Sometimes, you just need your mum.

It is hard to believe that I have had a new hip for four whole weeks.

Today has a bit lonely and tough, my Mum went back to Australia on Tuesday.

We had a lovely morning Tuesday, getting up ridiculously early so she could take photos out the front of our house of Mr Gin and me. After she finished packing we went off to have lunch, trying to locate Eggs Benedict in our part of East London. This was successful and we had a little wander around a market and then home to get organised to put her in a taxi.

Mum submits to a selfie with a crazy tiger hat lady

Once she left the house felt immediately empty. When my Mum offered to come over, Mr Gin and I discussed it and said if she wanted to she was more than welcome. I think that was one of best decisions we made during this process.

I am close to my mother, and as I have lived in the UK for over a decade we don’t see each other often. We do speak at least once a week and generally email and what’s app a fair bit. She was driving force during all of my surgeries as a child and was there for other medical bits in my 20s. Her statement was “I was there for the others, I can be there for this one.”

Her support was invaluable, neither Mr Gin nor I have family near by, we have a great circle of friends but having Mum around was something different. She helped around the house, putting on TEDs, dishwasher duty, letting the cats in and out, nagging me to my exercises, suggesting walks and on the bad days, letting me sleep and then finding something for me to do to break the black dog creeping. She helped me finish the quilt and helped plan out a new one.  She also did a bit of cooking, pulling out old family favourites, considering she does not cook often (my Dad cooks most of the time). She bought over Australian snacks, my favourite chicken Twisities and Tim Tam biscuits as well as ingredients for a 1970s classic, Apricot Chicken.  All this help was a god send for Mr Gin, removing some of the jobs that needed doing as I recovered to a point of being able to help as well. Mr Gin has been working full time through a lot of this caper and picking up the slack of my role in our little household.

The most important bit was her company, we chatted about many things, the past, the future and cats. There was a lot of giggling. It is something we have done for a long time. Odd things set us off, generally her telling me that my father would not approve of something. One of the funniest moments was icing tarts and there was chocolate icing all over the place and Mum doing impressions of Dad.  We have not sat around chatting for a long time, I was very grateful for the time. When in London in the past, her and Dad, have been tourists and this time it was more like when I visited home when living in Melbourne.

I am now pottering around the house on my own, which is fine but I would not have been able to this in first couple of weeks.  Melbourne to London to look after a family member is rather a wonderful thing, and we were lucky that Mum was able to do it. She did say it was better to come than being in Australia worrying.
She is back home with Dad and I miss her, I am happy enough pottering around by myself and leaving things for Mr Gin but that cats are not quite as good at conversation as Mum.

The other part that is tough is that last night I went out to my Women’s Institute meeting which was great fun but going into the meeting my crutch slipped, causing me to stamp down on my operated leg. It feels like the femur has been jarred slightly. Morphine was back on the night time routine, disappointingly. Thankfully it is not as bad as it could be as the amazing R drove me home after the meeting, I had got there by the tube but that is another story!