Dear diary…

July 3, 2018 Dawn - The Sparkle Diaries.10 Comments

…as usual it’s been a while since I have managed to update my blog. So much seems to be happening and for a change, most of it is good, WHOOP!

Thankfully Dad continues to improve. The Doctor was correct when he said it would be a slow process but I don’t care how slow it is as long as Dad is improving. We are still battling away with the cardiac water cough, lack of appetite and regaining strength. Sleep has much improved, Dad has started to eat proper food again and he looks much more like his usual self. Mom has just been the most amazing little fairy, the love shines through and her nursing returned to her. I have been so happily surprised at how she has been looking after Dad, it has been beautiful and emotional to watch.

Another plus point…oh I wish I had a fan fare here…we have managed a whole month of going to bed every single night. We haven’t done that for almost four years…FOUR YEARS!! I still have bags under my eyes but at least they aren’t Black anymore.

We are experiencing the most fantastic Summer weather we have had in years here in the UK. I love it. Apart from ensuring that “The Kids” are kept cool I am loving this sunshine. I’m not getting out in it much but just the fact is there is just wonderful. Long may it continue. This was a sunset from my bedroom window a couple of weeks ago. Such beautiful colours.

I’m doing my bit in these lovely long, bright, Summer evenings to try and keep the garden as Mom and Dad used to. You can see how scorched the earth is through the lack of rain. I’ve bought myself a watering can. I’ve done quite well with some small tubs of flowers and it’s actually quite therapeutic a little bit of gardening.

Last Friday one of my forever friends came over to see us and I had booked the carer to cover for me for a couple of hours so that we could escape to a local pub, sit outside and eat a late lunch/early dinner and enjoy a glass or two of Prosecco. After not being out for such a long time it felt like a holiday. It is so true that carer’s need a break!!

I have news to update you on the music front which I will do as soon as I can. There’s a lot of work involved now with the setting up, music aggregation, licences etc and finding time is difficult as I’m always on the go. But find time I will!

A little snapchat filter to close off for today…gosh if only I could get my make up like this!!

With love and sparkles until the next update, thank you for checking in with me xxx

Life Sparkles

Strep Throat is the Pits!!

June 2, 2018June 2, 2018 Dawn - The Sparkle Diaries.2 Comments

Poor Dad, what a horrible, horrible, horrible infection infection Strep Throat is. Since my last update where he was just starting the antibiotics, we have had over two weeks of what I can only describe as an absolutely horrendous time. After a week of treatment the Strep had started to break up within the throat, which is good. The downside was that in breaking up it leaves lesions on the throat and tonsils which made it impossible for Dad to eat or drink. Everything he tried, including water, hurt. Not only did it hurt but it immediately caused an almighty coughing session, bringing up what I have officially classed as “Strep Gunk”. We’ve had nights of continuous coughing and all I could do was be there to support him. I wanted to stop the cough but I was yet again helpless.

Week two of Strep Dad was feeling so bad one evening he asked me to ring the priest. Fr Michael was here very quickly. Such a lovely, kind man, he calls every month to visit Mom and Dad. He gave both Mom and Dad the anointing of the sick sacrament. There was an incredible feeling of energy surrounding their chairs, you could almost touch it.

Two weeks on and we have at last started a recovery. Dad is starting to eat again, the coughing is decreasing and we have less all night coughing sessions. Dad has lost over a stone in weight and is quite weak. Not surprising after almost three weeks without proper food. The Dr supplied us with protein shakes which have helped enormously. What was starting to happen over the last week was that the lack of eating and drinking was having a knock on effect on Dad’s existing health issues. It really does feel like one step forwards and two backwards at times.

It’s been nine continuous weeks of infections, with the Strep Throat period being worst of all. The past month has felt extremely solitary in ways. More than once I just sat and cried. Exhaustion, anxiety, fear and a feeling of inadequacy just spilled out. Better out than bottled up I suppose.

Mom has been amazing, she is such a sweetie. Very caring, advising Dad, tucking him into bed and checking on him. The nurse within her returned and only one all nighter which kept me fit up and downstairs to keep an eye on them both. I am now hopeful that we have at last turned a positive corner and that slowly recovery will continue.

Needless to say I haven’t left the house very much at all in the past month. From now though I really must try to go out again as I think I could easily fall into the trap of thinking that I can’t go because I’m needed plus Dad has already said he doesn’t want me to go out because he feels safer when I am in. Although he has also admitted this wouldn’t be good for me. The three of us need to get used to the carer being here to give me a break.

I have one concert to blog about, which I attended at the end of April plus I have managed to keep my guitar lessons and singing sessions going, all within the house and I have news on the singing front. I’ll get these written as soon as I can.

A few pictures that more or less cover my last couple of weeks…that new granola from Kellogg’s is delicious.

With love and sparkles x

So very true...

New favourite breakfast.

Life Sparkles

And the latest from me is…

May 11, 2018 Dawn - The Sparkle Diaries.4 Comments

…We are still in the midst of illness here at home, it’s been a long six weeks. Mom thankfully appears to be fully recovered from the chest infections. Dad though, bless him, since he had the chest infections at the same time as Mom, also then had a viral infection. Swiftly followed by Thrush in the throat, more than likely caused by the heavy doses of antibiotics for the chest infections and now we have Strep Throat, so more antibiotics and a very heavy dosage. Eight, 250 mg tablets a day for ten days to ensure the bacterial infection is cleared up. This time I am ready with the probiotic yoghurt in the hope that we can prevent another attack of Thrush after this latest dose of antibiotics. It is so hard to watch Dad suffering with the Strep Throat. The Doctor showed me his throat when she examined him on Tuesday and all I can say is it looked gross. No wonder he has so much pain, unable to swallow which of course is affecting food and drink intake. I have no idea where Dad contracted this particular infection, either someone who has called to visit has been in contact with someone who has it or Dad’s immune system was very low after the continued infections. I am praying Mom doesn’t catch this particular infection.

https://www.webmd.boots.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/strep-throat-bacterial-tonsillitis

We have experienced some amazing hot Summer like weather in the past week, our Bank Holiday Monday was apparently the hottest on record. For me it meant washing everything in sight and getting it dried on the line outside in the fresh air. I love that. Such simple pleasures. Also, the flowers in the garden have really bloomed. Mom and Dad loved spending time in the garden and buying new plants, I’m doing my best to keep everything alive!

I did manage to get out for a walk on one of the warm days, it felt so good to be out in Summer clothes, feel the sunshine on my legs and arms. We have had such a long, cold and wet Winter here.

The daisies growing wild in the grass reminded me of school days and running barefoot in the playing fields. I’m very lucky to live close to the city and yet also within a five minute stroll to the edge of the countryside, it does a soul good to see the fields, the flowers and trees, even on a wet day. Now the weather is back to where it should be for Mid May – much cooler, quite windy and chilly today.

I know I have been a little quiet on the music side of things, but I have been managing to grab some time here and there and I will blog about where I am with my dreams very soon.

Snapchat has given me giggles when I have had a chance to try out some fun filters and I find a giggle always does me good. This is one of me looking a little tired out…and Snapchat has given me a Hippie Flower in my hair and freckles…it did make me smile.

I did get out to a couple of the concerts that I have held tickets for since October last year, again, that’s another blog post to come.

So for now, I’m off to do some more chores, this post has taken me all morning to complete. Full time caring is demanding, it’s stressful, I live almost totally on the edge of anxiety and worry and you do the best you can even when you feel so helpless. When there really is nothing you can do but just be there.

I’m looking forward over the weekend to perhaps an hour or so to have a cuppa and sit back and read your latest blog posts which I love to escape into.

With love and Sparkles x

Life Sparkles

Down in the Dumps.

April 25, 2018 Dawn - The Sparkle Diaries.5 Comments

Writing those words I wondered if readers of my blog from anywhere other than the UK or Ireland would know the expression “Down in the Dumps”. My description of it is a feeling of being down, a certain grade of depression, not a bad mood as such, just feeling anything but positive.

I had a night like this on Sunday night. As you know from my last post, my Mam had been unwell with a chest infection and when we had returned from hospital, my Dad was also unwell. After a week of heavy antibiotics, they were both recovering well over the Easter weekend. I on the other hand was starting to come down with something, probably I had picked something up from them. Of course I am strong enough to fight it off in time. It was tough going, feeling so rough myself and looking after things here at home and looking after my parents. There is just me, it had to be done.

The Tuesday after Easter Dad started to become unwell again, the chest infection had returned so a different, heavier dose of antibiotics was started. Two days later Mom also came back down with a chest infection and another dose of liquid antibiotics commenced.

So a week later, both were once again over the infections, the antibiotics had left a few side effects but nothing we couldn’t handle. On the Friday my boyfriend came over for the weekend, we hadn’t seen each other this time for five weeks and cover was in place so that we could go out for a late lunch nearby. We were gone less than two hours and in that time Dad had suffered a weird kind of turn. Tummy cramps, heat, sweating, freezing cold and weakness. It’s no wonder I am stressed when I go out yet I know I need to go in order to have some “me” time. He looked awful. When I think about it, he looked worse than when I seen him have the cardiac arrest in 2009 and that was bad. Thankfully our Doctor’s surgery was open and the on call Doctor came to visit. All checks were good, we had to put it down to after affects of the antibiotics. He rested for the rest of the afternoon and was back to his usual self later that night.

The following Tuesday a sore throat appeared…by Thursday Dad sounded once again completely congested. He spoke to the Doctor on the telephone Thursday night and a Doctor called to see him on Friday. Again, all check ok, this was put down to a viral infection so no antibiotics this time and slowly this has started to improve over the last week.

Sunday evening I was feeling so tired out, the stress of the last four to five weeks was catching up with me. I ached. For a couple of days it felt like I was trying to shrug off a heavy load from my back. By Sunday it felt like I was carrying a rucksack full of stones, I had chest ache, arm ache, neck ache…and I was tired. We got to bed around midnight and the last time I looked at the clock was 00:50 am. 1:25 am Mam decided to get up. She wanted to come downstairs for tea, she had no intention of going back to bed. So that was that, I was up again and downstairs in the lounge with Mam. Tea was made and drank and around 4.30 am Mam fell asleep in her favourite chair.

I couldn’t chat, I couldn’t do anything much, I felt so down, so tired out, so desperate, so alone, my sparkle wasn’t even a twinkle, it was like a dying ember in a fire. I’d had it. I wasn’t even in the mood for the Twitters…never a good sign. I prayed and prayed. It works for me.

I had thoughts of blogging my thoughts but I decided that my mood was just too Black and that just isn’t me at all. I did however catch up on reading some of your wonderful blog posts, so diverse, so interesting and so calming to read. It was just the right thing to do. I fell asleep around 6:30 am and although I woke around 9 am, my mood had lifted. My favourite and most apt bible verse in my head…

I decided to pull my sparkle up from my ankles and get myself moving. I got myself ready and I started the Couch to 5K programme again. I’m starting from the beginning and building myself up, it has been 18 months since I last ran. I felt so much better for going outside, walking, running, listening to music, it did me the world of good and it must have loosened up my body as the pains and aches were all but gone.

On the Friday afternoon, my close friend Sharon had called to visit. Usually we would go out for food but as Dad was unwell I cancelled the carer and we stayed home. We had such glorious weather last week, sunshine and heat, we sat in the garden for an hour, drank Prosecco and ordered Pizza. Such simple things yet it felt like a holiday for me.

Not really good for the healthy eating but I haven’t been too good at that recently and sometimes I think a little of what you fancy does you good.

Thank you for reading yet another war and peace of a blog post!

Pictures are either mine or via Pinterest.

With Sparkles until the next time…

Life Sparkles

Acting Quickly.

April 3, 2018 Dawn - The Sparkle Diaries.5 Comments

Last week was a lesson for me in how quickly illness can escalate in elderly people. I have been so cautious all during the Winter to prevent Mom, Dad and myself from getting any kind of cold or flu. We all had our flu jabs. Mom and Dad have already had their pneumonia jabs. Visitors did not call if they had any bugs until they were long gone. With all the pre Winter scare stories of flu epidemics due to hit us and the stress our hospitals and emergency departments were under, I wanted to ensure they stayed well. As they are elderly, I knew if they caught anything it wouldn’t be easy to get rid of.

It all started on the Thursday evening, Mom became hoarse as the evening drew on. On Friday morning she wasn’t any worse but I decided to ask the Dr to check on her, just in case it would spread to her chest. Mom is generally very healthy. However, the weekend was coming and our own Dr’s wouldn’t be available. A Dr from our surgery called in the afternoon and checked on Mom. He was happy that her chest was clear and noted that she had a slight tough of Laryngitis, take paracetamol and drink plenty of fluids. (Easier said than done with Mom). By Saturday morning Mom had regained some of her voice but she appeared to have a lot of phlegm in her throat. She slept, and slept, and slept. All day long. As she slept, the sound of the phlegm was cracking away in her throat and I felt this just wasn’t right for Laryngitis. I couldn’t rouse her for her dinner and she continually fell asleep mid sentence. I called the out of hours service, gave them the details and awaited the call back. I spoke to a Dr on the telephone who agreed this was not Laryngitis related. He would send a GP out to assess.

11pm Saturday night the GP arrived and as he examined Mom he said he was not happy with her Oxygen levels, they were dangerously low and he would send for an urgent ambulance as she needed to get to hospital. With that he left me a letter and left saying he would call the ambulance enroute to his next call. I was beside myself with worry, stress, panic and yet had to stay calm to deal with the situation. I had a bag to pack for hospital. I had care to arrange to stay with Dad whilst Mom and I were gone. I was frightened.

The paramedics arrived within minutes. They did their own checks and the oxygen levels were fine but they did agree Mom required hospital treatment. Mom wouldn’t budge. She wasn’t feeling unwell at all. It reminded me of when she broke her hip and felt no pain at all. She didn’t feel unwell now so why was she going to hospital. Bless the paramedics, they tried for at least an hour but no way would she go. They gave me the advice of what to look out for and to call 999 if anything changed. They also said that however I did it, I needed to get her to hospital on Sunday for treatment as this was now suspected pneumonia. Mom had gone back to sleep. Our neighbour was here to stay with Dad as our carer was unable to locate childcare so late into the night time.

An hour later Mom’s breathing was very laboured, I called 999, an ambulance arrived, this time three more fantastic paramedics. Again they tried and tried to get her to go with them but no way at all would she entertain it. I was beside myself with stress, fear, worry and also felt totally helpless. We discussed mental capacity; as Dad and I were both here they would not take her by force. The chief paramedic was happy enough with her stats to leave her here with me to make the call on Sunday. Hospital on Sunday was a must.

8 am Sunday morning I could see a slight blue tinge to Mom’s lips as she slept. Our carer was here by then and she agreed with me. Again I called 999 and again absolutely wonderful paramedics arrived. It took some time, a little trickery, a lot of persuasion and eventually Mom was captured in the chair, wrapped in a blanket and on her way to the ambulance. Myself and the carer travelled with her.

As we had the letter from the Dr we didn’t have to wait at accident and emergency, we could go straight through to the Assessment Ward. It was such a long day, a very long day. Stats taken, bloods taken, lots of sleeping. The Dr came to see Mom. Fluids and Antibiotics were administered via IV and within half an hour, there was a very much brighter little fairy sitting up on the bed. The consultant came to visit Mom with the Dr. They wanted to take an x-ray to check for signs of pneumonia. They were hopeful we had caught this at chest infection stage.

X-ray taken and we waited, and waited and waited. We heard a nurse say all the IT systems were down, nothing could be reviewed, patients couldn’t be admitted or discharged. We were moved to a ward for the night. Mom was agitated now. The nurses have to move quickly and get things done, they don’t have time to sit and talk Mom into moving from one bed to another. Mom’s confusion set in and it took over two hours for her mood to settle. The Dr visited us around 10pm Sunday night, he was happy that there wasn’t any pneumonia on the x-ray, we had caught it in time. He felt Mom would heal better at home in her own environment. More antibiotics were administered through the IV and we were given antibiotic syrup to take for five days.

The next hurdle was to get home. At first Mom wouldn’t move. Thankfully our lovely carer had returned from sorting out her sons’ school uniforms for Monday and she was able to talk Mom into going home. Mom would not sit on the chair to be wheeled to the entrance, she insisted on walking. It was a long walk for her. Again I was stressed out; how would the walk go, would she be able for it, at least we were in hospital. My fairy of a Mom made the walk slowly, sat into the carer’s car and chatted all the way home.

When we got back, Mom sat into her favourite chair, drank tea and fell asleep. She was already feeling so much better than earlier that morning. Dad was now coming down with something so it was a call to our own GP on Monday morning and Dad was examined Monday afternoon, a chest infection building and antibiotics prescribed.

It has been a hard week in more ways than one. I’ve had a rush of different feelings and emotions, from frantic worry and stress of possibly losing Mom to relief that it was caught in time to worry about Dad getting a chest infection on top of his other ailments. By the end of the week I was coming down with something. Tiredness, stresses, strains, worries all added to sleeplessness to make me feel unwell…but who cares for the carer?

Mom has recovered very well thank god. Sleeping all day on the Saturday with no intake of fluids or food had increased her confusion hence her refusal to comply with the paramedics and go to hospital. I have to say that usually Mom is fabulous with anyone from the health profession, being an ex nurse herself. Dad has also recovered well although he seems tonight to be heading for another cold of some sort. That’ll be Doctors again tomorrow.

Once again I find myself thanking and being very thankful for our absolutely amazing National Health Service and the Dr’s, the nurses, trainee’s and our wonderful paramedics. They do the most amazing job, 24/7 and they are worth their weight in gold. Whatever they get paid it just isn’t enough for what they do.

I’m still finding it incredible that slight Laryngitis Friday afternoon had become suspected pneumonia by Saturday night. You really do need to be aware and hawk eye as a carer. If I had left it one more day it would have been a very different story.

In these cases, the feeling of helplessness is overwhelming. It was all happening around me and very little I could actually do but be there.

This is a fairly long blog post from me which is kind of unusual. I love my blogging, I find it therapeutic and almost like a diary of my life events. I needed to write this episode down, to process my thoughts and try to deal with them.

Thank you for listening x

Life Sparkles

Catching up yet again!

February 15, 2018 Dawn - The Sparkle Diaries.4 Comments

Once again I find that time is flying by and I’m not getting an opportunity to keep my blog updated. I have amazing ideas that pop into my head, subjects to blog about, songs to include on my blog, blogs I want to catch up reading and yet nothing gets done. I seem to be constantly on the go from the moment I get up until I get into bed…if we get into bed. Daily I am surprised that I get to 9 pm and not had a chance to do anything on my own “to do” list as I had more important tasks to do for my parents. Life as a carer is like this and I have noticed that I have become calmer within this role. If the past few months have taught me anything it is to just go with the flow. Don’t try to force anything, Mom will do what she wants to do when she wants to do it and everyone only gets stressed if I try to make things happen. It hasn’t been easy, I still silently scream inside when it can take fifteen minutes to cajole Mom into the kitchen to eat. Poor old Dad has had to get used to going with the flow also, we are all on a continual learning curve.

I have managed a couple of outings since early January and there has been some progress on my music dreams which I’ll share in another blog post…which hopefully won’t be in another six weeks time!

Lucky me, my favourite Irish singer John McNicholl was in town and my fabulous boyfriend came over to spend the evening with my parents so that I could go to the dance.

A friend I have made through going to see John McNicholl over the years had bought me some beautiful flowers. A wonderful surprise, I was spoiled.

Back on track with my healthy eating again. It took a while after the Christmas excesses, once I get the taste of the chocolate I’m done for.

I purchased a wholly unsuitable pair of sparkly shoes. I’ve not worn high heels for years, I need to get some practice in. Not bad for £25.00

Beautiful Roses which I bought for my Beautiful Mom.

A little Snapchat fun after a quick catch up lunch with my friend.

Absolutely amazing, incredible, fantastic concert from the brilliant Nathan Carter. This lad just keeps getting better and better and lucky me I got a kiss, swoon. Oh yes I was the cat that got the cream.

This is my little Bitmoji from Snapchat complete with hearts for Valentine’s Day. I like the whole Bitmoji thing, it’s fun, expressive, confusing and I could even add my lack of sleep lines to my eyes, result!

And finally, my Snapchat Valentine’s Day post. How I love these wrinkle removing filters. I was just about getting used to using the Snapchat app and they have now changed it…oh well, time to start learning all over again.

Huge sparkles to all, hopefully I’ll be back to the blog very soon.

Life Sparkles

Christmas Eve.

December 24, 2017 Dawn - The Sparkle Diaries.4 Comments

I love Christmas Eve, for me it has always been the most magical day of the year. That sense of expectation, the birth of Jesus and the arrival of Father Christmas with lots of surprises. That childhood sense of wonder and awe changes as we grow older and we feel different emotions for different reasons. I’m doing my best this year to keep a sense of the magical, to give my parents a happy time. Things have changed so much in the past year. At the moment I’m sitting here hating that Mom feels I’m trying to hurt her or harm her simply by changing her clothes. I’m missing my sister so much today too; I cannot help but think that things would be easier if she were here but as she isn’t I have to just get on with things and hope that she is helping me from her heavenly abode.

However, there has been some happy times in the past week and I thought I’d share them with you before I wish you a Merry Christmas.

Lunch with one of my forever friends.

Girlie catch up Christmas lunch with my friend.

I dropped some items off for charity and had the Church to myself, so beautiful.

I loved the colour of these Roses and so bought them for Mam.

I definitely made the Hall and Porch sparkle this year.

A Christmas Cyclamen hanging basket and a very old Christmas wreath I hang outside every year.

I gave in a joined the phenomenon that is Snapchat. I haven’t got the hang of it yet but I have to say it has made me giggle at times I really haven’t felt like giggling. That has to be a good thing!

I just wanted to say a huge thank you to you all for being so supportive of me and my blog. I hope you all have a truly magical, peaceful, blessed not forgetting sparkling Christmas.

O Holy Night. Sparkling Star bless our world tonight.

Life Sparkles

Night Time Catch Up.

December 4, 2017 Dawn - The Sparkle Diaries.2 Comments

It’s been a quiet and settled kind of day. I made a small start on putting some Christmas decorations up. Mom and I always put them up together. This year is really the first time that Mom hasn’t really engaged with me in talking about putting them up. She’s more than happy to talk about Christmas, about family visiting, about sending Christmas cards but for all the discussion she doesn’t appear to be wanting to get actively involved. I have to be careful here; if I do too much too soon there is a chance that Mom will think she is in my house, not her own home and start saying she wants to go home. So slowly does it, keeping her involved, asking advice, asking her to check things. Yes I could do it myself much quicker but I can’t leave my fairy of a Mom out. She always included me when I was a little girl onwards to teenage years and even when I had my own house she would wait for me to be home with her and Dad to put the Christmas Tree up. My turn to do the same for Mom.

I bought a new garland which lights up for the stairs but it didn’t fit properly. Dad suggested the window sill and I have to admit, it looks great there with Mom’s old candle ornament.

Mom and I both love Roses, I buy her a bunch each week when I go shopping. We place them in the hallway, never fails to put a smile on our faces as we pass them.

I found a couple of small vases in a cupboard so I placed some Roses in one of them on the kitchen window. A simple small touch yet makes such a difference to the outlook plus Mom and Dad are enjoying looking at them. I told you… I’m turning “Stepford”.

Our local village tree is up and I love it. I take pictures when I get out and about to show Mom and Dad so that they are up to date and can see what is happening in the outside world, as they no longer get out there. For now it doesn’t appear to upset them. I know Dad especially misses going out and about. Mom no longer talks about going out and the times she has been out; as in our emergency dash to A & E a few months ago, she handled it extremely well, much much better than I had thought she would.

Since I started to write this blog post, we are up out of bed and back downstairs drinking tea. I had a feeling after such a settled day and bedtime being a bit unsettled, that we were in for an all nighter. Perhaps I’ll make a start on those Christmas cards after all…

Life Sparkles

Sundowning, Sleep and Me.

November 27, 2017 Dawn - The Sparkle Diaries.Leave a comment

Sundowning was something I had never heard of until about two years ago. Out of the blue Mom would get confused, agitated, nervous and not know if it was morning or evening. If we did get to bed there may be “room roaming”, Mom would be on patrol within her room, back and forth to the window wondering why it was dark during the day. Some nights we wouldn’t make it up to bed at all. Other nights we’d get to bed and sleep only to find ourselves back downstairs a few hours later. This is what has happened tonight. Last night Mom and I didn’t get to bed at all.

Since the Doctor said Mom’s topsy turvy nights were due to Sundowning I’ve read quite a lot about it. We don’t fit any of the profiles given (typical) however some of the remedies do work for us. Keeping to routines, staying calm and reassuring, making hot sweet tea and favourite biscuits as sometimes Sundowning can come on due to low blood sugar.

It is always worse when the clocks change. When our clocks recently changed due to the end of British Summer Time I was expecting a couple of weeks sleep disruption. We had four weeks where we went to bed every other night. We then had a run of six nights in a row of uninterrupted sleep which believe me was heaven. For the past two weeks we’ve had one Sundown night each week until this week; last night and tonight. Mom was expecting visitors. I tried to explain it was 2:30 am but Mom thought it was afternoon and of course in the depth of Winter we can have some very dark days where night time starts to descend mid to late afternoon; a typical Sundowning trait of switching night to day.

My night out last Sunday did not help things. Routine was upset, I was out and came home late, 1:15 am. Mom was happily enjoying her time with the Carer and Dad. I got into bed at 3 am and Mom got up at 6 am…last Monday was a very long tired out day.

A slight twist to the Sundown is that some nights Mom just doesn’t want to go to bed even though she is tired. This isn’t Sundowning. I’ve researched this too! It seems that elderly people can get so comfortable, cosy, warm and relaxed in their chair they don’t see the point in moving to bed, so they don’t, they sleep quite comfortably where they are. This is fine for them but hard on their carer who doesn’t get a proper night of sleep. There is no change of mood when this happens, no anxiety or confusion. My fairy of a Mom just wants to stay put where she is.

My main issue with being up at night on a regular basis is not only am I lacking in vital sleep but I need to keep going during the day to take care of Dad when he gets up and to do the cooking etc. I did very little yesterday and I’m thinking today is going to be written off chores wise. That’s how it goes, we just have to go with the flow. Keeping Mom happy, relaxed and safe is our priority.

We have had our 3 am tea and biscuits, Mom has fallen asleep in her chair, Dad is asleep upstairs and I’ll attempt a few hours sleep now. The wind and rain are pelting against the window, it’s comforting, soothing and I hope will help me drift off to sleep.

Pictures via Pinterest

The Music Sparkle.

Dancing Feet and Cowboy Boots.

November 21, 2017 Dawn - The Sparkle Diaries.12 Comments

It’s a while since I managed to post a catch up blog, it’s on my to do list. However, last night I managed to get out to see my favourite Irish music star, John McNicholl and I just had to post a few pictures tonight.

John doesn’t visit Birmingham too often and as I am unable to travel to see him in other parts of the UK or Ireland, I have to wait for him to play my city and hope I can get out to the dance. It takes some strategic planning these days to do so, especially as it entails a late night but things worked in my favour last night and Cinderella did go to the ball. Cinderella also checked her phone every five minutes but that’s how it goes these days. I was so glad I was there. John has a fabulously rich voice and sings not only Irish and Irish Country music but also some Rock and Roll, Sixties and last night we had some Neil Diamond too. John has boundless energy on stage, a real entertainer. He has a great band of musicians with him, the music is wonderful. I was up on that dance floor almost all night, I made the most of the freedom I was enjoying, I felt like me again, if that makes sense? My knees are paying the price today though…

There are a lovely bunch of people I meet at John’s gigs and I’ve made some wonderful friends over the past four years. I was really feeling the love last night from them all. They had missed me posting on Facebook (I had no idea I hadn’t posted there since August), they were concerned about me, was I ok? Was I getting out? I’m still feeling emotional from the genuine concern and caring about me from these friends. I feel so loved by them and that feels so warm and comforting.

John himself is a true gentleman and I am so happy to count him as a friend also. Rumour has it that he is back in Birmingham in January so fingers crossed I’ll be pulling on the cowboy boots and heading for the dance floor again then.

So, a few photos from last night, I was so happy, I made them all have their photo taken with me.

John McNicholl

Shane who plays Guitar in John’s band.

Johnny who plays the drums in the band.

My friend April and myself.

I’m wearing the dress I bought for my Graduation which I ended up deferring until next year. However, I’m so happy with how I look for a change, that 22 lbs weight loss makes such a difference. No wonder I was a diva on the dance floor, I had the energy to do so!!