In The Morning Calm

The sound of light rain, like soft massaging fingers, soothed my mind at dawn this morning. After a weekend of temperatures in the mid and high 30C's the cool change was welcome, although the rain is of no significance for the garden, not even measuring in the gauge. Mr. Whipbird is cracking outside but Mrs. does not reply. she seems to have moved on, as have the young. 'Mr.' is heard but not seen again, resuming his invisibility. Just as I wrote that he cracked and she replied, but from a good distance away. Anyway, I think the babies have moved on, I haven't seen them for a week. Through the bathroom window I could hear a bronzewing 'ooming'. A familiar sound now that I hear all over the place. I'm tuned into it like a radio frequency.
While still in bed I decided to skip my morning walk and write this blog post instead. Normally the walk is non negotiable, a must do, everything else is secondary. But I want to write today. When I'm anxious or worried I can't write. Or read. I sit or lie staring at the pages of a book or paper but my mind is with my troubles, so I don't get past the first page. Lib and Rob went to Lakes Entrance on Friday morning for a long weekend so despite having a computer and a quiet house at my disposal all weekend, I couldn't bring myself to blog.

Things move quickly. In my last post I wrote about picking Lyle up from hospital Friday before last, a hot and uncomfortable day. That night lightning strikes in the Black Range about 20km south of Moyhu, and near Mt. Terrible, and at several other places, started bushfires that have been running wild and joining up during the past 10 days. Many towns have been threatened and 250,000 hectares of bush have been burnt as the northeast and Gippsland braces for a potential inferno. This cool change will help.
By last Friday I was back visiting Lyle in hospital and taking him some things he asked for. He had two bad nights, Tuesday and Wednesday when he'd fallen to the floor while trying to pee in the bottle. He couldn't pee lying down so he got out of bed. Elvie and Meredith then had great difficulty picking him up as he's too weak to raise himself. Elvie strained her back as they lifted him on the Tuesday night and neither of the ladies could get to sleep as every two hours Lyle wanted to pee. They were almost distraught with tiredness on Wednesday.
On Wednesday evening when I got home I related all this to Lib who understands, having worked with geriatrics for 25 years. She said there was 5 respite beds empty at her work, Salisbury house, and we should get Lyle there for a week or two so Elvie and Meredith can have a rest. She also said that if he gets out of bed and falls over they should not try to lift him but make him comfortable and ring the Ambulance Service, and get them to take him to hospital where he can be assessed as in need of high care, and then he can go to Salisbury house for respite care. This seemed good advice given that Elvie has had one hip replaced and also had a fall herself last September which fractured her kneecap, which is why Meredith moved in to help her with Lyle. If she fell trying to lift him and broke her hip it could be the end of her. I rang the farm and told Meredith what Lib had said.
I rang Salisbury house on Thursday morning to ask about the procedure and was not long off the phone when Meredith rang and said the same thing had happened last night and they did what I'd told them to do, rang for an ambulance. Reluctantly the ambos took Lyle to hospital. They didn't want to, they wanted to put him back in bed, but Meredith persisted. I rang the hospital and spoke to a doctor in the emergency ward. He seemed understanding and told me they could do an assessment in emergency and he could go to Salisbury House directly from there. They would call me later.
So far so good, but not for long. Around lunchtime a lady from the hospital rang me and said that they could not do an assessment for respite care, only for permanent high care residence and that even then some protocol needed to be observed which would take two weeks and that as there was nothing they could do for Lyle he'd have to go back home. I told her that was out of the question as my mother and sister were exhausted and needed a rest. She conceded indignantly that he would then have to be admitted, saying that she would ring Elvie. I gave her a little while then rang the farm only to learn that this lady had told Meredith and Elvie that Lyle was fine to go home. Elvie protested, and told the lady that they were obviously getting nowhere at the moment and she didn't want to waste the lady's time nor her own as she had much to do. They were busy with an order for the herb people. The lady said she would ring back later to arrange a time for Elvie to come down tomorrow to discuss things. She didn't ring back.
That evening Elvie and I decided that the only thing going for us at that point was that Lyle was in hospital and unless we went to get him he'd stay there. I said I'd ring them in the morning and we'd take it from there.
So, last Friday morning I rang the hospital, looking for the social worker we'd had on the phone the day before. I learned that he'd been admitted to a specialist aged care ward and a social worker called Prue had taken over his case and she would ring me. She did a little later and she asked many questions about our family situation ie. who owned the farm property?, who was proprietor of the business?, who did we employ?, what was the history of the business?, in fact in a half an hour conversation we covered every aspect of Lyle's condition and medical history and every facet of the 35 year history of the family farm. This lady Prue seemed so helpful and concerned that I took her immediately into my trust, and agreed to meet her at 3.00pm when I brought down things Lyle wanted.
Prue was as delightful in person as she was on the phone and she explained that Lyle would be there for five days and would be examined and assisted by specialist doctors, physios, OT's, psychologists and counsellors and then hopefully the best possible solution will be clear, given our unusual circumstances.
Gordon and I went in with Lyle's things to bed 6 where he was asleep. We woke him up and discussed his problems, including the difficulty getting his dick into the bottle at night. He had worked out the best solution, in his view, to our predicament. We will sell the farm and he and Elvie will go into a place where it would be easier for her look after him, and our worries will be over. I made the point to him that the rest of us loved our work just as he once did, before he lost his physical capability, and that I didn't think selling the farm was the answer, as then we would all have lost what we loved. I disagreed with the price Lyle said we'd get for the farm. Who wants to buy six acres of garden in the middle of the worst drought for 100 years. For the first time it hit me that Lyle's ill health might actually bring about the finish of the farm and my current livelihood. Lyle asked me to have the property valued. I'm meeting an agent there this afternoon for that purpose.

Last weekend's honey (Dec2,3) haul turned out to be more than 50 kgs. The bees have been flying hard and 'hanging out' on the hot days. Robbie gets his VCE results today. There's an internet cafe in Lakes Entrance, I hope he emails me. I rang he and Lib on his mobile last night. They were cooking a BBQ. I told Lib to make sure she doesn't fall down the stairs. She didn't think it was funny. Believe me, I wasn't trying to be.