Deaf Carer

This month is about helping to get carers more active.  There's very little time in our day for exercise which in turn impacts our health, the obvious being weight gain but also injury and poor muscle tone.  Exercise is also reportedly good for mental health, although there are swings and round abouts with that as it can also make it worse. I have yet to try any of the classes from carers Uk as I've realised that by the time I've read the subtitles and attempted it they've moved on to something else. There is one class I really want to participate in although it straddles med times here so again it will be a catch up but more about that later. My kit arrived yesterday, I'd actually forgotten about it as they were being sent out weeks ago.  Although I did wonder what that DPD parcel was as I couldn't remember ordering anything but I didn't recognise the parcel name either.   What was in the kit? A bag, love the bag it's lightweight and I can fit my clothe...

I regularly get ear infections and I try my best to let them run their course without requiring medical intervention.  Unfortunately this time the preauricular sinus infection is severe.  It means that most of my face is swollen.  It's extremely painful and I'm really struggling with pain and tiredness. I've got some high dose antibiotics and I'm taking what painkillers I can.  However due to the swelling I'm not managing to sleep because I can't have pressure anywhere near my face/ears.   It's definitely impacting the way in which I can care.  I appear to be almost completely deaf rather than just hard of hearing.  The infection is on the side I have marginally better hearing so there's nothing I can do but lipread.  Although to be honest because of masks I'm finding I haven't a clue what is going on.   I've discovered that I can't understand what is needed in the same way as when I'm 100%, I'm getting more and more things wrong ...

I'm writing this because twice this week someone has made sarcastic comments that I'm behind on household chores.  So far in the last seven days I've done the following. 25 loads of laundry Fixed the washing machine twice Cleaned up from the flood of the washing machine Stripped and remade the beds. 21 home made meals from scratch 21 lots of dishes 3x home deliveries and one trip to store for what wasn't available on home delivery but was needed urgently {veg is delivered separately from the market, groceries come every sunday} 1x audiology apt 1 x power cut 21x hoovering {due to eating and sitting issues this is done after every meal} Banking Transplanted Peonies 7x showers for personal care 49 doses and sorting of Meds double checked and registered for priority wtih western power distribution sorted and resorted warm home discount fund arranged a carers review Fixed the wheelchair 1x shower for myself Used 1hr to clean my home from top to bottom Sourced, bought and in...

 Well in an aim to be positive which suits my mood after this beautiful morning, okay so I love a bit of frost and bright sunshine especially if it's bright enough the sun makes it appear warmer than it is so I can eat breakfast outside, I'm going to look at the businesses thatare easy to deal with if you have hearing loss. Veysey's Butchers Cullompton WOW not only is their meat absolutely delicious, amazingly well priced and local but they also provide a deaf friendly service both instore and for home deliveries.  I can't fault this store at all and would recommend them without a second thought. The Healthy Root This is a market stall selling fruit, vegetables, eggs, honey etc and the staff are incredible.  Not only are they deaf friendly but the produce tastes incredible, it's fresh and lasts well.  I also love that it's local produce and they have an exceptionally wide variety of produce.  They now offer deliveries too which has been a godsend. Sainsbury Otte...

 I got this idea after struggling to communicate with some services and businesses that claim to be deaf aware.  I know there are lots who claim they are but whose staff don't follow through so I thoguht I'd highlight them here, although I'm sure there are many more than I can come with. HSBC I've banked with them since I opened an account in my teens.  NOT once did it occur to me they would be difficult to deal with.  HSBC claim to be deaf friendly and support BT Relay, the reality is staff frequently disconnect a relay call, online banking has removed a significantly large number of functions including ordering pay in and cheque books.  Closed branches including those in nearby cities mean expensive long treks covering distances in excess of 20miles each way and staff are a nightmare to deal with they ignore the question and just tell you what you already know.   They failed to respond to a request to open an account by my Gran. With no branches loca...

 Last week was a week of appointments, one a day for four out of five days.  This meant that I didn't have chance to catch up on the laundry, get the general cleaning done or anything else for that matter. It started off reasonably okay but I soon hit tiredness followed by exhaustion, it takes around 40min to an hour to get my caree ready and into the car etc never mind out the other end so it's always time consuming.   It's the having to listen and hear with masks that has excarbated the exhaustion in the last week, just to make that worse I've hit the over tired and thus can't sleep part of exhausted.   I just really need some down time and a chance for my body to recover I'm just unsure on how to achieve it when I'm so far behind.  It just all feels so very unachievable. I don't know if it's just me who finds this difficult and thus a fault of mine or if it's deaf people in general or carers in general or maybe a combination of both I don'...

 I'm rather late with this post and to be honest I've had a different one in mind for several weeks I just haven't had the time to write it.  As any carer will atest there is always something that comes up and prevents you from doing the things you want to do but here I am better late than never as the saying goes. Remembrance in the UK is about wearing Poppies, Observing a two minute silence and think about the Fallen and Injured armed forces who have fought in wars to give us our freedom.  War Memorials, the act of remembrance and Poppies all originated at least a hundred years ago.  It was an opportunity to remember those who died on the battle fields of WW1/The Great War/The War to end all Wars and who returned unable to work, fend for themselves physically due to injury or who suffered mentally from the horrors of war.  As time went on WW2 was included in the act of Rembrance, there are few left who remember WW1 but there are plenty left who remember WW2, w...