Thanks for all the support I received.
Firstly, I received really productive advice for how to deal with caring for my friend when it overwhelmed me, when I couldn’t seem to meet her needs and when she couldn’t seem to take decisions and make actions that I thought would improve things.
More recently I received excellent advice from you on how to understand the process of her dying as this is a new experience for me.
My friend died in her sleep in hospital on Wednesday morning from Hospital Acquired Pneumonia following a UTI and aggravated by her frailty. Another of her friends who is the executor of her will and I are arranging her funeral service.
I remain disappointed that she was stuck in the hospital many weeks more than she needed while awaiting a place in a care home and that Covid restrictions meant she could only have visitors when she was at the end of her life, and unable to speak.
I will take from this experience a greater appreciation and understanding of anyone with caring responsibilities, the hidden army of carers and their unmet needs.
It has also prompted me to look into taking out a funeral plan and communicating my wishes.
It has re-motivated me to make sure I live the rest of my life as well as I can and to try and identify well-being issues much more early before they make me unwell.
I will be following much more closely the news and policies on social care as I found some of the services delivered to her slow, poor and inefficient while others were much more responsive.
Again, many thanks for your all your support, advice, guidance and kindness that allowed me to cope better with my responsibilities.