Autumn sausage traybake and green beans

I have, I think, pushed myself entirely too far this week: I don’t feel physically tired, but mentally I’m so exhausted I’ve been near to tears all day.

Mum continues to feel unwell, and the day has been the usual ongoing litany of complaints about her various health problems, often in more detail than I really want or need. While dealing with that, I have done the sort of list of things that would be no big deal for a ‘normal’ person, but is intimidating for a spoonie:

• Supervised mum’s morning meds, and weathered the usual complaints about how many she has to take;
• Emptied my bedroom bin;
• Trimmed and arranged a gift of flowers to mum from her church;
• Put away the groceries;
• Joined an online forum for carers and introduced myself with a post asking for advice on handling mum’s chronic headaches;
• Talked mum through the process of putting the bin out for emptying tomorrow (she said “can’t you do it? … Oh, no, you actually can’t, can you?”). Tomorrow I will investigate how to arrange for our bins to be moved by the binmen, as it’s now getting to the stage where mum and I can’t do it ourselves;
• Cooked dinner, which I’m pleased to say mum enjoyed as this week’s meal plan is all about ‘things mum will reliably eat’;
• Supervised mum’s evening meds, and weathered the usual complaints about how many she has to take.

Now mum’s watching Strictly, and had a quick “do-di-do-di-dododo” along with the theme tune, which is a reliable sign she’s feeling a bit brighter. I’m thinking that I’m going to have to do this all over again tomorrow, and it’s not a happy thought. Such is the life of an unpaid carer, sadly.