Christmas Round-Up of 2023

It's been another tough year here at Crazy Towers as my parents dementia continues to erode the people that they once were, adjusting to being their carer and putting my own life on hold has certainly taken some adjusting too, but we have a system that seems to be working now for the most part, Boris, Eko, Himself and my brother have all been my rock throughout this past year

Photo Description - Three people sitting on a sofa, two females each side of a male. From L-R it's my mum, my dad and then myself. I'm laughing at something my brother said as mum and dad stare at the camera

Boris unfortunately fractured his elbow at the end of July which required a specialist surgeon to repair it, thankfully Boris is fully insured which covered most the costs, although there was a large out of pocket expense for an echocardiogram, for the first time ever this year we hit the maximum amount Boris is insured for on veterinary fees per year which was an unexpected surprise 

My funds were very short and on discussion with the specialist vet it was decided that as Boris's pain was well under control that his elbow surgery could wait the 18 days until his insurance policy renewed and reinstated the vet fees for another year. Boris has since recovered well from his surgery and we're currently still rebuilding his fitness

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Eko is currently doing really well with his assistance dog training, in the early part of the year I took him up to Bristol to be inducted into Canine Generated Independence for his training, I prefer to work under the umbrella of an organisation and CGI was the amazing organisation that Boris was registered with before his retirement

Unfortunately Eko was feeling very excitable and bouncy that day and it was felt that he wasn't quite ready just yet to join the CGI family, it was disappointing but totally understandable, I'd already guessed we'd failed before I was told. To pass inducation and earn the coverted purple in training jacket is a big responsibility, you become the face of the organisation every single time you put the jacket on, maybe next year we'll try again

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Dad went through a horrendous phase this year of suffering terribly from anxiety with his dementia, he had me so worried at one point that he'd seriously hurt himself and it caused me many sleepless nights with dad ringing me at all hours because he was so stressed out about something and nothing

I believe dads anxiety was mainly caused by his lack of mobility (which came on so suddenly) and being stuck in the house every day with mum, which made his days pass so much slower than when he was more mobile and able to do more for himself

But with the help of his GP, a local volunteer counselling service and the dementia day care dad now attends we were eventually able to get on top of it, dad is feeling so much happier within himself these days and will actually use the walker I got him so that he can get out and about again. Whereas before he was reluctant to even use the walking stick I got him, insisting he was fine without it even though he'd had several falls, thankfully now that he's using the walker the falls have stopped

The week before Christmas we found out that dad has both heart and lung damage as a result of the radiotherapy he had earlier in the year for his cancer, he's also severely anaemic again and is due another blood transfusion in a couple of days time, we had a long chat with the specialist about dads treatment options moving forward, I'm not entirely sure how much dad really understood, but as he was having a good day it was important to me that he should have a say in his ongoing treatment options

I attended the christmas party with dad at the dementia centre and dad had a fantastic time dancing away to practically every song, I got quite emotional watching dad as it brought back so many memories of watching him dancing in my youth and being highly embarrassed by it all

Photo Description- My dad wearing his santa hat and holding up a glass of apple juice to says cheers to everyone at the table who are out of shot for privacy reasons

I can't praise the dementia centre enough, since dad has been attending it's really helped to lift his mood and he really looks forward to going every week, dad even asked if he could go more often in the new year, hopefully if dad's granted funding then he'll be able to attend a couple of times a week, but for now once a week is all I can afford 

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Mum's dementia is unfortunately progressing much more rapidly than dads and it's led to some somewhat challenging behaviours, which really upsets dad as he can't understand what he's done to upset her, it's like reliving my childhood every day with mum at the moment, except I'm not 15 and can't leave home and ignore her like I did back then

We have someone coming out in the new year to assess mum's condition again and discuss if any of the dementia medications could potentially help with her mood swings

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My uncles estate in Cyprus is still rumbling on, but at least we're allowed to put the house up for sale now, so if you're looking for a property in Cyprus then check it out, it's absolutely gorgeous and ready to move straight into, it's just too far away with my family commitments or I'd live there myself

Hoping everyone had a merry Christmas and wishing you all a happy New Year

Dawn, Boris & Eko xxx

This Post is linked too

 Comedy Plus - Happy Tuesday