Introduction to Life with Mum 1

It all started in December 2009. Life as a mother was becoming easier, my children were becoming less dependent, were in secondary education, my mortgage was getting more manageable, and my career was wonderful and fulfilling... in fact, everything was pretty much tickety boo... It is amazing though, that the minute one part of your life runs smoothly, another part looms on the horizon and is in danger of falling apart... So was the case for me.... December 12th 2009. I tried to call my mother, as i did every day - she was recently widowed (October 2009) and welcomed the contact - on her terms... no reply - at first, this did not worry me, mum had an ability for selective hearing and would often purposely not answer the telephone if the mood took her, or she wanted us to worry - i say "us" loosely - there is a brother and sister, though i, the prodigal daughter, was the one who remained constant. At times it was "three rings and put it down so i know its you!" - then this changed to five rings - i think with hindsight, we all had different codes so she would know who was calling her! By 6pm, i still had no reply to my calls, and living some 250 miles away (where i had run to after a troubled adolescence, 20 years before to start my adventures - and which at the time, had seemed a safe distance) i felt compelled to phone my sister who lived only 60 miles away. She was not concerned as she had spoken to mum the previous day, but i persisted.... My sister begrudgingly went to the house, to find it locked with the chain on from inside... they got bolt cutters from the local DIY store, and found mum in the upstairs bathroom on the floor having fractured her humerus falling off the toilet.... They called an ambulance and went with mum to hospital. The following week, after assessment, she was to be discharged for "conservative home management" which remains the NHS's way of preventing bed blocking and sending out elderly, vulnerable patients back home knowing they are unable to cope, but no risk assessment and fingers crossed anyway! Being a nurse specialist along with my sister and mother, i created a fuss and threatened safeguarding, but to no avail, so I decided to step in, arranging with my sister to get mum from the hospital and i would meet her half way down the M1 and i would take a sabbatical from work for two weeks to see how mum managed with her fracture. I really did not notice my sister whoop whoop with a happy face as she backed out of the service station car park, but i am pretty sure she did - as we did not see her again for five months except for one weekend to fleece mother out of money for her daughter's double glazing!!... that was the beginning of our journey...