Being a carer

A series of blogs for #CarersWeek

I am a carer to my daughter who is in her mid 40s. She suffers from Psychosis and Bipolar Disorder and a bad dose of dyslexia from her dad. Although divorced we have a strong relationship which developed from when she said ”All I want from you is a PIN number”.

Last summer I was involved in sectioning her. It felt like a betrayal. Her being led away by a phalanx of nurses shouting abuse at me. I had nightmares about this. In the ward, she slowly calmed over an hour. I think being outside in the sunshine helped. She thinks so now.

Time moved on with 3 phone calls a day. I entered the world of women’s toiletries. She was allowed out. Her choice was manicure then lunch from M&S food in the open air for a picnic. She selected delicacies which were not part of the hospital menu – prawn cocktail, watercress and freshly squeezed orange juice. We both fell asleep in the sunshine because of the tension. We were late returning.

She looks on this time as pivotal in her recovery because she was an independent human being. The tears are in my eyes now.

By ‘vintagecool’