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

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

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

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

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

Mr Smarty Pants

Last week Boris had a trip to the groomers for some much needed pampering and a tidy up

You may remember we had to cancel Boris's last appointment with the groomer as I didn't think it would be fair on him or the lovely people at Vanity Fur for Boris to attend whilst he was chronically lame and on high doses of painkillers due to his elbow injury

Photo Description - Full body shot of a very scruffy looking Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel sitting in a grassy field, his coat is sticking out all over the place, but I still think he looks adorable 

Boris had to make do with

Self care is essential

I have so much going on with my parents and Boris at the moment that I've been feeling totally overwhelmed by it all just lately, 

I'm exhausted with putting my parents needs first and worrying about Boris all the time that something had to give

Photo Description - Head shot of Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel looking directly at the camera with his tongue out a little whilst sitting in front of an Ivy covered fence

I finally got around to booking myself an appointment with the

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

Never say the Q word

As a shift worker for most of my adult life there's one word you soon learn to never utter

Within minutes of somebody saying it the incidents would start coming in thick and fast and the rest of the shift would be hectic

When I turned the page on my calendar this morning to organise my life around my parents various appointments I got a pleasant surprise

Photo Description - Eko the Golden Cocker Spaniel and Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel laying on a Union Jack covered sofa when we were recently at Dogstival in the VIP area, both boys are facing the camera with their tongues out and wearing blue cooling bandanas around their necks as it was starting to get very warm

There's only one appointment for mum at the

Friendships are Complicated

𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭

Wise words from my very good friend whilst cutting my hair the other day

Somebody I once used to consider a very good friend dramatically disappeared from my life overnight by moving house with no forwarding address approx 25 years ago

There has never been any contact to say why they left so dramatically

Image Description - A head shot of Eko the Golden Cocker Spaniel and Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel sitting side by side in long grass facing the camera, the weather is warm and they both have their tongues out to cool off after racing around the field 

I had no idea where they'd gone so I couldn't find out if they needed any form of help or if I'd upset them

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

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

My Wonderful Dad

Well that's it, dad finally had his last scan done on Friday, the consultants are getting together tomorrow and will work out which treatment plan is best suited to his fight with Esophageal Cancer

Everyday dad seems to be getting frailer and frailer before my eyes, my big strong dad who's always been my rock is fast disappearing into the shell of a person I hardly recognise because of Dementia 

We're still waiting on the exact diognosis of what type of dementia he has since his brain scan which was done about 6 weeks ago

His wit and sense of humour is still there though, usually at the most inappropriate moments which always cracks me up and we laugh together

Good Riddence 2022

Good Riddence 2022 it has not been nice knowing you!

I'm sure some good things must have happened but I honestly can't remember them over the 💩 you've dealt us as a family

2023 is also going to have a tough start, especially for my dad as he starts his fight against Esophageal Cancer

My mum is living in her own world these days due to the Vascular Dementia caused by her stroke in 2021 which is tough on everybody, what little empathy she ever had for others which wasn't much, has now completely disappeared

My uncle was finally laid to rest in Cyprus after we weren't informed of his death until several months after the fact

Christmas Round-Up of 2022

Wishing all our followers both new and old a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Photo Description:- Eko the Golden Cocker Spaniel and Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel sitting side by side in front of a frosty Azalea bush. Both are wearing red Santa Hats worn at a jaunty angle as they look at the camera

It's been a tough year here at Crazy Towers, first discovering that both my parents now have dementia and all the changes involved in