Last night I had one of the best sleeps in a while, helped I am sure by the dog not jumping in the bed in the early hours. I slept so well, I slept through my alarm and fortunately just woke in time for work.
To start the day I had to make a few more calls about the mental health act assessment from Friday. The second part of the assessment had still not taken place, but after a few phone calls I managed to speak with someone who was able to complete the assessment today, and to cut to the climax, the patient has been detained and admitted to hospital.
After the morning huddle, I spent an hour or so calling patients. On patient in particular is struggling to understand lockdown rules. He is allowed outside to walk in the park, but his brother is shielding, and my patient cannot comprehend a different set of rules than the ones he follows. This has led to him becoming frustrated, and he has started hitting the wall when he is upset. In the old world, my colleague and I would go out to see the patient and trying to come up with positive ideas to vent his frustrations or keep him occupied. Unfortunately we cannot do this at the moment, so we have little option short of adjusting his medication to help him settle. For anyone who knows me professionally, medication is far from my preferred option if I can help it, so I am a little disappointed I have had to resort to tablets.
After the morning calls, I spent a little time in the garden with the dog. According to the met office, today is the last day of the mini-heatwave, so I enjoyed what I could while I ate lunch. I also discovered this little gem inside my shed during the break. I saw the queen wasp crawling out of the nest when I first opened the door, and she was clearly not happy to be disturbed.
Back to the computer and the afternoon was taken up my more calls. Most were straightforward, although I caught one family on a shopping trip. The patient’s mum was happy to speak, but it clearly sounded busy where she was, so we kept it brief.
Once Sarah and I had finished for the day, it was time to take the dog for a walk and run on the grass. It is getting cooler as predicted, but the dog was still exhausted by the end of the run.
Dinner this evening saw a return of the popular bean chilli and rice. Sarah requested this especially after I made it a week or so ago, and it was delicious again with plenty left for tomorrow. Entertainment this evening is probably going to be an episode or two of Friends. We have not watched Friends now for a couple of weeks, and it seems the perfect day to try rectify this.
Self-Indulgent Twaddle 