Audrey’s Blog on living well with disability and breast cancer

I come from a long line of feisty women. No surprise there I hear you mutter. And mostly it serves us well. My Grandmothers lived through two world wars, deep recessions, losing babies and teenage children even and then widowhood. These were such tough times.   My own mother in some ways had it easier; better times and better medicine eventually made her life more comfortable, her own babies safer. But she too lived through her teenage years in a town that was relentlessly bombed during the war and that left its scars. Her evident fear during a storm a testament to those early years spent in bomb shelters. This week has found me in deep reflection about the past. November 12 was the anniversary of my fathers death. Twenty years have passed and perhaps it's juxtaposition to the Remembrance ceremonies, with that 100 years commemoration of the start of the war that was to end all wars,that made it so poignant. We came upon this wonderful tribute from his home vil

Yet again I have had to engage with the NHS recently and I have been treated with respect, compassion, taken seriously and supported with clinical competence. I'm so grateful to all who play their part. In many ways the system works well for me, especially as I   have a good level of health literacy, given my nursing and public health background. But when it comes to my Mums needs, frankly, its poor. Frail both physically and mentally now she is so vulnerable and without my sisters nearby support, coordinating her care, advocating for her, plugging the many gaps and lack of joined up thinking I really find it hard to see how she would have survived, and certainly not at home. Aged 86 and well until recent years she has done well, but its heartrending to see her decline now. She is typical, not unusual. Thankfully she and my father saved for this rainy day and it is helping her afford the care she needs but my sister has the finger in the dyke of her need and lives w