h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

GB, Just checked here

http://www.nhs.uk/medicine-guides/pages/MedicineOverview.aspx?medicine=Fybogel

and it seems it may not be a good idea. Scroll down for reasons not to take it. That's a shame as it is very good, and No I don't have shares

Websailor

There was a good bit on the news this morning about carers' 15 minute minute visits, and the growing feeling that that's not long enough.

I saw that, too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24425427

I saw that, strange how the news seems to mirror my life

Luckily Mum doesn't get any 15 mins calls. Her morning call is 45 mins, the other 3 are 30 mins.

I saw it too so you are lucky. Maybe it depends if you pay or not. I doubt if anything will be done, it is all down to money and politics.

Websailor

For those unhappy with care standards take a look here and add your voice. Just maybe something will be done.


http://www.lcdisability.org/lordhowe

Websailor

I'm not ing, I'm Incognito (the table lamp)

I do wonder if we'll ever relax even with paid carers coming in.

Yesterday one of the regular teatime carers called at Mum's at 4.15pm, wrote in the carer log that Violet was out, and she'd make a ham & tomato sandwich and put it in the fridge for later. My sister called at 5.30pm, rang me to ask me if I'd taken Mum out about 4pm? No says I, I was with Ian in The Trawlerman at 4pm. My sister had found Mum in her bed (the downstairs one). She was half-undressed and fast asleep. My sister was flaming mad, why wouldn't a paid carer look for their charge, in every room of the house and outside if necessary? (Mum isn't a prisoner, she has the patio door key available). If my sister hadn't turned up, the next carer would have been the night one around 8pm. Mum would've gone from when I left (2pm) to nighttime without a fresh (and she lives on that) and I doubt she'd have gone in the fridge for the sandwich.

GB, it makes me so angry when I hear things like this, and it seems to be happening everywhere. Someone on the local radio said that families should look after their own, and I nearly blew a gasket .... they should well try it

I hope you sent the email above, as we need to kick up as much fuss as possible if there is to be any chance of things changing. There are going to be thousands more people needing this kind of help, and something has to be done.

It makes me so mad when I see the millions of pounds being wasted by the Government on mad schemes, poorly planned and costed 'bright ideas' etc. I am sure the reason they want to stay in Europe so they can blame someone else for all our problems.

Need a and a few

Sorry for sounding off on your thread.

Websailor

I hope you and your sister put in a strong complaint to the company. An old lady with mild dementia could have gone walkabout, half dressed and not been found for hours Not just for your Mum's sake but other clients too. It happened to my Mum many years ago when she wandered off in the middle of the night from home and wasn't found till mid morning the next day in freezing winter weather. There were no carers in those days!

She didn't so much as catch a cold

Websailor

That particular carer is now banned.

Mum's at the Curzon Centre today and I've packed the time with other stuff like taking Ian to see his Mum in the Old Library (and I'll also get to see the lovely Olive and catch up on the gossip) pop to the council to apply for respite (first rung of the ladder, so this may take some time) and Goldie has an appointment at the Vets for her booster

Before all that though, as Mum's regular morning carer is on holiday, I'm going round to check she's ready for the pick-up, with shoes, hat, coat, and gloves at the ready. I must remember to put her dinner money in the coin bag and some 50ps in her purse for bingo, the raffle, etc, as well

A real role reversal then I hope it all went well and you managed to get a bit of a rest too.

Websailor

(that's ironic, by the way).

When I arrived I found Mum at the dining table, fast asleep. She was wearing a flimsy top, trousers and slippers. But at least she had a Tena Lady on. When I woke her she was astounded, asking what day it was and what time it was. I made her a fresh then put a cardigan on her and her shoes. There was hot chocolate spilled on the bed and mattress covering. I walked her through to the living room, found it in darkness, blinds still drawn, Mum's recliner chair in the upright position and a stone-cold festing on the coffee table from the night before

I'm not going to go into the "what ifs" I am sure you can all imagine the scenario I could have walked into had Mum not fallen asleep when the morning carer left. There is no excuse for this sloppy work. The carer HAD TO enter the living room to get to the morning meds, and also to collect the blue folder for writing up (for the next carer) the details of the visit, work done and meds dispensed, Mum's condition, etc.

Once I got her on the things calmed down for me and I had a lovely day with Ian, took him to see his Mum & also enjoyed Olive's company. Then we had fish & chips for lunch and went shopping for a mirror for his newly-decorated bedroom. I came home to collect Goldie for her Vet check-up, booster & worming tablet, the Vets' appointments were running half-an-hour late but it forced me to sit and relax while also chatting to a delightful young woman who regaled me with the menagerie back at her house, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs, she joked that she couldn't afford holidays but she couldn't care less and loved all animals. I looked down at the cat box and silently blessed Goldie, she fills my heart and I've not wanted more animals since I got her. The bill was just under £50 but it's only once a year and she's worth it.

I had planned on going to Mum's immediately after (the Vets is just round the corner from Mum's) but it was 4.45 when I got out and I assumed she'd have beaten me back. Nope, I got there to find the house exactly as I left it, so I put Goldie in her carrier in the front room while I put the kettle on and opened a tin of soup for Mum just as I heard the bus pulling up. Mum was flabbergasted to see me at the door, she said I must have got a lot of work done () and couldn't seem to understand that I'd been gone and come back in the time she'd been out herself. I got a sense of deja vu as this was how Andrew misunderstood the world. When I got her coat & hat off & shoes changed for slippers & a hot by her chair, I introduced Goldie in the carrier and she happily sat talking to Goldie while I cooked her soup. I wrote up the carer's log while she was eating and then washed up & put the pots away while Mum chatted to Goldie again, then I left praying silently that the night carer ensures the chair is restored to sitting.

We'll have a chat about her trip to the Curzon Centre this morning

Thinking of you a lot GB, hope all things start to run smoothly, I suppose it is early days yet nd your Mum seems happy enough in herself it appears?

I think your posts are useful for anyone who has not been through this themselves and being able to write about it to any audience must help get the frustration out for you sometimes.



Websailor

She's been home since Easter, and it's almost Hallowe'en. It feels like forever, to me. It's good I have distractions in other parts of my life, or I'd be going slowly nuts, I reckon. If it hadn't been for Goldie I'd probably have moved in with Mum just to cut down on all the stress. Ian is the one person keeping me sane (when I can't even get online). As for you lot, this journal is my sounding board, just knowing you're all here and interested, and offering or and even if you've nothing to say, makes a great deal of difference to me. I know I'm not alone. I'm not the first carer and I certainly won't be the last. If my journal is useful for anyone else than that's a bonus, I never thought of that!

It was a long day yesterday, 9.30am-5.40pm as I waited for my sister to arrive with birthday (her birthday this time) so today's going to be short, I'm there all morning & I'll do her lunch but then my brother & his wife are visiting from Nottingham so I'm coming home for a break. I've still got my sore throat and fear the lurgy is on its way back.

or I'd be going slowly nuts
tha'll never catch me up
and I'm never here, because I'm out of my mindcan't remember where I've gone???

heremind!

My illness is back and as this is the 3rd dose today I went to the GP after putting Mum on the for the Curzon Centre. I'm now on antibiotics so hopefully that'll shift it. I've also applied for a week's respite which will entail Mum going in a Care Home and then coming home again but it would give us all a break.

Sincerely hope you get the respite, you really need it. Nobody realises how much it takes out of famliy carers till they have to do it, and trying to cope when you are ill yourself is above and beyond the all of duty. Lets hope you can get a bit longer to give yourself time to recover properly.



Websailor

Wed just gone was 4 weeks of having my chest/lung virus, now cleared and it's now sleep catch up and energy rebuild time. Didn't go to docs I just let it run it's course, as the antibiotics he usually gives I've seen more strength in smarties