The Unscripted Carer – 3rd December 2008
There is light at the end of the tunnel!
For all practical purposes Nicola and myself have got to the end of our Social Services assessments. I have never really understood the benefits of “Direct Payments” for carers – I was just happy to let Social Services sort out the sitting services for me, and (Social Services) pay for them, on a regular weekly basis. However, having recently taken up “Direct Payments”, it is rather amazing the extra freedom they have given me. Whereas in the past, I had someone turn up, because it was “that time” – now I can organise different times if that is better for me. There is also the hidden benefit that I can defer “my respite” when I am doing bits and pieces with Social Services, and thus my own respite time does not get eaten into. The best thing though is that I feel in control, and I do not have to ring up “my nice lady” in Social Services if I want to change things.
Nicola has also taken up the offer of “Direct Payments” equivalent to 2 days every week at the Day Care centre. As she is, for all practical purposes, housebound this may appear a stupid idea, but again, we are in control, and we can fetch the outside world in to Nicola. To date she has had some Reiki treatment, which was extremely helpful, and we are organising some massage. All of this adds a new dimension to her life, and has really cheered her up – plus we have been given some really good ideas for the future from our assessment team.
It is all too easy to dismiss any new ideas from Social Services as a gimmick that does not “relate to me”, but certainly the Rugby guys (and gals) are trying really hard to improve our lives – and I am sure this is also true in your area of Warwickshire.
Changing the subject – we live in a bungalow and hence our loft space contains loads of rubbish, and a few things of value – some of which we have forgotten about! The clutter excludes us from the various offers of free loft insulation, but Wickes have recently been doing a “Buy one get one free” on loft insulation, so….
When we moved in to the bungalow we upgraded the loft insulation to the “then” current recommendations and then boarded the loft – so it is dead easy to lay extra insulation, but putting our junk back negates the value if it has to flatten the insulation. So… we decided to try putting some extra insulation just under the eaves – where there is too little height to store things. To be on the safe side, we bought two extra rolls – making a total of 6, of which 3 where “free”. We carefully read how to lay it, and were surprised to find that we needed approximately twice the depth of insulation that we needed 20 years ago! This meant making “platforms” to put the junk on, and started an intensive spring clean of the stuff in the loft and a round up of all the pieces of wood that I have kept over time. It also meant regular visits to Wickes to load up the car with more insulation, convincing myself that this would be the last trip, and I would be taking back the two spare rolls I had bought (again!). In the end (I lost count of the visits) I used up exactly the number of rolls, so I never had the joy of getting a refund!
Although, it turned out to be a long job, it was very rewarding, as we were able to tell which bit of the loft I had done – as the room below became much quieter and somehow “felt different”. Clearly this was just psychological, but Nicola was able to tell me where I had done – so it must be true! (Never argue with the wife!). We still need to be able to walk through the loft space (to access the junk!), which means that conventional loft insulation is not viable here – so I laid all the bits of old carpets / rugs / etc that I have so lovingly cluttered up the loft with, and laid them piecemeal over the loft walk ways. While this does not look elegant, it is nice to walk on 2 or 3 layers of “new” carpet off cuts, and it has noticeably formed an excellent layer of insulation and sound deadening. The absolute proof of the sound deadening came when some idiots started letting off fireworks last night - and only one of the dogs noticed “something”, but it was not important enough to wake up properly, or even bark at. Normally both dogs get very upset by fireworks let off nearby.
The bungalow definitely feels and sounds different now – it is very similar to when we have a few inches of snow on the roof – which is a very peaceful experience. I think the effect is more noticeable in a bungalow than a “double decker” house, because there is no “upstairs” between you and the roof!
The only down side is that I no longer have bits of old wood in the garage, and the next time I want some wood, I will have to buy some! Nicola thinks I may not survive this culture shock!
On the assumption that I will somehow survive, I need to make a meal now.
Bye for now
Graham
