How do you laugh EACH DAY now ?

What makes you laugh EACH DAY ?

Another week comes & has nearly gone & I had all good intensions regarding my routine this week, with long TO DO lists.  Do you do that ?  Of course that didn't go to plan, but that's okay - I am here with my man living & breathing 😁

From cleaning out the chook pen to veggie gardening to shopping at the local weekend markets; it has been a good week most of the time.

I am enjoying the very much needed rain today after planting a lot of veggies, a fig tree & a bouganvilea vine yesterday.  We are in early spring here in Australia now, so I get very excited to watch buds appear, plants suddenly burst into growth & bloom, & birds, bees, butterflies & dragonflies enjoying it all.

  

The fish I bred from tiny fingerlings 18 months ago are growing big & going crazy in the dam as the water starts to warm up.  They are beautiful silver perch.  The red claw crayfish are HOPEFULLY growing within the PVC pipe raft I floated on the edge amongst the reeds & purple water lilies.  Apparently, informed by my fish breeder/supplier, this protects them from their predators & they grow faster.  

I am hoping 😜😄!

In sharing all of this, what may seem trivial to you right now, it is how I keep my sanity & how I LAUGH, & how I love & how I cry - amidst this weird journey Steve, especially, & I are on.  It's not the life we lived 7 years ago & previous. It is very different.

Some of the things that have changed are -

During Better Times

• Our Romantic Connection
• Our Normal Holidays - we loved the same things
• Our Normal Outings
• Our Career Lives
• Our Family Connections - (Steve was always the active, sporty & fun Papa & Dad.  A lot of that has gone now & the younger grandchildren, sadly will never know that Papa)😓
• Our Normal Everyday Chats
• Our Normal Everyday Laughs
• Our Shopping days & hobbies together
• Our Shopping for each other eg birthdays, Christmas etc
• Our Intimacy 
• Our closeness, especially in talking & decision making
• Our creativity - we did so much together around the home & our social life.
• Our closeness & just understanding & reading each other

I know there are so many in the same, if not worse, predicament.

Are you experiencing the same or similar feelings of loss.  This is grieving in a major way that just doesn't get easier.

I would love you to share your stories & I would love you to feel like you are not alone on this journey you are on. 

Sharing is Caring & gives one comfort & an extra STRENGTH     to get through each day 💗💗💗

Blessings until next time

For Your Comfort, click link here ...

https://youtu.be/pMLiWUZK7CU

     

 

How do you surface Each & Every day ?

 How I SURFACE each & every day !

I wake up some mornings & there it is again - the same ugly mountain in front of us !  I think it was maybe a bad dream again - BUT NO SUCH LUCK - we are in this for good.

Do you ever feel that way ?

But then you just have to snap out of it & greet the day!  Take on the CARERS role again!

Please don't take me the wrong way.  I would do anything for Steve.  It is not fair on him.  He never thought he would get HD but considering he did, he takes it amazingly.  Yes, he gets frustrated at times or more so disappointed, but he just moves on to the next task for the day.

Sometimes, I think it is harder for the carer as life has taken on a dramatic change overnight, & you still are physically & mentally the same.  It's like you have had a huge cage dropped over you & you can't go back or forth the same, normal way anymore.  You just can't escape no matter what.

Is that how you feel, or do you take on a different role or attitude, HONESTLY ?  

I'd love to know ,,,

I would love to hear your story 😘

That is what this blog is all about - I will share with you & I would love you to share with me too.  That's support, that's caring !!!

I begin the day showering Steve, getting his breakfast etc., & then it clicks in - this is our life now & we have each other through thick & thin, through sickness & health,

 'til death do us part for nearly 46 years so far !

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE 

UNTIL THE END ...

But

We still have each other & we have God as our 

Comforter, Strength & Guide!

We are truly Blessed

My Man - My Hero 💙

  

 

My Introductory Post to YOU 🩵

 MY INTRODUCTORY POST TO YOU

Hi & Welcome to Carers Take Care of YOU 💗

I am Jenny, unexpectedly now fulltime CARER for my hubby who was diagnosed with Huntington's Disease 7 years ago.

Turn back the clock 10 years or even back as far as 2014, Steve was happily working in the Building Industry as a Contract Administrator/Estimator & Sales Manager.

I had started working from home restoring furniture & then developing a Sanding Glove I had invented for intricate sanding of the furniture.  This I built up to an international business selling in Canada, USA, Europe, UK, New Zealand & Australia.  That is on hold for now & may or may not be re-established again.

In the blink of an eye our world came crashing down after a bad car accident.  We had not long returned from an amazing 2 months marketing & attending a huge show - The Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart, Tasmania.  It was amazing & we met so many lovely people along the way.  

At the end of 2016 we were travelling in our motorhome, marketing my gloves after Steve was released from his job.  We believe they noticed signs of the Huntington's, but never really said, as he was a valuable worker for nearly 25 years.

So, months in & out of hospital, (thankfully Steve was not injured), I made my way back into life again, but it was far from normal.  The exciting life we had once was null & void - forever !  We had to learn to adapt to a whole new way of living.  A year after the car accident Steve had a heart attack, & then began to convulse 4 to 6 times a day for 10 months, until, one evening he was so bad, he was rushed to hospital & his medication had to be increased.  We finally had it under control - NOT HEALED - but under control.

I then began to research more natural ways to fight against all the side effects this rotten disease brings.

FAST FORWARD TO NOW -

We have learnt a lot, we are in a semi-normal routine & have much help put in place for Steve.  Compared to his Mum, who also had HD, he is doing quite well.  It is not curable, however, with all we are doing we have managed to slow down the ugly disease, & try & manage as best we can day by day.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO THIS BLOG -

After years of ploughing through many ups & more downs, Steve wanted to give back & reach out to those suffering & hurting, not only with HD, but anything else that is dragging them down in life.  He had realized & had his eyes opened to what others go through.

So I began to once again research, & we decided to create videos on Steve's own Youtube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/@StevePositiveHuntingtonJourney

Steve's attitude is remarkable - he keeps us going with his daily motto - EVERY DAY IS A GREAT DAY !  

So, with 36 videos uploaded now, I wanted to reach out to YOU, especially if you are also a Carer, as this world is a tough one, even when life doesn't bring major challenges.  

Carers need support too, along with the person suffering, as they are thrown into a world of unimaginable daily happenings.  I would never have thought about any of this in our prior life, & that shames me to a certain degree, as we were so busy living our NORMAL life along with others.  It's not, I believe, a selfish way of living, but like anything, unless you have experienced it, you don't really get it, & that's not your fault.  However, I do wish I had even felt a small percentage what Carers & their loved ones were going through.  I could have given them a HUG, MORE TIME, A PHONE CALL REGULARLY, or some support in some way, just to make them feel wanted, needed, & still part of their community - their world.

Anyways, I will close this post here & begin this journey of reaching out to YOU with more positivity on how we deal with life now, enjoying all we can, & dealing with the rest.  

I want this to be an uplifting blog, but at the same time, a Blog of understanding.  A Blog of getting what you feel & where you are coming from.  A Blog of Community of Carers from different walks of life & Non-Carers who really do CARE for CARERS💜💜💜

Here we go ..................