It was all lies!

My usual Monday mayhem was even more constant today.

I woke up at 5.50am to the sounds of Peach returning to the bedroom; in my sleepy confused state I thought it was one of the girls. It turned out that he left for work and got as far as Hinckley before his van became unbearable to drive and ended up having to cancel his workload for the day :( It later turned out that his rear brakes needed replacing, which Peach was able to do.

Pops had a rough night sleep last night, her cough was persistent and none of her usual medication would ease it. After 50 minutes of constant redial, I managed to get her an appointment with a doctor after school.

We had a great turnout for Twins at Totstime today. Families collected their coasters, book orders, ordered their party tickets and we welcomed another two families.

Aj and I went to our friends for lunch and to help her build a Facebook page for her women's only kickboxing sessions, Train Like a Girl.

I picked the girls up from school, got home, DM got changed for Brownies and Peach took her to singing while I walked Aj, R&P to the doctors.

The doctor confirmed that Pops's asthma has returned; back on her ventolin and steroid inhaler :( They also checked her ears and she has got glue ear and inflamed eardrums; Calpol and Ibruprofen to prevent an infection AND if that's not enough, my casual comment about her rounded belly possibly being IBS, has caused a concern of possible Coeliac Disease. We now have to take her for a blood test to check.

I got home from the doctors, dropped the girls at home with Peach and went to pick DM up. Then dropped her at Brownies, picked up Pops's 5 prescriptions and then went home.

I got home, did some paperwork and then picked DM up from Brownies. We walked in, and Peach had dinner perfectly timed for us to sit down the minute we were home. The phone rang and I could tell by the fast breathing it was my Mum. "ambulance on it's way"..... Shoes on and out of the house and off to my Mum's.

It turned out that she's had sickness and diarrhoea since 11am and therefore hasn't been able to stray away from the bathroom or bedroom since then, and also hasn't been able to stomach any of her meds or get downstairs to take her nebuliser. This in turn has lead to an asthma attack.

While waiting for the ambulance I got her nebuliser, and started her on that. This soon calmed her asthma down; I also believe that my Mum's illness had got worse throughout the day because she has been on her own. Quite often when we are ill we start to feel sorry for ourselves, and if we have someone with us to comfort us, make a cup of tea and simply check on us every hour, then we start to feel better within ourselves. Unfortunately, my Mum has been ill for nearly a year, she doesn't have the support and comfort at home and she doesn't like to "put upon her kids". Over the last year I have noticed that if my Mum has love, comfort and company around her, her health improves dramatically, and the infections that she does get, are treated with her medications and over before it affects her asthma.

Once we had managed to control her breathing and calmed her down, my Mum started to relax. Now it was my turn to comfort her like "my mother used to" seek vengeance. So out came the cooled boiled water and the dry toast :D Yep, when I was poorly, my Mum would always make me eat dry toast and cool boiled water, she'd always tell me that "you're dehydrated from being sick, drink the water - eat the toast to soak up the nasty bugs in your tummy". As much as I hated it at the time, I did start to feel better.

Mum didn't want the water or toast, she didn't want to be sick again. In an attempt to stop me from giving her the toast and water, Mum insisted that it wouldn't make her feel better. Today's photo is my mum trying to hide when I challenged her about everything she used to tell me as a child when I was ill. "Was it all lies Mum?". Not at all, it's easier to give care and advice than it is to take it.

The paramedic stayed for nearly an hour, checked Mum's oxygen levels, heart rate and her tummy. After drinking a cup of water and a slice of toast Mum started to feel better, she was able to stomach some of her meds and her breathing regulated. It turned out that Mum has had a sickness & diarrhoea bug, but because of her general health and lack of immune system, it's exaggerated and made her feel worse. Now she's had some of her meds, calmed down and had some company, she'll get some sleep and start to feel much better.

I got home at 9.45pm, ate what I could of my dinner and then took myself off to bed!