Carers who deserve a gold medal

What a beautiful post Jenny. x

Bless you Jenny for bringing this topic up. When I suffered the  a stroke 3 years ago, My husband and I were married 21 years. Our sons were grown up and were 19 and 17 respectively. Naturally, my husband took on the carer role without second thoughts to his own career or his needs. He has been amazing and has been my rock supporting and encouraging me  throughout my illness and rehab. He took time off from work, to care for me full-time when I was discharged from hospital.has got the home ready with grab rails etc, has taken over the cooking which he does in his spare time. He often takes me shopping and will push me around in the manual wheelchair if I ever have to walk long distances  to get to where I want. He will wake up at nights to ensure I am comfortable. he is planning to take our family overseas. For a change of scenery. He manages all my doctors and therapists appointments and drives me to places I need to go. My rehab outcome would not have been this good if not for my husband who so believes in me and is my number one supporter. I am very fortunate to have an amazing husband care for me.

Hi Mahila,

What an amazing post, you and your husband are a team, which is so very important.

Diana

Manila. Thankyou for your response. As Diana said teamwork is so important.we do have our moments of disagreement as to who does what. All very normal.  Jenny

Hey, I've got to join in this discussion! Valerie and I have been married 55 years, My stroke occurred a year ago. I wasn't in hospital long, they were closing things down for Xmas so I got out after three days. Directly I came home she could see I was desperate to get back to normality so she decided not to help me unless I asked. This was a tough decision to take. She bound non-slip material around the handles of a knife, fork and spoon so my hands could grip them and to watch me put peanut butter on my toast must have been hilarious. Within a few days I got back to doing the washing up which was quite a pantomine itself. She never interfered except to dash in and check up when I dropped things.

I was able to wash and dress myself but it took a painful long time so she planned everything else around my timetable. She drives me anywhen and anywhere I want to go and organises our world to suit me. 

In return I insisted she maintain her own social life and continue with Red Hat meetings etc. She sneakily got neighbours to keep an eye on me when this happened. I dropped out of going to the club's fortnightly quiz evenings (this was no hardship, I wasn't much good at it!) and the organisers allow her to keep her mobile phone on for emergencies.

We have had a lot of laughs and experiences coping emotionally and physically with a new life and I would certainly be putting her up for a gold medal.

Deigh