Pasta with creamy spiced bacon sauce
NB: the headline image is AI generated. I didn’t take a photo of dinner and thought it would be funny to get AI to create one based on my description, but it actually did a really good job. 🫤
A later-than-scheduled post tonight, as my phone has decided it will charge at its own pace or not at all, and I only now have enough battery power to write. (Battery on my phone, that is. My own battery is edging close to negative figures.)
Mum spent much of yesterday in some discomfort from an intimate condition for which she has been referred to a specialist. I promised her that, if it was still bad today, I would call the GP and ask if they could recommend anything to ease the discomfort while we waited to hear from the specialist.
This morning mum was still uncomfortable, and reminded me of my promise roughly every twenty seconds until I snapped “yes, I know, mum: that’s about the hundredth time you’ve said it this morning”, which got a sheepish look and, thankfully, a brief cessation of the topic.
I did call the GP and asked for a call back1, then called the boiler repair company and arranged for them to come out on Thursday and find out why our boiler has the drips again. Mum watched over me while I made these phone calls, having invited herself into my room with “do you mind if I come in? Of course, I don’t really need to ask as it’s my house.” 😯
Then mum received a message on her phone informing her of an appointment with the specialist on Thursday morning, which is impressively speedy but a nuisance as I now have to arrange transport for two days in a row, as mum has another appointment at the hospital on Friday afternoon. Luckily mum handed her phone to me the moment she saw that the message was from the NHS, so didn’t see the bit about it being an urgent referral because of suspected cancer.
I know from the discussion with the doctor that they don’t really think mum has cancer and it’s all precautionary, but I can imagine all too well the panic the ‘c’ word would cause.
Having two appointments on two consecutive days has proved confusing enough, and I have explained what will be happening more times than I cared to count. I know mum’s memory doesn’t always work as it should, but I don’t think it’s the remembering she’s struggling with – it’s more putting things in context. “We’re going to see this person on this day, and this person on this day” just doesn’t seem to make any sense to her.
I feel that there must be some key to effective communication that I’m missing, some simple trick that will put an end to mum’s confusion and my frustration. If anyone knows of such a thing, please do share, as what I’m doing now clearly isn’t working.
I spent the rest of the day idly scrolling through various interior design websites looking for something to fill the dull gaps in our rooms and hearts when all the Christmas stuff comes down tomorrow (again, ideas welcome, please and thank you), and repeatedly reassuring mum that ‘they’ aren’t ignoring her medical problems and that’s why we have hospital appointments two days in a row, remember?
For dinner I did pasta with smoked bacon and green beans (“we’ve had green beans a lot recently”, said mum – yes, because when I find something you’ll eat I tend to stick with it) in a slightly spiced cream sauce.
Then I went against all my instincts and shared my chocolate brownie, and mum enjoyed it so much she had a second piece. So there I will end and go and add another packet of brownie mix to tomorrow’s grocery order.
Which for some reason reminds me of a sweet treat I used to love, called a zebra brownie – brownie and almond macaroon loosely marbled together before baking – and now I really want to eat it again, and how do you make macaroons anyway?
To be continued, probably.
- Which came just when I was about to call and check if they were going to contact us at all. There’s not much they could suggest except to keep using the prescribed cream, which we at least know won’t do any harm. Not that I told mum that last bit. ↩︎
Is it pineapple sponge today? 