Hi All
I’m Trish and became a carer by accident for my Father who is now 95. Dad came down to stay with us in Surrey in October - for a week or two. 10 months later he’s still here and won’t be leaving - at least not to go back to living alone in Cheshire.
Dad was coping fine on his own (fiercely independent) until while here he had a fall in October - no breakages but it really affected his stability, mobility and showed up how vulnerable he really was. My husband and I decided (in consultation with my brother who has EPA) he would stay with us indefinitely. I was at work 4 days a week and Dad coped OK during the day, but loved the company and good food he gets here!
We got through 90% of lockdown fairly well - with a few small scale night falls but no serious injury. Then on 14th July Dad got over ambitious with his walker and fell backwards - we now know he has a fractured pelvis. He was admitted to hospital - but given a “managed recovery” diagnosis - so no surgery. Then returned to us at home a week later.
In retrospect I was foolish - excited to have him back in time for his 95th birthday - I didn’t particularly question whether he was ready and whether I could cope! In retrospect the answer to both those was NO! But I have.
We were given an alleged 6 week re-enablement support package - but I’m being put under immense pressure to finish it early and move to self funded carer support. I’ll have loads of questions for the experienced among you - but for now just saying hello!