Operation ok. Okaasan Ok. Oyomesan...hanging in there.

Yujiro's leg is now empty of all the metal work.
He spent the night on painkillers and will be in a wheelchair today.
Then tomorrow they get him up and walking again.
Incredible really.
I hope to go and see him on Saturday.

Yesterday was ok too at home.
I did housework in the morning. Gave Okaasan her lunch. Tried to exhaust the kittens.
Later I went downtown to check stuff about airtickets for a quick trip to Tokyo next month, to woodchip (ahhhhhh!!!) and to shop.
Back to watch TV and then give Okaasan a good fish dinner.
Sapporo had SNOW all day. And strong winds. So she didn't go out of course. But she seemed good - it took a while to get her chatty, but after about 10 minutes I got her down memory lane about milk/fish/mother/Kawagoe/father/crab....and she seemed happy enough with Yujiro being "away working".

I'm reading two books about dementia at the moment. A bit scary really, if this is our future experience. I hope by then we have built up enough trust and routine with Okaasan that she is manageable.

A friend asked in an email if Okaasan ever does/helps wth housework.
No. Not at all.
Her room is a mess of newspapers. clothes, supermarket flyers, plastic bags of half eaten food.
When I vacumn the kitchen I offer her the vacumn cleaner and leave it out in sight for her. But she has never used it.
A few weeks ago she surprised me by buying a bathroom surface cleaning sponge and actually using it in the bathroom sink.
But apart from that - no.
She washes up plates after lunch or dinner - usually - and she occasionally puts trash in the trash bins. And she hand washes her own underwear and T-shirts. She puts them in the spin dryer and hangs them up...eventually.
But basically housework is something she has forgotten all about.

Don't blame her! I wish I had reached that convenient stage.