The cost of going out

Luvbug and I had a meal in London Friday night; his parents had stopped over en route from Ireland to Switzerland for a holiday.

We left mum around 5.30. I 'phoned her at 7.45. I tried to call again at 9, during our meal, but no answer. A few more tries, no answer. When we drove home we came via Mum's, to check she was ok.

I found her in bed, with two duvets wrapped round her. Remembering that a high temperature can bring on a fever, I gently pulled one away. She woke up. She was still half dressed under there. She was talking about birdies, or baddies, I couldn't quite make it out.

I'm not going into details more than that, but there was evidence in her home of confusion, including with her pills, despite the special container for them, which is divided into days and times of day. She couldn't remember if she had gone to bed early, or what she had done in the evening, but said that she had lost track of the time and the day. We stayed for a while to check she was going to be ok, but of course we couldn't really know. We just had to hope for the best, when we left her settled down again, and sneaked out at nearly 1am.

We had a disturbed, worried night, then I headed to her place in the morning, where she was tired and vague all day. I bought a thermometer recently so I can check her temperature if ever she is out of sorts, and this was ok.

She's continued to improve as the week has gone on, but we are left reeling, half stunned, that our first evening to ourselves since October caused, or at least resulted in, confusion and panic and upset on her part. It has left us with heavy hearts, I can't deny it.