Chapter 33 #2
‘No, no, I expect they are par for the course once you get to my age, but…’ Then it spilled out of her, the fact that she knew she’d lost weight, she had no idea how much, but once she’d spotted it in the mirror that day, she started to see it clearly at odd times, noticing how spindly her shins had become, how papery thin her hands suddenly were, and then she’d realised that even sitting in her favourite chair was no longer comfortable because it felt as if it bruised against her bones.
‘That can’t be in my imagination, can it? ’
‘Of course it’s not. Let’s see.’ Avril went to her car, brought in her weighing scales and helped Constance up to see if there was anything to worry about.
‘You’re very light. I mean, you’re at the stage where I’d almost be thinking…’
‘It’s not that I don’t eat well, I have a healthy appetite and I cook all my own meals and…
’ Constance paused, realizing perhaps she didn’t need to make excuses around her independence for Avril.
‘Perhaps I could take Complan or some of those energy drinks you see advertised on the television these days?’
‘Well, I think we can find something more palatable than that.’ Avril smiled.
‘But we’re going to have to look a little deeper here.
We can take some bloods, get them run through.
They won’t tell what’s wrong, necessarily, but they’ll tell us if something isn’t right, how would that do you for now? ’
‘When will we know?’
‘I can get them to the mainland this evening, but it’ll take a few days for the lab to check them and then get the results back.’
‘Would it show if it was something…?’ Constance hated how her voice sounded so thin and frightened. ‘Serious?’
‘Now, listen to me, Constance Macken – you are in great health, you’ve lived a good life. If there’s something amiss, getting checked is the most important thing you can do. Would you consider a full check-up if I booked it?’
‘In a hospital?’ That knocked her for six.
‘Don’t worry, it’s just a precaution, you haven’t properly been checked over in years. I mean, apart from blood pressure and the occasional visit to the GP when he holds a surgery on the island, when was the last time you had a good checking over?’
‘Oh dear, between ourselves, I haven’t been to the GP in years, and as to being checked over,’ she rolled her eyes to heaven, ‘I’ve been lucky to be healthy enough not to warrant it.’
‘Well, I think there’s your answer. This is probably something of nothing, but you need to get properly checked out. I’m going to make a call, see if we can’t get you booked in for a full MOT. You won’t know yourself at the end of it, it’ll be like a little holiday for you.’
It was no good putting it off; Constance had a feeling that even if she dug her heels in and refused to go, between Avril, Heather and Ros, she’d be coaxed into it anyway.
‘You know,’ Avril said later as she tidied away everything, ‘this is just a thought, but you could ask Ros if she’d like to be your carer.’
‘My carer? But I don’t need a carer; I couldn’t possibly…’
‘No,’ she smiled and put up her two hands in a sign of peace, ‘hear me out now, there’s a government payment.
It’s not huge, but she could have a part-time job as well.
I know it’s probably unorthodox, that your carer is also your gardener, but I’d be signing off on the papers and I’d be happy to think you had someone close by, if only to give you reassurance,’ she said softly.
‘So, she could stay here and the government would pay her to live on the island and…’ The tears threatened to well up again.
‘I’d love that, I really would if it was something that Ros wanted…
’ Constance felt suddenly overcome, flooded with fears that had lived at the back of her mind for years when Sheila Deere had been visiting here as the district nurse.
‘You know, I was always afraid of getting older, not being able to cope. I thought the district nurse would want to ship me off to a nursing home and lock up this place behind me.’
‘Oh, Constance, why on earth would we want to do that? No, I’m all about community nursing and care. No-one does better in a strange environment than they do in their own home, but you need people around you, if only to sit down and have a chat with, that’s as important as any blood test.’
‘And Ros could stay here and get paid, if we did this?’
‘Not a fortune. But if she is living here,’ Avril looked around the house meaningfully, ‘then even better. Certainly enough to get by on, especially if she was happy here on the island.’
‘That’s… I never realised that could be… well, it’s good to know.’ Constance cleared her throat. She couldn’t help but feel it might be exactly the lifeline they both needed.
‘It’s really not very much money, I mean, she might like to have some other project as well, she’s very young to settle for a social welfare payment, but maybe think about it.’
‘Thank you, I’ll mention it to her and then we’ll see what the tests bring back, eh?
’ Constance would mention it to Ros, but she decided she would wait and make sure that all those bloods were clear first of all.
The last thing she wanted was Ros hanging about because she felt she had no choice; far better to have her here without it feeling like an obligation.
And the bloods would be fine, of course they would, she was as tough as old boots, wasn’t she?
‘Right you are,’ Avril said, fastening up her bag. ‘Gosh, I don’t know where the days go to, I really don’t,’ she added, making her way out the door and leaving in her wake a much more optimistic old lady than she’d found.