Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Great Grandma had passed away

Sad new today, as the subject line says, Great Grandma died today.

She made it to 100 last year and she was getting more and more frail but she still lived in her own home until the end.

She’d had a bit of an accident a couple of weeks ago and was admitted to JR where she then contracted Covid, but she was getting over that and was discharged to St Luke hospital in Headington whilst recovering before she was going to be sent to a nursing home in Witney. Sadly she didn’t make it out of St Luke’s

Mum has been going up there of course and today she, Sue and Roger were advised to pop up and see her, Mum contacted me later to let us know we could go and see her but she was in a deep sleep and not responsive and I didn’t really want to remember her that way. Sure enough, a couple of hours later (7.00pm) they called Mum to tell her Grandma had passed away in her sleep.

So very sad of course, Mum and everyone in our house was upset, I went round to Mum’s after she put the phone down and hugged her and spent some time at the house. Louise was on her way down and arrived just as I was walking out the door so it’s good that she’s down to support her. As will we.

It’s strange to say the death of a 100 year old is a shock, it’s always going to be likely, but when it actually happens you still felt she had more time left with us.

But she’s had a remarkable life and there are no regrets to be had, we were there a lot for her and with Natasha’s organisation she was round our house lots of times for meals etc. It’s lovely that kids in their late teens and early/mid twenties can have known a GREAT Grandmother, many don’t even have grandparents alive.

We have loads of lovely positive memories and we have photos and videos to remember her and cherish the time she was with us and involved in family events.

It’s desperately sad and she will be missed, she was very much loved by all.

Wednesday, January 06, 2021

Great Grandma Update

She’s fine but she’s has a scan and there is a small spot of calcium on her brain that might have lead to some dementia, but at 100 years old I wonder what difference it really makes! She’s on a drip, which might be because of dehydration, but other than that the hospital say she’s okay. In saying that, Mum has said they do have concerns for her and she thinks it’s very likely they’re going to propose she goes into a home. Mum is obviously saddened by that, but I said she’s got absolutely nothing to be guilty about or anything because they’ve not let her down if she does go into one.

We think it should have happened about a year ago so to have got to now and she’s still lively in the bungalow on her own then they’ve all done brilliantly.

We’ll see.

Not much else to report – didn’t go for another run today, yesterday’s first run on the Couch to 5K programme done me in! Slept really badly, but don’t know if that is because of the run or because of being sat at my desk for two days – really painful back.

Busy today on Raintree work, got loads done – but then they kept sending work over so that was good.

Tuesday, January 05, 2021

New broadband and Great Grandma falling over

New broadband being installed today, we’ve moved over to Sky – in fact that’s why I am typing this, I can’t access the internet. Fingers crossed the speed should at least double and it’s a lot cheaper than it was with BT. We’ll find out soon enough, I’d had enough of the problems with BT, kept dying and was so frustrating.  But let’s hope I don’t live to regret my decision!

Had a chat with Mum earlier today as last night Grandma had fallen down (for the third time in two days) and was taken to hospital with a cut head. All a bit worrying but she’s hard as nails so wasn’t concerned. Obviously with Covid restrictions she’s on her on in the JR without us being able to visit or anything. We’ve said for some time that she needs to be somewhere instead of her bungalow where she can be better looked after and kept an eye on, perhaps this is the catalyst that will make up the minds of Mum and Sue; Roger & Sue have already decided that and are clearly angling for that to be the case, but I understand how hard a decision it is to make.

What was bad though is that when Mum, Sue and Simon were there yesterday they’d called the ambulance at 8.00pm and after loads of other calls one didn’t arrive until 2.00am – all that time Grandma was lying on the floor because of the cut to her head and pain in her hip – not impressed

Monday, January 04, 2021

Covid-19 - Lockdown #3

Boris Johnson announced this evening we’re going into another full lockdown across the UK – it’s likely to stay with us until mid-February. Things are not good at the minute, the Government are performing U-Turns on nearly every single announcement they make. Literally yesterday evening he was saying that all schools should open and everyone go back to school, yet today he’s saying not to. It’s been a shit-show by them it really has, dithering all the time.

I think that this means our planned holiday to St Lucia isn’t going to happen now sadly. We’ll see.

Something “funny” happened in that Nikki advised that she’s got Covid now. After the horrible way the Bicester family have treated Tash we couldn’t help but be slightly amused by the announcement, the hypocrisy has been ridiculous, trying to keep Tash away but constantly round Sue’s and not practising what they were preaching. Obviously don’t want to wish illness on anyone but at least we can’t be blamed for the illness as we’ve been excluded from their lives for the last year.

Makes me sound a bit bitter I appreciate, but Tash has taken their rejection really hard and it’s been completely unfair on her.

We’re onto a new series to watch on TV now – “This is Us” – we’ve done 9 episodes in super quick time, it’s enjoyable and family-orientated, but the characters are just a little to “sweet”, I keep expecting Tash to ask why we’re not as lovey dovey as the main characters…