Today’s photo is of James’s ‘red book’.

I got this folder for free from NSW Health.  It helps us to keep all of James’s medical stuff together.  It has sections for health contacts, appointments, health problems, monitoring health problems, medications, allergies and immunisations, plastic sleeves for extra bits and pieces of paper, and a few spots for business cards.  I have added some extra plastic sleeves and business card holders as James needed more than came with the folder.  In the plastic sleeves I have a few journal articles about James’s condition to give to new doctors as they will not have heard of James’s condition before.  I spend a lot of time researching APECED as when you care for someone with a very rare condition you can’t expect doctors to know much about it!

Carers have many jobs – one of mine is researching!

Today’s photo is of a magnet with my favourite quote – “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly”.

To be a carer, I have to be optimistic.

As a diabetic, James has to check his level at least four times a day, and up to 8 depending on how he feels.  As James’s carer, this means that I have to remind James to check his level at least this often.  Most times when I ask James to check his level he will go to do it and then forget what he was doing and so I have to remind again.  The words ‘check your level’ get a good workout in this house!

Caring makes you repeat yourself endlessly!

Today we went to Bella Vista for an appointment for James.  Bella Vista is just over an hours drive away.  We headed off with plenty of time to spare and got there about half an hour early.  After the appointment we headed home the long way.  On the way we passed HomeWorld and decided to have a look at some of the display houses for fun.  We wandered around, daydreamed about houses and then headed home.  Today’s photo is of two cushions we came across whilst out and about.  These cushions looked good from a distance, but up close all I could think about was the amount of dog hair that could get caught in the folds!

Caring makes you very practical.

Today’s photo is of a flower.

Carers need to stop and smell the flowers from time to time.

After my operation I was given Antibiotics to have as a precaution and I have also been having regular nurofen, so there is a lot more tablet taking happening in this household.

Today’s photo is of some of our home grown potatoes.

We dug these up so that we could make mashed potato for me to eat as I am on soft foods since my wisdom tooth operation.  They are Dutch Cream variety.  This is a variety that you can get everywhere in Tasmania and James and I fell in love with them when we lived there.  This year we got some Dutch Cream seed potatoes so we could still have our favourite variety of potato.  These potatoes are just one thing we miss about living in Tasmania.  We had to move when James got too sick to work and I became his full time carer.

Caring makes you miss out on things you want

Today James had to enrol at Tafe.  He has chosen to do a Certificate II in Horticulture part time.  My Mum drove us back home this morning, and then after spending most of the morning in bed I managed to dose up on Nurofen and drive James to Tafe which is luckily just around the block.  After enrolling we headed to the Disability Officer’s office, but unfortunately it was closed.  We came back home and I headed back to bed.

Caring doesn’t just stop because you have had an operation.

Today’s photo is of the ‘booklet’ I received from Katoomba hospital, informing me that I’m getting my wisdom teeth out on the 28^th of January, 2010 – today!  I have three impacted wisdom teeth that are impacted – one was taken out in the dentist chair a few months ago.  I have been dreading this day for years as I throw up after operations, and I also can’t have codeine so am stuck with only Nurofen for pain relief.  As I will be a bit out of it for a while after the operation, we have organised to stay with my parents tonight so that someone can keep an eye on James while I’m sleeping.

Caring makes life a lot harder when you are unwell.

Today’s photo is of James’s insulin.  He now gets it in 10 ml vials, instead of the 3ml vials he used to get, as this way it means less waste.   James puts 2mls of insulin into his pump every 3-4 days, so one vial lasts around 20 days.

Caring makes you spend a lot of money on medication.