Mum’s always been a control freak. She hasn’t been able to walk properly for many years and when my dad was alive she would sit in her chair and order him around. My mental imagine of her was like a spider, sitting in the centre of her web, controlling everything through the force of her will.

When I came to live here, I was determined not to be swamped and bullied – which did mean I had to use a lot of energy keeping up my boundaries. But recently, mum’s undergone a change; such a strange and uncharacteristic change that it’s taken me a while to fully grasp what’s going on. She’s started asking me “what do you want me to do?” And this for the simplest of tasks. Even, “Do you want me to flush the loo?” Answer: “Yes, please!”

She’s forgetting how to do things that she could do even a few weeks ago. Initially I had to remember to remind her (which was a bit of a headache because I wouldn’t always remember myself). But now I’ve integrated those tasks into my daily routine. It does add to my jobs but in some ways it easier because I don’t need to worry that I’ll hurt her feelings by ordering her around or make her feel less empowered by telling her what to do.

People tell me old people become more ‘biddable’. I have to say my dad never did. He continued to be a wheeler-dealer until the very end: Telling me there was a chap who worked in the hospital who was going to help him ‘get out’. Wink, wink. He was caught several times trying to make a break for it. I know he made it difficult for the staff, but he was always a rufty-tufty working man and I was proud that he clung onto a sense of autonomy, even though he had dementia.

But ‘biddable’ is exactly the word that springs to mind when describing this change in mum. Of course she can still have her moments, flaring up over some innocuous remark that I’ve made or getting upset because her memory loss means she’s misunderstood a situation. But the rest of the time, it’s quite relaxing. I just tell her, do this and don’t do that. It’s an interesting change in dynamics. To approach the centre of the spider’s web and find this shrivelled up old lady. The flipside, of course, is that she’s becoming completely dependent on me!