What do you do when the plans you have made for a special celebration can’t happen due to decreased mobility, ill health or even shielding?
What do you do when the plans you have made for a special celebration can’t happen due to decreased mobility, ill health or even shielding?
That is the disappointment our 92 year old client ‘P’ faced when ill health meant the special 60th wedding anniversary celebration he and his wife had looked forward to couldn’t go ahead.
Our professional live-in Carer Robyn is an experienced carer with over 11 years’ experience. She has been with P for 15 months. Providing one-to-one care Robyn has helped P recover after a hospital stay, and supports him on a number of health and mobility related challenges. Live-in care enables people like P, and couples to remain living in the comfort, familiarity and security of their own home maintaining independence and dignity. Robyn has gotten to know P well, his preferences, hobbies, likes and dislikes and this knowledge enabled her to help him when he worried about how to celebrate his upcoming 60th wedding anniversary.
Robyn tells the story:
“P is 92 and lives with his wife who is 87. When I first started here, P had just come out of hospital following an operation on his foot, and he’d then contracted sepsis.
Well, P is the most determined person I know and he fought to get better and come home. Once home, his day-to-day routine had changed and he had to adjust. He now has various medical needs and was only mobile in the house when in a wheelchair, For the first time in his life he needed full time care.
P was absolutely determined to get back on his feet and it’s thanks to his steely determination that I and other carers were able to help him get to where he is today. We did it slowly and in stages and things started to get better. His appetite improved, his general outlook improved and his health improved. Within a few months P was walking with the aid of his Zimmer frame, it was incredibly rewarding to see how he was getting better.
The two of us had lengthy chats about his recovery and during one of our chats he mentioned how sorry he was that their 60th wedding anniversary was coming up and he couldn’t take his wife out for a meal. That was it for me! I had a chat to P’s daughter about doing a surprise dinner for them and she was delighted with the idea.
We made plans and on the big day the daughter took her parents for a drive out and an afternoon at her house whilst I revamped the small lounge to create a restaurant at home. I moved furniture about, set up a table for two, decorated with flowers and candles, set the table beautifully and made it look as special as I could. I even managed to get a CD with their favourite classical music, which was playing softly through the evening.
They came back in time for dinner and as they walked in and saw what was set out before them, the look of surprise on their faces and their ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ brought me to tears.
I wanted to make this moment extra special, so I cooked their favourite food and did a 3 course meal. To give that ‘restaurant feel’ I dressed as a waitress and served them at the table. They then enjoyed a romantic dinner, just the two of them, to mark this special celebration.
After the meal, I brought through their pile of cards that had come in the mail and they delighted in opening them all. They couldn’t thank me enough, they were so appreciative and over the moon. This was the best gift I could have given them, and just seeing their faces and knowing what a special evening they had was amazing and a special moment for me. By the next morning, the whole village knew their special 60th wedding anniversary dinner!
I couldn’t ask for a better client than P. He is the most amazing, kind and intelligent person. It is incredibly rewarding and special to be in a position where you can provide such tailored care and make such a difference to a person’s life. This is about enabling my client to have a life as fulfilled as possible.
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