I Care

  One of the most stressful things about the role of ‘carer’ is the unknown. You never know what’s round the corner. This of course applies to everyone, not just carers, but when you are looking after someone with a degenerative health condition, the risks of unexpected crisis are much greater. Crises which involve falls, hallucinations, problems with medication or paramedic intervention are always stressful. The stress cannot be avoided. But over the years I have learned to mitigate the stress to a certain extent. This is my learning so far… 1.          I don’t let the fear of a crisis stop me from leading an interesting life. If a crisis happens, I just have to deal with it. 2.         I try to keep the pace of my life manageable. I build in gaps between activities to give me time to deal with the unexpected. 3.       . If I am booked to do something really important, I have an emergency plan in place eg a helper...

 Caring for someone with Dementia takes a lot of time, as many tasks are no longer shared. I now organise the medication and appointments, fill in the forms, sort out the diary and finances, as well as having sole responsibility for all domestic tasks including shopping and preparation of meals. On the whole, I don’t mind, though I’m not a great lover of domesticity! So my resolution last year for 2024 was to re-invent myself in order to cope. I gave up some of my voluntary work and only retained those activities which I enjoyed. I tried a few new things, some successful, some disastrous, and, when we could afford it, I bought in some additional help. Being a carer can be quite isolating, so getting out and meeting people was and still is an essential part of my survival kit. Sometimes I've had to show great strength and insist on time for myself. Chris and I had done so much together in the past, and he found it difficult to understand that he couldn’t always accompany me anymor...