Bank Holiday Weekend

 It feels so strange to be at home today, in the past we'd spend the August Bank Holiday weekend away at the beach, how I miss those carefree days of packing up the camper van at a moment's notice and disappearing with the boys for a few days

Image Description - A beach sunset with Himself, Boris and Eko in silhouette on the beach when the tide is out, the setting sun is behind them casting a red, orange and purple light across the whole beach and the setting sun as a white orb in the centre top of frame

 Caring for my parents is a full-time job these days and I have to be available 24/7, we have a fantastic live-in carer who I honestly couldn't manage without as I struggle to come to terms with the changes in my parents which has made them people I no longer recognise, but the biggest and most definitely strangest change is that my dad's life long chronic stammer has

Difficult decisions and allotment news

Springtime is my favourite season with all the blossom and new life sprouting from the earth, the clocks have now changed and the days are getting much warmer and longer

Boris is doing really well on the new medication regime for his arthritis, I'd noticed he was starting to struggle more with the stairs and sometimes in the mornings he was finding it difficult to assume the position when toileting

Image Description - Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel sitting in front of a large bush covered in white spring blossom, he's sitting proudly and looking very intenly at something that's behind me out of shot as I take his photo, he's also wearing a grey Y front harness 

I was really starting to worry about Boris and his quality of life as he's such a master manipulator (like many dogs) about hiding his pain, we had a long chat with Dr Tania about how

Round up of 2024

What a year it's been here at Crazy Towers I've achieved the square root nothing, I didn't even have the time to get down to our allotment to prepare the beds and plant all my seedlings so no home grown vegetables this year, to add insult to injury the birds stripped the plum and cherry trees bare of fruit so we had none of those either, the only thing l did succeed in growing were some spectacularly tall weeds

Image Descriptions - Head shot of Eko the Golden Cocker Spaniel and Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel sitting outside in our garden, both are wearing red Santa hats tipped at a jaunty angle looking and the still with a white pop tipped forward between their eyes too o look adorably cute

Thankfully I was given a pass for this years allotment inspection, but if I don't plant it up next year I could

December Already 😲

So much has happened since our last post that I've not been able to keep track of the time, when we last spoke Eko was recovering well from an acute case of pancreatitis and my dad had  finally had his cataract surgery, has since made a good recovery and things were starting to settle down again

At the end of October Paleo Ridge launched Paleo Senior to the Paleo Plus range which we were excited about as they will really benefit Boris and his specific dietary requirements as a senior boy of 10 years old with chronic arthritis 

Image Descriptions - Two head and shoulders shots of Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel looking very majestic holding in his mouth the distinctive and artistic new packaging of the Paleo Senior Turkey and Lamb Dinners. Boris is looking at the camera standing amongst a small clump of trees out in the woods and is slightly damp from the wet grass he'd been running through previously 

Paleo Senior is designed to meet the distinctive needs of senior dogs by using lean high-quality meat cuts enriched with nutrient-packed green leafy vegetables, this low-fat formula is also enhanced with Reishi mushrooms to support the immune

Back home at last

Dad is finally home at last **does a happy dance** 

In total dad spent 10 very long and unpredictable weeks in hospital after he fell and broke his hip back in April

The outpouring of love from people all over the world asking after dad and wishing him well has been absolutely staggering, I read every message, email and comment to dad whilst he was in hospital and I'm sure it's this outpouring of love that helped my dad to fight and make it through some very dark times

Image Description - The day Andy Awford ex player and manager of Portsmouth FC came to visit dad in hospital and really made his day, it was also the day I discovered just how much trivia dad knows about football. Dad is sitting in a hospital ward on a blue chair beside his bed, Andy is sitting on the right hand side of the frame and both are looking at the camera smiling

Not knowing that many of my dad's friends and acquaintances anymore I joined the local facebook group in my old home town, I shared what had happened and why dad hadn't been seen out and about for a while on his regular morning walk to Tesco's for the daily papers

All my life people have joked that everybody knows

Round up catch up

Although we've been AWOL for the past couple of months I had started writing several posts but never got around to finishing any of them, so I thought what better way to bring you up to speed than to put a few short posts together in one longer post for a quick round up-catch up as I sit here in A&E at the Royal Surrey County Hospital with my dad in the wee small hours 

Unfortunately my dad took a tumble earlier today and dislocated his hip, we had hoped that was all it was as the paramedics took him off to hospital, but x-rays revealed a fractured hip and dad needs surgery to fix

As I post this I'm currently waiting to see the Doctor for more information the information my dad gave me is very sketchy because of his Alzheimer's, he'd already been x-rayed and told he needed surgery before I even got to the hospital in my car, soon as I know more I'll update you

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Jan 24

Boris knows he's handsome and is always camera ready, which is really lucky after a long old day at the eye clinic with my dad yesterday

The worst part by far though was the 90 minutes it took us to get out of the hospital car park and onto the A3 due to the sheer weight of traffic also trying to exit the

Sorry we've been AWOL

Apologies we've been so very tardy about posting recently, the truth is I've been really struggling with my own mental health for the past couple of months

Something happened which made me realise that all was not well in my world and that I couldn't ignore it anymore when I hadn't been in to check on my parents for three days

They weren't totally abandoned as mum has carers that come in first thing each day to help her get washed and dressed, but I just couldn't face another day trying to cope with these two strangers who look like my parents and live in their house, but aren't the people they once were

Nothing prepared me for becoming my parents caregiver, it was forced upon me because I'm the only one near enough to do it. My life has been turned upside down and my own health struggles make things really difficult as I never get the time to just stop and rest up for a few days

 I'm absolutely exhausted with the constant worry

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

If I didn't laugh .......

I'd cry about the chaos that is now my life

I seriously couldn't make this stuff up if I tried

Welcome to this week and it's only Tuesday morning

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I had to cancel someone from coming round to my parents house to clean the gutters for an extortionate price, mum had booked them because someone put a leaflet through the door, thankfully she let slip about it to my brother who then told me, so I was able to cancel them. My brother will go up and see if the gutters need cleaning at our parents house when he comes over for Christmas 

Photo Description - A fun head shot of Eko the Golden Cocker Spaniel and Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel sitting side by side in the garden, both are wearing Santa hats worn at a jaunty angle as they look at the camera

Getting told somebody came round the house to see mum, but nothing is booked on the calendar or I'd have been there, mum can't remember who it was or what they came round for.

A bit of a hiccup

It's been a stressful week with a couple of trips to the vet for Boris, somehow he injured his hip which resulted in him being so much stiffer and lamer than usual, he was given the tried and tested opioid fuelled molotov cocktail of painkillers which soon had him feeling a lot more comfortable, on his return today he was feeling much better and the vet was able too move his hip without resistance

 

Photo Description - A head shot of Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel in the car looking at the camera with a slightly sad look on his face as he's in pain and we're just about to set off to the vets to check it out

I've accepted that Boris will probably never be fully sound again since his elbow fracture, the strain of that

Freaky Friday

Who remembers the film Freaky Friday with Jodie Foster from way back in the dark ages of the 1970's

How I loved that film when a mother and daughter switched places for the day, yesterday felt very much like my very own Freaky Friday as I dropped dad off for his first day at the Adult Day Care Centre  for people with dementia

Photo Description- Head shot of Eko the Golden Cocker Spaniel and Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel looking directly at the camera, this was taken back in the summer when the trees were still green and the ground was dry

I've been so worried about how dad would cope with it all, would he make friends, would he get upset and most importantly would he feel abandoned, but I also know a big part of dads anxiety and stress is caused by his recent lack of mobility and therefore interaction with other people on top of adjusting to his Alzheimer's diagnosis

Dad agreed to go on the understanding that I'd pick him up straight away

Hello Monday

Looking forward to a new week

Amazingly the calendar is empty of any appointments this week, but that doesn't mean it'll be a slow week, anything can change at a moment's notice when you're a caregiver to someone with dementia

Photo Description - A profile head shot facing to the right of a much younger Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel amongst the dead bracken out on the common. Boris is wearing the distinctive Help for Heroes collar which has three bands of colour, dark blue, red and light blue to represent the armed services. Photo Credit Fur & Fables

The anti anxiety meds dad's GP prescribed him appear to finally be working, last night was

International Dog Day

The terrible twins are back, walking Boris in his stroller has made so much difference to his happiness levels, he's now back to his cheeky happy self again now that he's regularly coming out on walks with Eko and I  once more

Photo Description - Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel and Eko the Golden Cocker Spaniel in the boot of my car, I'm standing off to the side of the car for a different angle, Boris has his front paws up on the bumper to be in more light, whilst Eko remains in the darker boot area, both dogs are looking round at me after a walk out on the common and looking happy

I admit was starting to get a little worried for Boris as he always seemed so depressed because he was getting left at home and missing out, no amount of enrichment toys or chews seemed to lift his mood in a way that going for a walk does

On Thurday Boris and I headed over Lumbry Park so that Boris could have an

The Kindness of Strangers

My dad is an avid lifelong supporter and shareholder of Portsmouth Football Club and as our long time followers are aware my dad also has Alzheimer's

 The other day dad broke his favourite cereal bowl which he's had for years and got really upset, it was his much loved Portsmouth FC cereal bowl that he uses each morning to start his day

It may sound like such a small thing to get upset about, but to dad this cereal bowl holds so many of his precious memories about Portsmouth FC

With so many of dads memories disappearing as each week passes, this bowl was important to help keep his memories alive of of his favourite football club

As a surprise I went to order dad a new bowl off the Pompey website only to discover

Some Days are Overwhelming

What a hectic day yesterday and today has turned out to be, Thursday and Friday are normally my days off to catch up with myself and household chores

Late yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from my dad that his leg was sore and he'd shown it to his friend who said he needed to go to hospital

I thought that sounded a bit of an exaggeration because everything is an emergency to dad since his cancer diagnosis, so I asked my son who was at dad's house to send me a photo of dad's leg and sure enough it looked swollen and a bit red, so I  immediately phoned the Doctors for an appointment for him hoping  to get him an appointment for yesterday or at the very least for today as it's another long weekend with the Kings Coronation tomorrow

Some Good News

My dad was discharged from hospital late on Friday afternoon, it's taken a little while for him to settle back in at home hence why I've not been online much this weekend catching up with everyone 

I'm so relieved to have dad back at home once again as he finds the hospital environment so very stressful

Photo Description - Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel and Eko the Golden Cocker Spaniel sitting side by side facing the camera amongst the dead bracken out on the common

What a Week!

Sunday

At 0245 I was woken from my slumbers to a phone call from Care Line, the phone call I've been dreading for some time now, one of my parents needed help

I was informed my dad was suffering with chest pains and that an ambulance was on its way to him, I quickly got dressed and drove straight to my parents house

As I pulled up I was relieved to see the Abulance crew were already on site and had everything under control, they were just getting ready to pack up their equipment and take my dad to the A&E at Guildford Hospital and I was to follow along behind

Once dad was admitted into A&E and had some tests done it was soon established that his sodium levels were really high and that he was very dehydrated, so he was immediately put on a drip to rehydrate him

After a while dad was taken down for a CT scan to

Rollercoaster Ride

Yesterday was a day of ups and downs, we made it to the end of dad's radiotherapy treatment for esophageal cancer. Even the snow didn't stop us, who'd have thought that 4 weeks could be so long and stressful, now we wait for everything to heal before scans can be done to find out if dad's in the clear

We celebrated by walking The Boys which dad really enjoyed, he's a massive dog lover and has really missed seeing them these past 4 weeks with everything that's been going on