This morning I rolled out of bed with a definite spring in my step. I had to pick up Poem by 9am. I grabbed some breakfast and set off. Such a beautiful sunny day. I plugged my phone into the car played Mallory Knox all the way up the motorway, singing my heart out.
Poem was having her breakfast when I got there. I only had to wait a short time. We jumped in the car and decided on Catfish and the Bottlemen album. I asked Poem how she was getting on and it was the usual response of “I’m fine”. It very difficult to know if to continue questioning incase Poem gets upset. Today I did though and to my surprise she really opened up. I suggested we could write her worries down and give them to the staff when we get back to the unit.
On a Sunday Poem has mid morning snack at 10.30am, main meal at 12.30 and mid afternoon snack at 15.45.
When we got home we had twenty minutes until mid morning snack. I popped the chicken in the oven for the 12.30 roast and we sat in the garden in the sunshine and painted our nails. Snack is 3 biscuits and 250 mls of milk. Once snack has been eaten Poem has to sit for half an hour. Dinner is less than an hour away. We decide on a gentle game of badminton in the garden. Just tapping it to one another with Skater and Lake.
The roast went well. No real problems other than Poem trying to cut her portion size. With gentle persuasion she accepted the plate. After the main meal it’s an hour of relaxation.
At 2pm we decided to tye dye. What fun the four of us had.
Lake submerged his hands and rubber gloves in the dye and ended up having to scrub his hand for twenty minutes. Poem joked that Lake looked like a smurf.
We played snakes and ladders until 3.45 snack time. Whilst we all played I wrote down Poem’s worries that we had spoken about in the morning.
Her main worry was that she had gained 2 kilos. She cannot cope with gaining weight. So many times we have been here before. The conversation normally entails me explaining that’s what has to happen and Poem normally says she knows and closes down. Today she explained why. She gave me a reason. She linked it to a fear from when she was 8 years old. For me this is massive. It certainly won’t change things dramatically but is a small significant step. We need those.
Mid afternoon snack is a Nutrigrain bar and an apple. As soon as this was finished it was time to leave.
When we arrived back I passed the notes to Poem’s primary nurse and we said our goodbyes.
We left as always with a mix of feelings but today with chink more understanding. The sun was still shining on the way home, as it should.
#beatfred #anawarrior #edrecovery
beatfred.wordpress.com 