General Chat

As you may have gathered, my practices as a carer can, at best, be described as slap-dash.

I don't sleep at night so I catch up with sleep in the morning as best I can and OH doesn't go downstairs very early if he is not working.

Fred, on the other hand, has booked as early a wake up call as he can and is beavering away downstairs doing whatever it is he does.

This morning the carers put his first lot of eye-drops in and told him the next should go in half an hour later,after they had gone,assuming,I suppose, that he would call up to us to do it.

Quite a bit later than that,OH went downstairs and Fred, with a bit of difficulty finding the words (left-side stroke) and tremendous pride, told him that he had administered his own eye-drops.

I know I should be down there caring but my slap-dash approach isn't half working.

Love it:))

you method should be the benchmark for carers!!!! it's brilliant and it works :-D :-D

:-D :-D :-Dslap dash obviously works Sharron

It doesn't appear to be very widely used does it?

That's brilliant, Sharron.
:-D

Encouraging independence as a strategy should be used more often. :-D

And Fred was right to be proud of himself. Tuf luv works Sharron.

That is what I think. If he had been looked after he would have no achievements to be proud of.

I think you should be put forward for an award - that is not a flippant statement by the way, I really mean it in all sincerity - you are a carer who carries on regardless and saves the country a lot of money - you have allowed your Dad to have his dignity and to live in a home rather than a community setting - you have my undying admiration - you really do and if I lived in the vicinity I would be putting you forward for some sort of recognition

Ann, all I have done is play it by ear. I am not one of the selfless people who devote themselves doggedly to their charges needs, I put upon others for that.

The hard part is the organizing which I was lucky enough to have been born with the intelligence to carry out.

My heart goes out to those people not given such intelligence who still have to carry out the same endlessly complicated fiddle.

I wonder if this is why so few stroke victims are encouraged to get out and do. The organizing is endless and many carers are afraid of getting something wrong.

It is a worry having him do all these things but he is 93 and was 86 when he had the stroke. Of course the Reaper is watching but I really would rather he had to go and find Fred than have him sitting waiting for him to call.

Fred may well have managed to administer his own eye-drops....... :-S











...but did he say exactly where he had administered them? :-D :-D

Sorry, just couldn't resist that one!

Nuffink wrong with a bit o' slap dash :-)
Karen

In the kitchen.

well done Fred!!

Har har Sharron, :-D :-D

Nice of Fred not to disturb you Sharron, and well done to him for doing the drops himself.

I too think you deserve recognition for the way you have 'encouraged' Fred to help himself as much as possible and not just sit there waiting to die. His life has been interesting, fulfilled and exciting since his stroke, not many can say that!

If slapdash is what you call your caring skills, then good on you, keep up the good work.

Btw, does Fred know he is famous lol?

Lizxx

Well done Sharron.
My friend is going through looking after a priest of almost 90.
She has been his housekeeper for over 30 years and she is on call 24/7 and she is almost 77 ,has polymyalgia and it is wearing her down .
She calls me everyday to unload as she says Im the only one who understands how hard it is....I looked after my OH for 5 yrs 24/7 .
I believe she needs to back off a bit as she's there for every little whim ...and he knows it!!
I know that they can play on it sometimes,but let them try for themselves!!
I love your slapdash attitude!...actually don't think it's slapdash...just plain common sense!

Well, he is not ill is he? He doesn't need that much looking after.

I take all the pressure off.He has little to worry about apart from how to get out of whatever I have planned for him.

It seems that when these carers took over from the hospital release carers they were worried about him making his own breakfast because he might burn himself.

Doesn't everybody burn themself occasionally?

I was only thinking when I had him up on the hoist this afternoon,getting him up from his nap,that he never gives me a bit of trouble when he is hanging up there.

He used to watch himself when he only had a push wheelchair too because I could and would have left him wherever he had given me that grief.

When he first came home he was frustrated,naturally,but the stroke wasn't my fault and I was not prepared to take the flakk.

Having had several rows I finally explained to him that I didn't give a flying duck about him either but I did find life easier if I pretended I did.

That shut him up.

I think I may have succeeded by turning the anger and frustration into something more positive.

you are a genius!!!!!!

Sharron, you are someone I really admire.You have the right balance between encouraging your Dad to do things for himself, and selfless care.
Fred is a very lucky Dad, and it's good to see that you look out for yourself at the same time. Your sense of humour obviously keeps you going.
Well done, Lass!
Lynda XX