Thu Mar 17, 2011 11:53 am
I'm 66, retired, and a full time carer for my wife who has secondary progressive MS and is in a wheelchair. We have an adult daughter who also has MS - primary progressive - who is also in a wheelchair and lives on her own in a housing association bungalow, 240 miles away. My wife is increasingly needy but my daughter takes pride in coping on her own - with domestic and personal help of course.
I would go mad if I didn't have an outlet - in my case it's music, as I'm an amateur trumpeter.
To support MS generally I am a committee member of my local MS Society Branch, though this is a "duty" rather than enjoyable.
I tend to avoid "carers'" groups as I want to think about things other than caring when I'm not at home. I guess I'm relatively lucky - a lot of carers would love to be in my position - but I adopted a policy of "benign neglect" (helping when asked rather than offering it, and with a selectively deaf ear) many years ago.
I'm not very good at "letting it all hang out" and yes I do have dark times, but music has been my safety valve (it's a bit like cigarettes - not so much that you enjoy it but you get withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop
)
I would go mad if I didn't have an outlet - in my case it's music, as I'm an amateur trumpeter.
To support MS generally I am a committee member of my local MS Society Branch, though this is a "duty" rather than enjoyable.
I tend to avoid "carers'" groups as I want to think about things other than caring when I'm not at home. I guess I'm relatively lucky - a lot of carers would love to be in my position - but I adopted a policy of "benign neglect" (helping when asked rather than offering it, and with a selectively deaf ear) many years ago.
I'm not very good at "letting it all hang out" and yes I do have dark times, but music has been my safety valve (it's a bit like cigarettes - not so much that you enjoy it but you get withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop
)
