Just Humans Being...

Bebe is here with us at last... We found out recently that Bebe also suffers from Sundowners Syndrome & witnessed during our journey home yesterday just how quickly her personality changes. We were in the car & as soon as it began getting dark, she no longer knew who we were... She had been happy & relaxed, chatting away - when suddenly, she was filled with fear & agitation! She was angry on her arrival; the house was too cold, her room was too big, but eventually we calmed her down by distracting her with some of her favourite music & very quickly, she was dancing! She was on top form over dinner & had us all in hysterics...  She is having a problem recognising Hugo - it's been a couple of years since she last saw him & of course, he's a young man now. Last night he was Rodney, we have no idea why... She enjoyed the laughter as much as we did! By midnight, we were flagging & had to call time on the fun, again she bec...

We've almost prepared the house ready for Bebe's arrival - most importantly, her room is ready... She will be going into our guest room, so we haven't had much to do in there. We've put her photographs up on the walls, put her CD player in place, clothes in the wardrobe & drawers, but kept it simple & clutter free. When Nan was with us, we made her room into a comfortable bedsit, but she tended to stay in there & almost cut herself off from us at times...  We want to encourage Bebe to spend time downstairs, she'll have the sitting room more or less to herself if she wants some peace & we've brought her TV down, so she'll be able to watch all her musicals again... She lost the ability to use her DVD & CD players a while ago, which was really sad - she loves music & we'll make sure she gets plenty of opportunities to enjoy them all again!  Lupe's already made himself at home & seems to be loving Bebe's ...

Life is set to change again for us. We have had a great time entertaining many B&B guests, but now have decided to stop & concentrate on the things that are far more important. Firstly, ourselves... Sharing our home with many strangers is quite exhausting & Sime in particular has worn himself out giving his all, something neither of us had really noticed until we stopped. Secondly, Bebe (Sime's mum) is going to be moving in with us... Her dementia is progressing, though the conditions she was continuing to live in were obviously not helping. We feel she has been let down by the social care support team, her carers seemed to be excellent on the surface, but in reality - she has been badly neglected. On our last visit, we found her flat in a terrible state. The cleaner had disappeared, her hairdresser had stopped going in & some of the carers didn't even bother to feed her! On top of all this, she has been phoning the police about her hot water ...