The Witching Hour

It’s Friday now- 2:30am. My Dad and I are taking it turns to be with her throughout the whole of each day. She’s terrified of hospitals and can’t manage on her own at all. We take it in turns to comfort her, give her water and a chocolate food supplement that she really seems to like the taste of. Last night she asked for some pizza and I managed to rustle up a mushroom and cheese pizza from one of Kettering’s find dinning establishments.

I have decided to stay on California time which means I get the night shift from around 9:00pm to 6:00am. I am quite concerned that my Dad is going to burn himself out and although I know he won’t sleep well for worry I at least want to give him the chance to sleep at a normal time.

The night shift a tough one as it includes "the witching hour"…. Last night I had a long and interesting conversation with my Mum until around midnight.
"I feel hot" she told me and I checked her head. Yes, it was a little hot.
10 minutes later she says:
"Well I’m not going to do this again so we might as well have a party. Have you brought the ice cream?"

She has gotten confused but luckily quickly falls asleep until 2:00am. I do the same and am awoken by her scrabbling to take off her mask.
"You don’t understand, I don’t want to play this game anymore." she declares.
I get the nurse and we agree she can wear the smaller mask for the next few hours and the nurse fits it. As soon as the nurse is gone my Mum snatches it off again and holds the strap firmly in her hand refusing to give it to me.
"I’m not wearing this." She declares.
"But you need to."
"Well I’m not, and you can’t make me."
The nurse returns and calmly tells her that she must wear it.
"Well I’m not going to."
I think fast: "No mask, no chocolate drink."
"He’s a tell tale tit." My Mum tells the nurse and agrees to have the mask on again and I feed her the chocolate drink through a hole in it.

It’s really weird to have a parent who is completely lucid and together in the day and a couple of ice creams short of a picnic at night, but I’m told that this often happens. When will it stop?