JourneyOnline
I read the carer feature in the May Journey.
am a member of the Bribie Uniting Church.
I became a little emotional when I read it.
I do not feel I am someone special.
I had twelve years caring for my mother.
She had diabetes, epilepsy, mini strokes, urinary tract infections, macular degeneration, incontinence both with bowels and bladder and at last, kidney failure.
I took on each problem as it came along.
Learnt what I could.
And dealt with problems as they came up.
Mum made it to eighty-eight years only a few weeks in the nursing home.
After mum passed my church family and Rev Nev Surwohld was a great help for me.
Grief and loss knocked me around a lot.
I felt so guilty and a bit depressed.
It took just over a year to overcome it.
Learning to live with it and accepting it.
But it was a good experience, now I know how to help others.
I made regular visits to mums old nursing home, yarning with the residents, having a bit of a laugh.
They are high care and to me they are the "special ones".
Staff have told me they enjoy my visits (it's sad when they pass away).
I also helped out the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Respite Centre in reaching their history and helping people.
I learnt a bit more about my Aboriginal culture as well.
To me I am still a bit of a carer.
But I believe "carers need all the help they can get".
I know from experience it is a most stressful job.
There's not much help except for Blue Care.
They were wonderful to me and supported me so much.
This knowledge helped me deal with life and death situations.
I feel most strongly for carers.
All the best.
