In promoting the 'Don't Call Me Mum' initiative and asking practitioners to #CallMe, I often hear the excuse that a hospital professional is simply too busy. It is easy in the bustle of the hospital ward to mistakenly regard the details as unimportant. Like the panoramic view of any hospital stay might include the admission [...]
It’s the 11th October 2021, there is a severe weather front closing in and I have written about it before. I’m braced for impact. It’s my son’s 16th birthday tomorrow I am full of so much joy, pride, gratitude and love. I am brimming with heartache, loss and grief. Weather fronts are the transition boundary [...]
It is reported in the BBC news yesterday (18th March 2021) that over the past year the CQC has identified 508 “Do not attempt resuscitation” (DNAR) orders which were inappropriately put in place without discussion with the person or family involved. There is evidence to suggest this is happening more frequently for people who have learning [...]
Medications 7 times through the day and night isn't cancelled. 24-hour PEG feeds aren't cancelled. Hoisting and toileting isn't cancelled. 24-hour postural care isn’t cancelled. Personal care isn't cancelled. Cooking, cleaning, educating, playing, resting isn’t cancelled. Contacting and negotiating with professionals isn’t cancelled. Visual stimulation, sensory stimulation and active movements aren’t cancelled Trying to keep your [...]
An open letter. I respect you. I really do. You obviously care and have years of experience. You haven't had a personality transplant to take this job. You want to help people, to help families like mine. You are in such a difficult position. You're the face of the bureaucrats. The ones who get to say [...]
What is easy about a weekend? I often get that Monday feeling on a Friday afternoon. It marks the start of me juggling the expectations and responsibilities. The struggle to rest, relax, have family time and 24/7 care. The Commodores classic 1970’s hit song, Easy like a Sunday morning, was a song on a jazz [...]
It’s the summer holidays. It has rained a whole of two days and siblings around the country are complaining about the most mundane things. Like, “MUM! He’s looking at me funny. Tell him to stop." My eldest brother used to complain I breathed too loudly whilst he was watching the TV. He certainly used to stare [...]
A defining moment can happen anywhere, for us it came at ten weeks old, in the Hammersmith hospital in London. It was the line in the sand that once stepped over, there was no turning back. ‘When my son was in the scanner for longer than expected, a battle began in my mind. Was this a [...]
The truth is my son is wonderful. It’s true our lives are good. It’s true I am lucky and blessed in so many ways. It is true he is precious and unique, loved and created. It’s true he fills our home with love and has taught us all how to be better humans. It is true that [...]
**WARNING IMAGINATION REQUIRED** Imagine me in a Miss World competition. Obviously to do this, you'd have to believe I've abandoned any feminist ideals, grown a foot in height, enhanced my breasts and shrunk my waist. But, bear with me... Should I ever be a contestant on Miss World and the MC asks me what would be my one wish, it probably wouldn't be 'World [...]
