Charles Taylor 1923 - 2016

I thought I would copy Elder Daughter's tribute to Dad which she posted on Facebook. She has said it so much better than I could. 

Today saw the end of the long and extraordinary life of a remarkable man.

He had a passion for Kipling, knickerbocker glories, steam trains and lamenting the passing of the British Empire. He was hilariously and unrepentantly un-PC. He would delight in telling us what he would do to Tony Blair if he ever got his hands on him. He wrote a book. He painted and drew. He met the queen. He taught himself to use a computer and spent much of his 80s emailing friends all over the world that he had met online, until his eyesight failed. In his younger years he built steam engines and lectured on engineering in universities up and down the UK despite mostly being a self educated man. He loved his family dearly, and we loved him. He was described by all who knew him as a true gentleman.

He was a man that I was proud to call my friend, my mentor and my co-conspirator. He encouraged me, inspired me, took an interest in my life and work, and taught me so much.

He was my grandad.

I am posting this to celebrate a wonderful human being and to tell the world how proud I am to have known him. He died peacefully at home, his way, surrounded by his family. Rest in peace grandad, and thank you for all that you have given us xxx

All quiet on the midnight front

After a fairly quiet day yesterday, Dad needed medication to settle him again last night. A district nurse came in the evening to administer it, warning me that some time in the early hours, he might become restless again and need a top up. As it happened, he didn’t. He slept soundly all night, but I thought it would be better to sleep downstairs this time, instead of upstairs with the baby alarm.

This is where the advantages of a small house suddenly become less obvious.

Dad had a two seater sofa in his living room, which needed to go to make room for the hospital bed and anyway, a two seater is not really long enough to sleep on, not if you want to stretch your legs, anyway. He also has a rise and recline chair, which we kept and which is very comfortable for sitting on. Sadly, it’s not so comfortable to sleep on.

By two am, I had finally figured out a way to lie on it which was not too detrimental to my back and I did actually manage to sleep maybe fifty percent of the night, in short bursts, but being a bit on the greedy side, where sleep is concerned, that still left me feeling a little the worse for wear today.

Today, Dad has had a syringe fitted, which will administer his medication in short, measured doses throughout twenty four hours, so I am very hopeful that he will have another good night.

For me, it’s back upstairs with the baby monitor and hopefully, an equally good night’s sleep.

Dad back at home

Dad has been back at home for just over a week now and we are getting used to the new carers who come in four times a day to wash and change him, see to his food, what little he is eating, and generally make him comfortable, In addition, we have carers from Hospice at Home and Marie Curie to stay the night with him, if they have someone available. They are usually only able to tell me if they can send someone during the early evening, so I don’t generally know until then whether someone will be in or if I will have to stay. If I stay, I sleep upstairs and have a baby monitor on in case Dad is restless or needs anything during the night.

The baby monitor is a bit of a two edged sword as it picks up every sound, which stops me sleeping or on the other hand, when he is quiet, I keep waking up and wondering why I can’t hear anything. Well, you can’t win ‘em all! The nights when someone rings up and says, “I’ll be at your dad’s tonight” are sheer bliss and I can’t thank them enough. I brought up four children with all the attendant disrupted nights and lack of sleep, but then, as Elder Daughter was happy to point out, I was thirty years younger then. These days, sleep eludes me all too frequently anyway (own personal heating system, creaky hip and knees etc)  and a good night’s slumber is both rare and precious.

Last night, Carol from Hospice at Home drew the short straw as Dad had a very disrupted night and barely slept at all, so much so, that she had to call on Out of Hours Marie Curie service to come out, resulting in his first injection of Midazolam to calm him down.

This is a steep learning curve.