Meeting again :-)

 

And there they are - together again! Mum and son! 

The care home announced recently that family visits can start again, reservation only and for 20 mins at a time. 

New COVID-19 case numbers in Hokkaido have dropped to less that 50 a day recently, and so the home felt they could let us meet our dear elderly again.

Okaasan was surprisingly great - we were relieved.

Last spring, when we didn't meet for 10 weeks she lost a lot of communication ability and mental alertness. It slowly returned over the summer, and then of course we were cut off from her in November.

She was very smiley and happy, lots of laughs and funny goldfish mouth gestures. Pretty sure she knew who we were. The care home had Dolls' Day decorations, and plastic cherry blossom on the walls - more cheerful. We spent our 20 mins walking the corridors of her floor, sitting in window areas to make gold fish gestures and laughing a lot.

The staff said she can still walk, with the walking frame and a lot of support from an able bodied person, but her confidence for walking is initially low.

But! Here she is!

Hope we can visit once a week again....and I wonder when she will get vaccinated? Japan JUST started vaccinations last week and a 90 year old in a care home must be high on the list.

By the way - did you see this funny Covid-19 story last week? We all need a laugh...a 6 cm high man was offered an early vaccination....