Over the last six years, I have experienced a lot of family illness. My daughter, Ella, at the age of 5 collapsed in the garden and was diagnosed with a massive hole in her heart, called congenital heart disease. She was rushed to Leicestershire Children’s Heart Hospital where she had emergency open heart surgery. She recovered well but due to the length of time left before being diagnosed, she is going to be monitored for a long time. She now undergoes regular cardiology appointments to have ECGs and Echocardiograms (Echos). Ella is also asthmatic and gets very breathless, so she takes steroid inhalers to help build up her lungs, as well as Ventolin.
During this time, my diabetic husband had two strokes, which led to his kidney failing, resulting in dialysis at home and a kidney transplant. This was during Covid and as you can imagine, due to the restrictions, it was stressful. He was then diagnosed with a condition called Diabetic Charcot, which is where the bones in the foot crumble and push outwards. This broke the skin and got infected, which caused him to get sepsis.
In 2023, an ulcer on his other foot became infected, which meant he had to spend 5 weeks in hospital, resulting in three toes and a part of his foot being amputated. It’s now a year later and the foot is still healing, we have nurses visiting the house every other day to dress wounds. The amputation has left him struggling to walk, and as he is on so many drugs and anti-rejection medications, he gets tired very quickly. It’s been a difficult journey and a big change going from having a healthy family, to my husband becoming disabled and having to constantly watch and monitor my child. It has been a massive strain on us but as a strong unit we support each other I always say: “there is always someone worse off” and “what does not kill you makes you stronger”.
Bupa has supported me by granting holiday at very short notice, offered me support and made sure I knew I could access the counselling if I needed it. My Area Manager was fantastic throughout, calling me to check in and making sure I was sleeping and eating.
My team has been fantastic, I couldn’t ask for a more supportive team. My colleagues have called me at home when I am on my own to check I am OK, and offered to take me to the hospital to visit my family. My Practice Manager even offered to look after Ella for me, as well as easing my workload, when I was going through the worst events. My working hours were also altered to coincide with school pick up and drop off as. I could not have gotten through this without the West Bridgford team!
We can encourage the challenging of health stereotypes through open education and knowledge, leading to open conversations. Minimising assumptions of others, not using negative words when describing others, and more understanding around how disability can affect a carer’s work/life balance.
