You just wait here for a moment Mr. McAllister, one of the nurses will be out to see you as soon as we've finished the test. I'm sure your mother will be really pleased to see you, we're delighted with the progress she's made so far and fully expect she'll be able to go home in the next week or two.
Thank you very much Doctor!
You just take a seat, OK?
It's a great relief, thank you.
I feel like I've been living in hospitals these last few months. Seeing Mum here and visiting Dad on the other side of town, it's been hellish! We didn't think Mum would pull through, right? But she's a tough old bird, thank God! The one good thing that's come out of it though is that the family seems to have pulled together a bit better.
And then there's Dad. Across town, in a locked ward. I was quite shocked when I saw him at first. He seemed to have changed, to have grown smaller and defeated. As if he'd given up. Mind you, he hadn't lost any of his anger, the way he was cursing and swearing at the medical staff! He said that: "Oh they've been hitting me!" And right enough there were bruises on his arms. Oh I didn't believe him, really. But I made a complaint. Well, I had to.
And there was the problem of getting Mum across to visit him because she's so fragile. Oh she's been fretting to see him and desperate, and when we did take her over she was so pleased and happy! I think it actually helped her recovery. And you could see that she still loved him. Ah, even my sister could see that, and she didn't understand why.
But when she comes out, she wants to go home; and there's no way that can happen. So, we've been trying to sort of fix up the extension to the cottage, and she knows that she's more than welcome to come and stay with us. If it's OK with everybody else. We thought the hospital would have made that decision, but no, they said it was entirely our own choice.
How are we going to pay for it? And how is she going to pay for all the support she's going to need, I don't know. Mind you, I did read in the newspaper somewhere about free personal care, whatever that means. And then we've also got the problem of Dad. He's responding very well to his medication and should be coming out soon and Mum wants him to come out and the two of them to go home and live together.
But what worries me is things will just go back to square one. And anyway, his social worker has said that he's not able to make decisions for himself. And said that he might even have some legal way of making sure that he doesn't. So, I think I've got my time cut out for me, looking after the finances, the accommodation and the support.
Maybe if I had a word with Mum's social worker. She's been very good so far. It could be a good day.