Being A Carer

Two photos side by side. On the left is my mother's arm after it's come out of the wrist cast, with dry, flaky skin and a bit of swelling around the knuckles. She has her smiling teddy bear on her lap, his arms spread wide as if in celebration that her cast has been removed, revealing his white t-shirt with the face of Freddie Mercury on it. Meanwhile the right photo shows the teddy bear looking over the side of the armchair at a black wheelchair parked next to it.

During 2025 my mother’s health took a significant downturn, as a result of struggling with the impacts of going fully blind and having several falls, along with other general effects of old age. And that in turn greatly increased my responsibilities as an unpaid carer for her. Her condition has thankfully improved a bit since then, but she still needs more support than she used to.

So I’ve been documenting our journey here in the hope that it raises awareness, and I’ve included some links to useful resources below as well. I hope you find it interesting and insightful.

My Posts

2025

  • Summaries:
  • Journals:
    • January-May – Falls, sleep issues and panic attacks.
    • June – Another fall, sleep and heatwave effects.
    • July – Collarbone fracture, sleep and mental health.
    • August: Part 1 – More falls, broken wrist and hospital stay.
    • August: Part 2 – Return home, carers, mental health and melatonin.
    • September: Part 1 – Occupational therapy, mobility, sleep and outings.
    • September: Part 2 – Physiotherapy, sleep, confusion and long term care plans.
    • October: Part 1 – Wheelchair referral, physio, sleep, counselling and befriending.
    • October: Part 2 – Cast removal, recovery, Moorfields and wheelchair delivery.
    • November: Part 1 – First wheelchair outings, sleep progress and end of reablement.
    • November: Part 2 – My wisdom tooth removal, Mum’s skin biopsy and outings
    • December – Support work cuts, appointments, Christmas outings and shopping.
    • Christmas – A brief update on Christmas in my end-of-year post.

2026

  • January – Mum’s improvements, support work cuts and looking forward.
  • Easter – Switching to a new job to focus more on caregiving.
  • April – New job progress, injuries and accessible transport.
  • May – Foot injury and heatwave.
  • July – Heatwave, fall & Carer’s Allowance.

If you’re affected by any of the issues raised in the posts above, here are links to some UK resources that I’ve either become aware of during my caring journey, or already know about and feel are worth highlighting: