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- Member
Mon Aug 15, 2016 2:53 pm
Well, we did it - we managed to spend three days at a music festival relaxing and recharging our soul batteries, whilst simultaneously still managing to care for his mum and my dad.
We were lucky in that the festival is held literally ten minutes down the road from home, so we were able to come and go each day.
Every day was pretty regimented:
7am: Wake up, shower, dress, eat breakfast, give his mum her breakfast, sort cats out
8am: Ring my dad, go through morning ritual - pills, unlock front door, breakfast, clothes, check diary for the day, remind him what we're doing
8:15am: Prepare cold lunch and dinner for his mum. Put them into lunch bags with ice blocks. Make our picnic lunch.
9am: Make his mum a hot drink, check she has meds, insulin, hypo kit, etc. Load the car
9:30am: Leave a bag for parcels attached to the back door (having pre-briefed postie and usual parcel guy) so his mum doesn't need to try and come downstairs while we're out. Hide back door key in special hiding place in garage and leave back door of garage unlocked so if anyone does need to get into the house, we can instruct them where key is (need to get a key safe soon). Head off to festival
Every 2ish hours: Mobile on, ring my dad, ring his mum, check both are OK, switch mobile back off again to conserve battery - bring back the Nokia brick, I say - there were never battery issues with them!
9:15pm: Mobile on during the break, ring my dad for bedtime ritual (pills, pyjamas, lock the front door, remind him to turn telly off before bed), tell him I'll call him in the morning, mobile back off ready for the final act
12 midnight: Leave festival field and join the crowd for the walk back to the car park
12:30am: Arrive home, put ice blocks all back into freezer, wash up all lunch and dinner stuff, make sure his mum has all drinks, meds, etc for the night
1am: Collapse into bed
7am: Start again
It was three lovely days of sunshine and being able to actually enjoy ourselves without constant demands from all sides.
I guess that makes us very lucky indeed (although I still miss camping and being able to get sh**faced with complete strangers who for three days are your new bezzie mates)
I hope you guys manage to grab any kind of moment of "you-time" that you can too.
Xxx
We were lucky in that the festival is held literally ten minutes down the road from home, so we were able to come and go each day.
Every day was pretty regimented:
7am: Wake up, shower, dress, eat breakfast, give his mum her breakfast, sort cats out
8am: Ring my dad, go through morning ritual - pills, unlock front door, breakfast, clothes, check diary for the day, remind him what we're doing
8:15am: Prepare cold lunch and dinner for his mum. Put them into lunch bags with ice blocks. Make our picnic lunch.
9am: Make his mum a hot drink, check she has meds, insulin, hypo kit, etc. Load the car
9:30am: Leave a bag for parcels attached to the back door (having pre-briefed postie and usual parcel guy) so his mum doesn't need to try and come downstairs while we're out. Hide back door key in special hiding place in garage and leave back door of garage unlocked so if anyone does need to get into the house, we can instruct them where key is (need to get a key safe soon). Head off to festival
Every 2ish hours: Mobile on, ring my dad, ring his mum, check both are OK, switch mobile back off again to conserve battery - bring back the Nokia brick, I say - there were never battery issues with them!
9:15pm: Mobile on during the break, ring my dad for bedtime ritual (pills, pyjamas, lock the front door, remind him to turn telly off before bed), tell him I'll call him in the morning, mobile back off ready for the final act
12 midnight: Leave festival field and join the crowd for the walk back to the car park
12:30am: Arrive home, put ice blocks all back into freezer, wash up all lunch and dinner stuff, make sure his mum has all drinks, meds, etc for the night
1am: Collapse into bed
7am: Start again
It was three lovely days of sunshine and being able to actually enjoy ourselves without constant demands from all sides.
I guess that makes us very lucky indeed (although I still miss camping and being able to get sh**faced with complete strangers who for three days are your new bezzie mates)
I hope you guys manage to grab any kind of moment of "you-time" that you can too.
Xxx
