It is now
just over 6 months since I last posted anything on my blog. I have in the last
few months met a number of my ‘Twitter’ friends who read my blog and follow me
on Twitter and vowed that I will return to blogging and tweeting. So why the
gap?
Towards the
end of last year I was rather overwhelmed with supporting my parents who were
both in residential care, packing up their house, managing their finances and
supporting my daughter, Erica who had a gastrostomy fitted. My father then,
rather unexpected died at the end of November.
He had spent 2 weeks in hospital and died the day after he was
discharged. I was so angry with the
hospital that I felt I needed some distance firstly before writing to the hospital trust to make a
complaint and then writing again as a blogger – the length of that distance has
extended to quite some time.
In
considering coming back to being an active ‘social media’ person I have given a
lot of thought to what being part of the Twitter and blogging network has meant
to me. Initially I entered this network
as I felt I lacked knowledge about dementia and was finding supporting my
father confusing and difficult. Often I
knew what I should do, such as not argue with him – but old patterns took over
and I would argue and try to reason with him. I owe a lot of my knowledge about
dementia and the care of older people to the wonderful bloggers I have come
across through Twitter. The network has helped me to remain ‘person-centred’ in
planning with my parents – so easy to lose the plot when services are so
‘service-centred’. I hope I have also
shared some of my thoughts and experiences with my readers.
I keep
trying to convince myself that I have come to terms with my dad’s death. Making
a complaint about the lack of dignity the hospital staff showed when treating
my father before he died and the apology I received from the chief executive
has given me some degree of closure. However, I am now very unsure of my
relationship to ‘dementia’ – I read tweets about experiences others have with
their loved ones and think – this does not apply to me and wonder if my
relationship with dementia is over. Then I think – perhaps I have not come to
terms with my father’s death. Do I still
have a contribution to make when others tweet about dementia – I am really not
sure.
I read the
tweets last night during the programme ‘Protecting our Parents’ and still feel
very much part of a wider supportive network – it was those tweets that
convinced me to sit down this morning and to starting ‘blogging’. I have lots of issues stored up in my head
that I want to blog about – so a promise to myself – post something on my blog
at least once a month. The first issue for this weekend is – under the new
Employment and Support Allowance free dental care is not longer an automatic
right for the most severely disabled group of people. Well, more about that
during the next week.
Thanks to
all the Tweeters – who have encouraged me to return – it is a supportive
network for those of us who are carers.
