General Chat

Bob, have you got a replacement car yet or are you too busy looking and haggling to come on here?

Huia.

Oh dear we are all packing up! Had an email from a relative who had been quiet for a week or two, to say that she had had swine flu' as had her husband but were now both on the mend. Pleased that we are all on various levels of "on the mend".
At the moment we are driving around a little like "Driving Miss Maisie" in our old 1970 Austin 3 litre. I am sure that some children cry when they see it coming, others with the same warped sense of humour that I am blessed with, think it was a designer's joke at Austin to stretch a mini. However it is getting us from A to B but I draw the line at expecting it to get us from Y to Z. On one website I looked at had the comment, "Austin 3 Litres. Are there any left?" Have been researching the market for as much car for as little money, thinking that they may take my licence away in a year or two, so something that lasts a few years with not too many Kms on the clock will do. My current preference is a three year old Toyota Avensis. Now what has this got to do with Carers Anonymous? Not a lot except to currently get us from A to B and further down the track possibly capable of getting me from Y to Z.
With all the recent tears flowing I would have thought that eyes would be resistant to conjunctivitis but that does show how much I know about the condition. Maybe I should not have said that tears were good. For all I know too many tears could cause the eyeball to tear. Just joking again about a non-joking matter.
All the best to all

Oh Bob.Carers need cars.
I took over my dad's.Only he could drive the little heap.I couldn't make any sense of the carburettor and neither could anybody else.

Have recently done scrappage,what a palaver because I never re-registered it and now have a diesel Smart.

It means I can nip out,even to go down the harbour and look at the mud for half an hour.It helps to stop me being quite so stir-crazy.Sometimes just going from A to B is as good as going from A to Barbados (unless you live in Barbados of course!)

Here is a reason carers need to get out somewhere,if only to a lonely place where they can scream loudly.


The equipment service have just tried to deliver to me a commode........WITH NO BUCKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


This will be why carers are stressed!

Everybody has heard of the "Bucket List" now. I had not of the term until I had seen the film with Jack Nicholson.
Sharon your experience gives a bizarre and imagined picture of what could happen when the list has no bucket.

Yes, Bob, and when I had my eyes tested for new glasses a couple of months ago I was extremely surprised to be told I had dry eye. I dont see how I could as the tears still flow. At least the ointment I have for the conjunctivitis seems to be working. The eyes are still a bit red and itchy but nowhere near as red and sore as they were on Sunday.

Huia.

Huia, with an OH who has been on insulin for 43yrs, I have some experience of low blood sugar. The easiest way to describe it is to think of someone drunk. Somw get belligerent and others get silly, and it can vary with the degree of low sugar. High blood sugar doesnt seem to show except in tiredness. Regular blood testing at home and sticking fairly closely to the diet avoids these things.

I went shopping yesterday for some Bob Charles type t shirts since the hospital prefers them, plus track pants. I found 6 shirts in the op shops (too expensive to buy new and I dont see the point if he is liable to pop his clogs any time). Only one pair of pants, but he already had 2 pairs and he can have one of my old pairs. Now I have to sew name tags on them all. That should keep me out of mischief today.

Huia.

I delivered the clothes to the hospital yesterday. Phil was asleep in his chair after lunch. He looked awful, mouth open, no teeth (he hasnt used his false teeth since he lost them for a few days in the other hospital and then when they were found he complained that they hurt.)

On Saturday I got a letter from WINZ saying they have been informed that he is now in a private hospital. A form was included for me to fill out for the Living Alone Allowance, although my super has now gone up almost $50 a week. Phils will no longer be coming into our bank account. I hope my super plus L.A. will be sufficient to cover insurance, rates (but I will be eligible for a rebate), and the other big expenses. Our savings will be used to partially pay for the private hospital. Maybe I will have to give up using the internet! (No way).

Huia.

Evening Huia
My MIL was the same as Phil when she lost her teeth she refused to wear them again, saying they hurt. The nursing home tried to get new ones made for her , but pointless and would have been an expensive waste as she was adamant they would hurt. Oh well she managed to eat a little without them. She also lost glasses and again wouldn't wear them after. Somehow she coped.

I hope you do have enough income to live on Huia. You shouldn't need to struggle now, when things should be getting easier for you. At least you are coming into your summer now.

It is getting much cooler here now and some areas have had frosts already.

Hope you have a good week.

Linda :o) XxX

Yesterday I visited a funeral director to ask a lot of questions, rather than waiting until 'the time' comes and possibly disolving in tears or forgetting something. I will talk about it to my son at the weekend so he knows what I have discussed and found out, re organ donations etc.

I wasnt in the girl guides but I do believe in being prepared.

Huia.

The social worker has just visited. She phoned the hospital to ask how Phil is. He has settled in but apparently is not speaking. I presume the brain connections to speech have been damaged though I could be wrong. I still have that annoying virus so might not visit him before I go to Rotorua on Friday but I will ring them anyway.

Huia.

Hi Huia

Neither was I in the Girl Guides.
(I can still remember my elder sister wanting to dress my brother and I, at a very early age, in her clothes. My reply was "I don't want to be a dirl"). Obviously my language was as backward as my spelling.
But then again I was not in the scouts either. But I certainly agree in forward-planning. I am currently in the midst of that as far as our future accommodation needs are concerned. Perhaps a retirement village which has ongoing care for BH. Never thought of myself as a village person. I do not know whether the "villagers" would be able to cope with my sense of humour.
Without a squeak of objection from me, until I am placed in the box myself, I have to be considering those changes which we had both done considering the needs of family during our earlier lives.

Regards and best wishes

Bob

Where is everybody?

I have been down to Rotorua for the long weekend, for a Choral Festival. I put up a thread about it as some of the others wanted to know how it went.

I might visit Phil tomorrow as I havent seen him for 10 days. Not that he would have noticed my absence probably. That is one good thing about Alzheimers, I can get on with my life and 'neglect' him and he wont go crook at me when I do visit.

Bob, I hope you and BH are well and you are behaving yourself.

Huia.

Huia, hope you are beginning to feel the benefit of not having to worry about Phil every time you want to do anything. Time to think of you now.

Hi all.

I visited Phil this morning. He seems to be settled in all right in the private hospital, and is walking a bit better than he had been a couple of weeks before he went there. Previously I had been hoping he would die soon as it was so piteous to see him, but now I dont mind if he lives a long time, even though it will mean lots of visiting. But once a week will be enough. I do have a life of my own to live.

Huia.

I had a phone call from the hospital a couple of hours ago. Phil has been vomiting. They think it is the novovirus. Some of the other inmates have diarrhoea (sp?). I was asked not to visit for a while. I certainly dont want or need it.

I hope all the carers are caring for themselves as well as their loved ones. Dont forget to take a few mins to come on here and let us know you are all ok.

Huia.

Have been struggling to get about and do cooking and housework on two sticks after a fall 3wks or more ago. Have damaged my coxyx and the muscles sorrounding it. Very painful. taking sufficient pain relief send me to sleep if I relax in the chair, so not a lot getting done! It is improving, but is worse in the morning when I get up. Oh has now developed a back ache and a cold in his kidneys, so we are a sorry pair! We look after each other, luckily. Borrowed a 2 tier 4wheeled indoor trolley from Red Cross, and that has been a great help. Cant be found an appointment for physio before the 27th. Hoping I will be better before then!

Hi All

I seemed to have forgotten about posting here occasionally. It took a few pages to even find it.

We are mobile (well more comfortably) again. I have had a policy for car-purchase. Get as much car for less than a second-hand Corolla. So while it may cost an arm, at least the leg is safe.

Talking of legs, Jean, you have had a bad time and hope you are more mobile as well (well let's say without those sticks) for Christmas.

Huia. I hope Phil is fully-recovered from that debilitating illness.

I don't know whether I mentioned it before (and modesty not being one of my attributes) I was runner-up in our C Grade golf championships.
Now starts the Match-Play.

Everything seems to be running smoothly but still thinking about the likely change in housing requirements probably arising next year.

Regards

Bob