Hello everyone.
At last, after 8 years of caring, I have taken time out for myself, to the great relief of my friends, who where constantly telling me I needed some sort of diversion from my caring role. Wether or not they might agree with my decision to spend my new found ‘me time’ discussing caring related issues with fellow carers, remains to be seen. A bit about myself first and my involvement with caring for others.
Presently, in year 8 caring for my 40 year old adopted son, now at my home. Up until 4 years ago, I had also been caring, for a couple of years, for my 82 year old mum, together with my younger brother, at her home, some 5 miles in distance from mine.
Mum’s care was not easy Very demanding and demoralising. We could never do what she ultimately wanted, to make her happy, that is, to regain the use of the right arm, right leg, and her speech. She had suffered a stroke whist undergoing life saving surgery to the heart.
An emotional rollercoaster, with mum, an expert in the art of passive aggression. A characteristic we knew all too well from our childhood days. With mum, the glass was always half empty, never half full. It was very sad to see mum spend her last 2 years feeling so bitter and angry, but we did our best to keep her optimistic for the future, but at the end of the day, we felt so deflated and useless, as we knew she simply wanted to die. Was it wrong then for me to feel happy, when the day finally came? I’ll throw that one in the arena another time, as it deserves its own post.
Back to present day business.
As I said, presently in year 8 caring for my 40 year old adopted son, now at my home. Bit of a rough start to life, but turned out good, when I took him on board 20 years back. The first 4 years of his care I was primarily making visits to support him with mental heath issues and monitoring with his meds compliance. One thing led onto the other, as they do, when left unmonitored by the service providers, resulting in him having to spend 8 months recovering from a bad case of toxoplasmosis. Diagnosed with HIV related vascular dementia together with encephalopathy with shunt in situ at the same time. Both dad and son are doing well, all things considered, and looking ahead for what the future holds, and to make the most of.
The issue I have today is, when I asked my Local Authority if they could supply me with latex gloves, they point blank refused, and informed me it was the carers responsibility. Knowing the NHS has to follow strict Health and Safety laws to protect their employees, and as we are not directly employed by the Local Authorities, should they not be morally obliged to take some action?
The carers assessment is a step forward in the right direction towards our needs, so could they not at the same time, on a more practical level, address this particular need, some carers have?
At last, after 8 years of caring, I have taken time out for myself, to the great relief of my friends, who where constantly telling me I needed some sort of diversion from my caring role. Wether or not they might agree with my decision to spend my new found ‘me time’ discussing caring related issues with fellow carers, remains to be seen. A bit about myself first and my involvement with caring for others.
Presently, in year 8 caring for my 40 year old adopted son, now at my home. Up until 4 years ago, I had also been caring, for a couple of years, for my 82 year old mum, together with my younger brother, at her home, some 5 miles in distance from mine.
Mum’s care was not easy Very demanding and demoralising. We could never do what she ultimately wanted, to make her happy, that is, to regain the use of the right arm, right leg, and her speech. She had suffered a stroke whist undergoing life saving surgery to the heart.
An emotional rollercoaster, with mum, an expert in the art of passive aggression. A characteristic we knew all too well from our childhood days. With mum, the glass was always half empty, never half full. It was very sad to see mum spend her last 2 years feeling so bitter and angry, but we did our best to keep her optimistic for the future, but at the end of the day, we felt so deflated and useless, as we knew she simply wanted to die. Was it wrong then for me to feel happy, when the day finally came? I’ll throw that one in the arena another time, as it deserves its own post.
Back to present day business.
As I said, presently in year 8 caring for my 40 year old adopted son, now at my home. Bit of a rough start to life, but turned out good, when I took him on board 20 years back. The first 4 years of his care I was primarily making visits to support him with mental heath issues and monitoring with his meds compliance. One thing led onto the other, as they do, when left unmonitored by the service providers, resulting in him having to spend 8 months recovering from a bad case of toxoplasmosis. Diagnosed with HIV related vascular dementia together with encephalopathy with shunt in situ at the same time. Both dad and son are doing well, all things considered, and looking ahead for what the future holds, and to make the most of.
The issue I have today is, when I asked my Local Authority if they could supply me with latex gloves, they point blank refused, and informed me it was the carers responsibility. Knowing the NHS has to follow strict Health and Safety laws to protect their employees, and as we are not directly employed by the Local Authorities, should they not be morally obliged to take some action?
The carers assessment is a step forward in the right direction towards our needs, so could they not at the same time, on a more practical level, address this particular need, some carers have?