{"id":676,"date":"2015-06-10T15:27:21","date_gmt":"2015-06-10T15:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/ebn\/?p=676"},"modified":"2015-06-10T15:27:21","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T15:27:21","slug":"a-personal-account-of-caring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/ebn\/2015\/06\/10\/a-personal-account-of-caring\/","title":{"rendered":"A Personal Account of Caring"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"CG9GG8cXAAARFkU\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This week is Carers Week <\/a> and it runs from the 8th of June to the 14th June 2015.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a time where healthcare professionals and individuals, like myself, raise awareness of the important role that carers play.\u00a0 This awareness pertains to what a carer is, what they do on a daily basis and where it is that they can go to access support services.\u00a0 It\u2019s a cause that is inherently close to my heart because I am in actual fact, a carer.\u00a0 I have been since the age of 11. You might think this is young but the truth is there are carers younger than me and a lot of carers older than me.\u00a0 Being very young or very old then doesn\u2019t give you immunity from the role of caring for a loved one.\u00a0 Irrespective of age or individual circumstances, we all share the same role of carer.\u00a0 We look after a loved one who needs help – be it a family member, a friend or neighbor.\u00a0 The people we care for may have physical or learning disability, a long term health condition, a mental health problem or even have problems with addiction.\u00a0 Some carers may even fit into any of these categories themselves.\u00a0 I know I do.\u00a0 I have anxiety and OCD, but I continue to care for five people in my family.<\/p>\n

I started caring from the age of 11 \u2013 it\u2019s all I\u2019ve ever known.\u00a0 My grandma and granddad used to look after my great grandfather who had dementia and had one of his legs amputated so caring has always been in my family.\u00a0 He used to live with them until he moved into care and he died in 2006.\u00a0 Just before this, in 2005, my grandma fell down the stairs and this accident changed the life of my family and me forever.\u00a0 Everything just spiraled downwards from that point in time. When my grandma got out of hospital, 4 months after her accident, we thought everything would just go back to normal.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t.\u00a0 It was only beginning.\u00a0 She was diagnosed with epilepsy and diabetes.\u00a0 To make matters worse, we were told that the brain damage she had already sustained would get progressively worse.<\/p>\n

Caring from my grandma became more difficult as I then had to play a role in caring for 3 other members of my family.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to go into that, because it\u2019s still so raw for me.\u00a0 Not all carers want to talk, tell their story or raise awareness.\u00a0 Some of us prefer to remain in silence and some people struggle alone.\u00a0 While I don\u2019t want to go into details I will say that mental health problems are involved as well as substance misuse.\u00a0 There is a lot of stigma surrounding these issues and unfortunately it is not something I can discuss further.\u00a0 I have been living with this aspect of caring since I was 14 years old.\u00a0 My grandma eventually went into care when I was 17, I think.\u00a0 It sounds terrible but my life from the age of 11 has basically been a blur of events.\u00a0 From then, my granddad\u2019s health began to decline.\u00a0 He drank a lot \u2013 probably to cope with grandma\u2019s deterioration and his health problems worsened.\u00a0 Then something we weren\u2019t expecting happened – he was diagnosed with dementia.\u00a0 The dementia caused a number of hospital admissions and eventually changed his personality and behaviour.<\/p>\n

In September 2014, it was time for me to move away from home to go to university.\u00a0 I left my physical caring responsibilities at home, but I would still be the person at the end of the phone if anything happened to anyone.\u00a0 My family was always in my thoughts and that caring responsibility never went away.\u00a0 When I went back home, my caring responsibilities would resume immediately. The last time I went back, which was for my 21st birthday, everything seemed good but my grandma was experiencing hallucinations and my granddad\u2019s dementia had progressed rapidly.<\/p>\n

He was now in psychiatric care.\u00a0 I went to see him on the day of my birthday and when I saw him, I didn\u2019t recognize him.\u00a0 He had completely changed.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know who I was, which was difficult. He was very distressed because he couldn\u2019t communicate what he wanted and he didn\u2019t have the capacity to hold a conversation with me.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t believe what I was seeing.\u00a0 The feelings I experienced were crushing, will he be able to speak, go to the bathroom himself or recognize anyone again in the future?\u00a0 He\u2019s only 67 years old.<\/p>\n

Caring can be difficult and heartbreaking.\u00a0 But to be able to give back to my family, the same family who cared for me growing up, is a very rewarding feeling.\u00a0 There is a considerable burden on my life at times but I wouldn\u2019t change anything.\u00a0 I know that the people I care for will not always be around and so I enjoy the time I have with them the best that I can.\u00a0 As a person I have become more caring, more able to adopt a non-judgmental approach and learned how to be resilient.\u00a0 On caring, I would say – It\u2019s the gift of giving back that counts.<\/p>\n

Sophie<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Sophie<\/a>
Sophie Dishman is a carer & undergraduate journalism student at Sunderland University.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Follow Sophie on Twitter @SophieSW14<\/a>\u00a0or check out more of her blogs<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  This week is Carers Week and it runs from the 8th of June to the 14th June 2015.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s a time where healthcare professionals and individuals, like myself, raise awareness of the important role that carers play.\u00a0 This awareness pertains to what a carer is, what they do on a daily basis and where […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":273,"featured_media":678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2367],"class_list":["post-676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-health-promotion"],"yoast_head":"\nA Personal Account of Caring - Evidence-Based Nursing blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/ebn\/2015\/06\/10\/a-personal-account-of-caring\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Personal Account of Caring - Evidence-Based Nursing blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  This week is Carers Week and it runs from the 8th of June to the 14th June 2015.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s a time where healthcare professionals and individuals, like myself, raise awareness of the important role that carers play.\u00a0 This awareness pertains to what a carer is, what they do on a daily basis and where [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/ebn\/2015\/06\/10\/a-personal-account-of-caring\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Evidence-Based Nursing blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-10T15:27:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/ebn\/files\/2015\/06\/dyacMKuZ.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"388\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/ebn\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/10\\\/a-personal-account-of-caring\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/ebn\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/10\\\/a-personal-account-of-caring\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"A Personal Account of Caring\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-10T15:27:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/ebn\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/10\\\/a-personal-account-of-caring\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":917,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/ebn\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/ebn\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/10\\\/a-personal-account-of-caring\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/ebn\\\/files\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/dyacMKuZ.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Health Promotion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/ebn\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/10\\\/a-personal-account-of-caring\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/ebn\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/10\\\/a-personal-account-of-caring\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/ebn\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/10\\\/a-personal-account-of-caring\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Personal Account of Caring - 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