Hard Times.

So......while I have been 'slightly' preoccupied with events Up Over, things Down Under have not been easy either.Dulcie had a really bad night on Sunday and we all ended up with only about 2 hours sleep. She lies there loudly vocalising her thoughts or repeats phrases over and over again and we think it is stress related brought on by her breathing difficulties. She is aware of her ramblings but doesn't seem to be able to stop it. Will was up there with her a few times just stroking her back to try and calm her down.We have the bell fitted now beside her bed for her to call us. She has used it twice since we installed it but is still a bit reluctant to use it to wake us. Lying awake on Sunday night at about 3.00 am I heard her call out "Are you there Bill?" and he had to go up again as she had somehow switched her ceiling fan on and couldn't get it off.Will took Monday off as he couldn't face the day after so little rest but also we had some things to sort out.Firstly Will rang Dr Hew and made an appointment for him to come out later that day and secondly we needed to sort out what we were going to do re the ACAT assessment.If you have been paying attention, ACAT assessed Dulcie as needing Level 3 or 4 home care provision and last Friday Kathy from Blue Care came to discuss the package they could offer us.On this scheme Dulcie pays a percentage of her pension and according to the level you are on the Government also contributes.....ie a bigger contribution the higher the level.Kathy could only offer us a Level 2 at the moment as she said Level 3's and 4's were hard to come by. On the level 2 she said she could offer us 'personal care' (showers and dressing) five mornings a week and four hours respite on a Wednesday. It was more than we were getting now but when ACAT sent the report they also sent a list of other providers in the area so while we were waiting for Dr Hew Will rang around some of them to see what they had to offer.Most said they had nothing apart from Level 2 but put Dulcie's name down on their waiting lists in case a level 3 or 4 package became available.Kin Care could offer us a Level 3 package though, which meant we could get 7 mornings a week 'personal care' and our four hour respite on a Wednesday. Jo from Kin Care is coming on Thursday to discuss it with us.Dr Hew came in the early afternoon on Monday. He checked Dulcie over and told us that the X-ray she had had recently showed that her arthritis was bad in her shoulder. Will explained the difficult night we had just had and Dr Hew suggested more pain killers but Will said that her restlessness was not due to pain and seemed more stress related. He finally prescribed half a diazepam and since then she has had much more restful sleep and calmer nights.