It’s been an interesting week. On Monday I took Mum’s only prescription tablet and had Webster Paks made up of four sets of Panadol, together with vitamin D and the blood pressure tablet. This is to try to ensure that the BP tablet is taken at a regular time each day and that Mum does not overdose on Panadol. She gets frequent headaches and forgets when she has taken Panadol.

Of course, it is no fun for her to have this taken out of her hands. She has been talking about wanting to go home (she realised that she was thinking of her house at Kingswood St, not the granny flat). Last night and this morning it got a little heated, but I tried to listen properly to what she is saying, rather than defending our position. She still does not see that she can’t manage on her own.

On the other hand, we’ve had some good times. On Tuesday, we met Robyne at what used to be River Abilities and she was able to get a good quality wheeled walker with a seat. We had lunch together afterwards. And did a little more shopping for skivvies.

Yesterday we had wanted to go to the Rod Evans Centre for lunch, but there had been a burst pipe and the restaurant wasn’t operating. Mum took a walk down to the end of our drive and back, finding the walker very easy to use. She walked with us over to the Dumpling House where we had the lunch special.

Today we went to Floreat to the Kiosk overlooking the beach. We sat in the outside area, using blankets, our own and some provided by the cafe. We had coffee first, then had soup and toast. Very nice and warming. I found a way to circumvent her paying for everything by taking my purse as well as hers to the counter, so that we paid for our own lunch. She then wanted to give me $100.00 for petrol, this felt too much, though she means it for the full week, so I put $50 back into her envelope in the safe. Whew!

Only three more sleeps until she goes home. Not that she is any trouble to us really, but she feels I am too controlling and really longs to be her own person again. That will be OK until she finds it too lonely. However, she will have Jamie and Tracy there.

I feel that it is too difficult for us to do – to ensure that she showers and washes her hair regularly and doesn’t take too many Panadol, and to try to explain why we think she cannot be independent any more. We probably need to start the process of finding a place for her, and can only hope that by the time something becomes available she is less aware.

Something really good this week is that Stephen wrote to Della and she sent us some news. Yaxuan’s granny is away and Della and Tony are trying to take care of their daughter by themselves, quite challenging for them. The good news is that they are considering having another baby. This is a very big decision to take, especially when they are relying on Tony’s parents to help them. But, I hope they can make a decision that is right for them.

So, the photos are of us with Joy and one of the photos of Yaxuan that Della sent. All taken with iPhones.