The Unscripted Carer –7th February 2008
Yippee - we have nearly got the house back after the decorating! All the books, records (vinyls), CDs, pictures, ornaments, etc. have been found, unpacked and put back in place. The rooms that have been “storage areas” are now back in use, and we can see the carpets again. It dawned on us last night, that the last time we did this, there were “one and a half” of us – and we were both younger, the time before that there were two of us, and one of us did not have grey hair. Still, we are both pleased with the result, and my aches and pains will soon be a memory – I am just glad that I did the “Guideposts lifting training”. It came in quite useful, even when I knew that I was doing it wrongly!
One thing we learned this time was to wrap things / ornaments in kitchen paper, rather than newspapers. When we unwrapped them we put the kitchen towel in a large bag, and are using the pieces as needed – and we have not had to wash off the newsprint. I have always hated this part of getting things back to normal. A hidden benefit of this approach came when I pulled out some kitchen paper, and out came a small ornament – a memento from my time working in the Oman (on of the smaller Gulf States). If we had used our normal technique of wrapping in newspaper, it would just have disappeared.
I have just got back from a “Friends of Caldecott Park” (“Rugby Park”) meeting – where we are helping the local council with the lottery sponsored re-work of the park. Today we were looking at a short list for a piece of public art to be placed at the top of some new “water steps” that will have some link back to the original Echo Nymph statue in the park when it was originally opened. A large number of artists responded, and there were some absolutely fascinating ideas presented. The council will be presenting the “final offerings” to the public in the Rugby Library Art Gallery in a few weeks time, and will be asking everybody to visit and make comments, that will be carefully considered when making the final selection. The whole exercise is both interesting and slightly humbling to see the artistic talent out there.
As a result of Nicola’s recent Cortisone Injections, she has spent a lot of her time lying down. One of our neighbours used to be a nurse, and she was concerned about pressure sores, etc – something that we too had started to worry about. Via the GP, we found out about Community Nurses, or “District Nurses” as we oldies know them! They have been ever so helpful, and we have tried out a special mattress topping, and a special mattress. Although we have not been 100% successful (yet), the help we have received is really good. There are still a number of options open to us, and we are in the process of exploring them. It always seems that Nicola’s condition does not quite fit into what can be helped, but the kindness shown is still much appreciated.
A bit more good news about “Direct Payments” for Carers. The “Social Services” in Warwickshire are / will be offering them to Carers, to help the Carer survive (not the “cared for” who have their own Care Packages). These will not be “means tested” for Carers and the social workers are being encouraged to come up with innovative ideas to help us Carers. Inevitably this will not happen over night, the council are working very hard to make sure that all their teams are fully up to speed and carer assessments can be carried out, before they are in a position to fully roll this out. There is clearly light at the end of the tunnel, but I suspect the tunnel is still quite long!
Bye for now
Graham
