Unwanted Visitor

Unwanted Visitor
Available on Kindle

Sunday 19 February 2012

I'm quite excited, I am addressing the conference on Acquire Brain Injury on 16th May 2012 at the Floral Pavilion, New Brighton.  I am scheduled to be first speaker and I will be speaking not as an author but as a parent.  My daughter, who is 29, stopped breathing when she was thirteen, which left her with an acquired brain injury.  I will be talking about our journey to learn to cope with her disability and to get her the help she needed.  I must try not to turn this into a rant, although I do get bitter at the way we were treated sometimes.  It took years for anyone to agree that my daughter does indeed have a brain injury and her behaviour was not just teenage stroppiness. Just because I do not have a medical degree, does not mean I know nothing, and just because I am a mother does not mean I will exaggerate the problems to get assistance with my daughter.  I think we are doing all right now, but we have had to fight to get her the support she needs, in fact we have had to fight for everything we have achieved.  I suggested calling my talk, 'Screaming in the Dark', because that is what it felt like, but that doesn't sound very positive does it. I am trying to write things in a positive light so I will have to think of a suitably upbeat title.  The message I will be giving to the medical professionals at this conference will be, listen to the family, they know their relative better than a tired junior doctor who has met her twice.  To the patients and carers and families, I will be saying, don't stop asking for help, it is available, you just have to be persistent and develop a thick skin.  Take a look at the Headway page on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/123530217665548/

Friday 3 February 2012

A New Start

2011 was not my year, the weight is still with me and I was too busy with everything to progress much with my writing, although I was pleased to receive a highly commended and a short listing from the Winchester Writers' Conference  Anyway, I finish my degree in May (I'm back on track for a 2:1), so I will be able to devote more time to writing.  I might win something this year.  Also I'm in a better frame of mind because things are starting to calm down. 
      Everyone is recovering from their various illnesses, the dauughter's fractures have healed and her pain has been brought under control, I've finally shaken off that bronchitis that's been with me for weeks, MIL's tests have not shown anything nasty although they will continue to monitor her and the grandchildren seem well at the moment.  Number 1 son has set a date and he will be getting married at Leasowe Castle next March.  That will be both boys married off.  The husband has a couple of juicy contracts so we can get paid for the next year. All in all, things are looking up.
    I will try to remember to blog more often.