Friday 6 May

Big agenda I tem for today was the trip to Atria, the assisted living place, for gramps to see the rooms and talk dollars. Gramps was up a bit earlier to do all his grooming in the bathroom, including his first shower since being home. He managed on his own, although we were taking turns hovering outside the door, and was pretty proud of himself. He was keen to put real clothes on as he has been living in pyjamas for a few weeks now. He has lost a lot of weight so getting his pants to stay up was a bit of a challenge. 

Noni was all ready to go but then dragged her heels and said she did not want to go, she would just stay home. But gramps was so disappointed that in the end she agreed to come. The place is about 3 minutes from the Martinellis house. We were met by Lance and then taken under the wing of John who gave us our tour and then sat down with us in the smaller room to answer questions and discuss costs. John also did an interview with each of them individually and Noni wanted to know what kind of questions he would be asking, she wanted to know if it would be about money? Said I did not know so she asked Gramps to go first so she could listen to the questions. The purpose of the interview was to assess how able they are to take care of their basic needs on their own. honestly I was so proud of them, they are so with it and had no problem answering any of the questions. 

The space they are looking at is two generous rooms adjoining with a bathroom in between. They have the option of each having their own room or of putting both beds in one and sitting room in the other. I am staying out of that discussion. They bring their own furniture and linen but management provides small fridge and microwave. There is a hair salon, although Noni has changed her hair style, no longer getting it set and sprayed, instead just a simple comb with a curl on each side and a curl in front. It looks so so much better than the old style and she really likes it too. There were all sorts of things going on there and today while we were there we heard that the movie that night was South Pacific with popcorn. We were invited to stay for lunch and it was clear that N&G were attracting attention. There are 80 odd residents and we had chats with a few in the lunch room. The menu is decent and the lunch today was surprisingly good. So overall it was not too scary. 

They have to move in before 30 May so they have 3 weeks. NOni already said to me this afternoon, "I am not ready to go this coming week!" I suggested that she say that to Dad and then have another think about it next week.