Maureen called time on our April Fools’ Party at 3.30 this morning by bedding down on the sofa once more.  We’ve had a bit of a rave here; listening to some of our favourite music on YouTube since 1.30 am.  If you pop across to my Good Music page you will get a feel for our rave.  Hope you have seen April Fools’ Day in with a bang: I got her early on with ‘there’s a foot of snow outside’.

I would have been ‘the fool’ if my gamble of going to bed at 10.30 last night had caused a problem.  Maureen wanted to stay downstairs as she had been in bed most of the day.  I managed 3 hours rest and found her standing in the dining room looking dazed.  I wished I could have taken a photo as her dress sense was appropriate for a cool morning with heating switched off:  draped in purple a blanket with a scarf around her neck she looked a treat.

The Home Treatment Team will be here at 2 pm today to begin their assessment of our situation.  Our social worker and my Admiral Nurse pulled out all the stops yesterday to move things along.  We are very fortunate to have support from such dedicated staff.  Questions remain about certain procedures and protocols that make it difficult for them to adhere to the Local Authority’s aspirations ‘to look after their carers’.  I intend to comment on these systemic shortcomings in appropriate arenas. I am hoping that constructive suggestions will lead to positive outcomes for both professional staff and carers.

I have an appointment with my G P this morning to consider the best way to protect my well-being.  It alarmed me when I looked back and realised that since Maureen’s stroke I have had one week’s holiday and one night off in two years.  I’d better not tell my brothers and sisters in the trade union movement: they’d take my card off me.  What a shame there isn’t trade union to address the exploitation of Care Partners

It was a lovely day here in Cleethorpes yesterday and I managed to potter in the garden whenever the opportunity arose.  What a pleasure it is to be outside in the fresh air after what seems to have been a very long winter long winter.