90th birthday party kiboshed, but Kay hopeful of better days
Cocooning hasn’t played havoc with her life, says Kay Keating, apart from putting the kibosh on her attempts to celebrate her 90th birthday.
She’d been planning a shindig with family and friends for months and most of the invites had gone out, when the arrival of the coronavirus forced her to spike it.
It should have taken place at the Imperial Hotel in Cork city on Saturday evening, April 4, but instead Kay found herself confined to her new home in Árus Mhuire, a sheltered housing scheme for older people on Skehard Road.
The day didn’t go unmarked however. On Friday morning April 3, her actual birthday, neighbours turned out in the communal garden - keeping 2m between them - to sing Happy Birthday and to share in the cake and celebrations.
As her daughter Deirdre lives with her, Kay did have some family present, while her sister swung by with a beautiful homemade cake.
“It was a bit of a disappointment not to have the night out but I sort of accepted it and my neighbours were fantastic on the day,” she says.
Kay is sad that she can’t travel to see her grandchildren or her great grandchildren in the UK, where she lived for much of her life, but she does Facetime them with Deirdre’s help.
Deirdre has grandchildren of her own in the UK, and is also gutted that she cannot travel to visit. Mother and daughter had travelled back and forth regularly before the pandemic lockdown.
Kay also misses being able to see her own sister and brother who live in Cork, but are also cocooning.
Deirdre does all of the shopping for her mum, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), a lung disease, which puts her in a high risk category when it comes to Covid-19 infection.
Kay is delighted to have her daughter with her and to have made the move to Árus Mhuire ahead of the lockdown because it’s a gated compound with good security and neighbours that look out for one another.
“I can walk around the compound and go out in the back garden, so I don’t mind cocooning as long as I can get out for a breath of fresh air,” Kay says.
“The people who live here are all very aware of social distancing but in saying that, we can all sit out in our porches in nice weather and enjoy the chat.”
At the same time, Kay is glad the restrictions have been eased somewhat, as it means Deirdre is less restricted in her movements, and Kay can also leave the compound if she wants to.
She already travels with Deirdre to and from South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital to the Warfarin Clinic. Her appointments were not cancelled during the pandemic, although they are now allotted specific appointment times to avoid patients congregating outside outpatient clinics.
Kay says: “As difficult as this time has been for everyone, we all realise it has to be done if we are ever going to get rid of this evil virus and we look forward to seeing our families and friends soon.
In all my 90 years, I have never encountered anything like it and I hope my grandchildren never have to see anything like it again."
