Adventure Is Under Construction - April 2024: Pre-Trippie

[Gill H]

Apologies that I am so busy these days, I’m actually writing this pre-trippie after having been home from our holiday for several months! So let me be brief (or at least try…)

Things at home have been tricky for a good while. Mum went into a nursing home in October 2023, and her dementia and general frailty mean she wlll be there for the rest of her life. Fortunately the staff are superb and she has settled down well.

Dad was finding it very hard to be without her, even though his caring duties had taken their toll on his health. At 92 and with asthma and various other health problems, life was getting more and more difficult. I was doing as much as I could, but it was getting beyond what I could help with.

We had some annual leave booked at the end of April, and I happened to spot a special offer from Eurostar for £35 tickets per person each way. We spent a happy evening digging out deals, and managed to price up a trip that came within our budget. So when we went over to see Dad that night, we discussed the idea to see if he would be OK with it. Dad was happy for us to go away as with a combination of visits from friends and the regular carers, he was sure he would manage for a few days. And he was very keen for us to have some respite in a place we loved so well.

So that night, we booked the Eurostar, then 3 nights in the Ibis Val d’Europe, 3 days’ park tickets, trains to and from London, and a night in the Premier Inn St Pancras. The whole trip came to just over £1,000 which we thought was pretty good.

Then one day in March, I was working from home and realised I hadn’t had an email or text from Dad that morning, which was unusual. I went over to his house, to find him sitting in his chair but unresponsive, as if he was in a deep sleep. Eventually he was admitted to hospital and I had a scary few hours waiting with him in the Resus ward. Peter joined me when he finished work, and we were eventually sent home to rest. Imagine our surprise when the next morning, Dad was sitting up in bed, talking nineteen to the dozen and asking for his reading glasses and his ipad!

This was followed by a week and a half of ups and downs during which he was diagnosed with heart failure and had to have antibiotics for an infection. But eventually Dad was moved to a nearby hospital for convalescence. Apart from the heart failure he was also dealing with kidney failure, but he managed to stay positive and the staff did a superb job looking after him.

Throughout this time we battled with ourselves as to whether we should still go to DLP. But Dad was insistent that we should go and have a good time, and since we knew the hospital staff had things under control, we decided to take the opportunity of a few days in our happy place.

We also managed to book tickets to the theatre to see Cabaret. Having heard horror stories of tickets well over £100 for the cheapest seats, we were delighted to find some at £60 and used our Christmas theatre tokens towards the cost.

And that was pretty much it until we got ready to go to London!

Just to bring you up to speed, Dad was in hospital for over two months, but is now back home, plus he has a wonderful live-in carer. So, I will leave you for now but please come back for the next instalment – our pre-travel days!

>>Pre-Travel Days

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