Thoughts of a carer

 It can be really furstrating being a carer sometimes. Lockdown doesn't help, for we all are stressed, but I don't think the public at large understand some of the little difficulties that, over time, make life difficult for a carer. Viv had hydrocephalus for an extended period of time. This, according to the experts, is likely to lead to a 'permanent cognitive deficit'; in layman's terms, it means she has suffered some brain damage. It presents itself as short term memory difficulties; she forgets a discussion that we had earlier, or puts something in a 'safe place', then forgets where that is. It also means that she struggles to follow complex conversations: when we have a phone call with a doctor, for instance, or with a relative, I need to be involved, and run the conversation at our end of the phone. + + +  This may not sound particularly difficult to live with, it's not like having to be bum-wiping every three hours, but it's not that simple. W...

  I sent a text yesterday, to Jacqui, our hairdresser: Hi Jacqui Hope you are well and coping with the madness Viv and I were booked for haircuts on Monday but we think you aren't supposed to be working? We will call you to fix up another date when Boris makes up his mind that it's safe ... so probably in 2024! Well hopefully sooner! That 2024 reference was meant as a joke, but when I read it back to Viv it didn't really seem like one: the way things are now: we haven't even got a visit from the hairdresser to look forward to, let alone holidays or trips to see family - which are noticable by their absence from our planner calendar. When lockdown struck in March last year we had four holidays planned and booked - two weeks in Germany in April, a week by the Essex coast in July, a week in Devon in September and one in the Isle of Wight at Christmas. We did manage Essex and Devon, not at the dates we had planned, but cancelled Germany and the Isle of Wight.  Like many we ...