuss my needs. I now have to wait until one of the physios has space in their diary to come out and do an assessment. Fingers crossed I actually hear from them this time.

Meeting over, I left the cafe to wait by the main road for the community bus. I sent mum a message to say I was on my way home and “hope it doesn’t rain!” No sooner had I put my phone back in my bag than the rain started, gently at first but quickly increasing to a proper downpour.

If you’ve never tried to put up a coat hood while leaning on crutches, I can tell you that it isn’t the easiest task. Then as soon as I got the hood up, a gust of wind blew it straight off again.

I only had to wait a couple of minutes, but by the time the bus arrived I was dripping steadily as I climbed inside.

I got home to find mum feeling far better, until she made a sandwich with a thin layer of butter on the bread, which prompted an almost instant stomach ache. We now have a small grocery order arriving tomorrow which contains some non-dairy butter, as mum’s having a hard enough time adjusting to no ice cream without adding ‘no butter’ to the rules.

Dinner was fish and chips, from freezer to oven to plate, with minimal input from either my brain or my body, both of which are exhausted and looking forward to lying down and resting.

Goodnight, all.