BLOGMAS Day 7: working as a carer.

I have been working in the care industry for nearly 2 years now, wither with the elderly or with children and young adults with learning difficulties. Now it is safe to say my job is not an easy one. And on more than one occasion I have had people say oh but you're just a carer, you wipe bums for a living HAHA yeah of course that's all I do... WRONG. I work my ass off. I am currently working 13 hour night shifts in a care home with the elderly who have dementia and a residential home. People assume that because I work nights I have an easy job. A few of my residents do not sleep and are often in an out of bed and I do a lot of personal care, plus the admin jobs and jobs around the home. Its not an easy shift at all.

I'm writing this just before I go to work, I cycle to and from work getting a bit of exercise in and try to eat healthily. On an average night shift I do over 12,000 steps so a lot of walking and on a day shift its more.

So, what is it like to be a carer? I'm going to talk from the perspective of an carer working with the elderly as that is my current position. I am currently an acting senior carer at night, which means to some extent I am in charge. Just means that I help the nurses out a bit more and make sure the level of care is the highest standard. I still assist with pretty much all care but I also help with care plans, admin work and making sure all the jobs are complete. A lot of my work involves making sure my residents are safe, that they are eating and drinking enough and are happy. Personal care such as assisting with showering, bathing, changing pads that kind of thing is an hourly occurrence. I think a lot of people assume that on a night shift once everyone is in bed you just sit around and do nothing but that is not true at all. We are always busy!

20:00 - handover from day shift (15 mins)
20:15-01:00- assisting residents to bed and personal care for those already in bed
01:00-03:00-  kitchen jobs, emptying bins, laundry, cleaning and tidying. As well as hourly checks on all residents and personal care if and when needed.
03-00-07-00- getting ready for the morning, emptying the dish washer for the third time, more admin jobs and of course personal care.
07:00-08:00- checking paperwork and one final check on the residents, some residents like to be up early from 05:30-07:30 so we do showering and bathing and getting breakfast ready for those. and of course our night handover to the day staff takes place at 08:00-08:20.

That is a really basic and quick guide to my job, I have properly left out so much more I could add. But I will be doing a day shift as well soon, more tends to happen as activities take place during the day. It is a stressful job and I've wanted to quit on numerous occasions but I am sticking with it. Getting used to everything and how best to work. It is hard work and I am not JUST a carer I am much more.

I hope you enjoyed this.

Love yah
IsThataRedHering

Learning to say no!

I have always been that person who wants to help. Even if it means I end up worse off. But recently I have decided that I need to start saying no to things. Some people may think that I am being selfish, but I have decided that I need to start doing things for me. Not anyone else. If I don't want to do something (obviously a valid reason, not just to please someone else) then I am going to say NO! 

July has been a very big month for me, the month of NO! But also positive thinking and making much needed changes in my life. SO what happened?

I handed in my notice at work 

I got a new job

I turned 22

I became single

I passed my theory test 

I had my hair cut and I am back to a natural hair colour

I made this month about me! 

Okay so they might not be massive changes but for me they were the step in the right direction. I have become more independent and focused on myself. Making much needed changes. This time last year I pledged to lose weight. And well I mean I'm not any heavier than  was last year, I am about 3lb lighter than last year. Small bonuses, but safe to say I am not happy with that. So that really needs to change. And I know I can do it, because I did lose a stone of weight in a couple of months, but I started to get comfortable in a relationship and I let everything slip. So, no more buses, I've got my bike out (and helmet). I've taken before photos, of my current weight and what my body looks like now, printed them off and stored them in a secret location. In a couple of months I might write a blog post showing my progress. 

The most important thing is that I am doing this for me and no-one else. No man to impress but simply to prove to myself that I can be healthy and happy with being me. I am not going to starve myself, I am going to do this properly and if you want to do this with me then I'd love it if you'd join me. Make it a weekly or monthly thing. I don't need to know how much you weight or your measurements but we can be there to encourage each other. If you'd like that let me know, because I certainly would. 

Thanks for listening 

Always do things for you. Be a little selfish every now and again

BE HAPPY!

Love yah 

IsThataRedHerring 

Knowing your limits

We are always told that staying in our comforts zones is not really a good idea, that we should broaden our horizons and get out of our comfort zones. Which I mostly agree with, but we all have our limits and pushing them too far too quickly like I found out is not a good thing.

The past 4 months have seen big changes for me, I finished university, got a full time job, committed to losing weight and started writing a book. These have all impacted me greatly in the past few months. Finishing university was a massive deal, I went from living with my best friends to hardly seeing them, being a 5 minute walk from some of the greatest people I know to being hours away from them.

But recently the biggest change is going from barely working at all to working 80+ hours a week, doing stupidly long night shifts and working 2 weeks in a row without a day off. Safe to say it killed me, resulted in me becoming very ill and ended up getting sent home from work. I did too much too quickly. I was stupid to accept all the shifts I did. The money was good and meant I could put a lot into savings but it was at the cost of my health. I had cut down a lot of food and with working a lot and cycling a lot my body just overloaded, it was a lot of changes in a very short space of time.

But I have learnt from my mistake. I've got 5 days off of work, able to relax a bit, socialise which is nice and just chill a bit. I know now I was doing to much for my body to handle. So now I am signing out, going to enjoy my days off, write a bit more.

Love Yah
IsThataRedHerring

I don't know what to do when I graduate

Like so many students, I am entering the last few months of University, and it has dawned on me that I have zero idea of what I want to do when I leave. I have toyed around with many ideas in the past few years. At the beginning of University I was torn between being a primary school teacher or a social worker. That did not seem to change until the summer of 2014, I had just finished second year and entering my third year, and I thought to myself 'Hell no am I becoming a teacher', but I still loved the idea of becoming a social worker. So I set my mind of becoming a social worker. However, when I came back to university in September and attended a postgraduate open evening, I was really shocked and overwhelmed by the idea of becoming a social worker. There were not many spaces and they wanted at least one years’ experience within the area of social work, and I felt that my small experience would not be enough at all.

Then December came, which was a terribly bad month for me. I had just recovered from the mumps, an operation and an infection (but that is another story). In the month that I took out from University, several ideas ran through my head; and I really wanted to become a midwife, I have no idea why or where this came from, but all of a sudden I was researching, ringing and asking loads of questions about how to come an midwife. But really it meant a new three year course and I didn't really want to spend another three years in education, so I scrapped that idea.

Over the December period I made myself a one year plan, something that seemed doable but still gave me something to aim for.

1.      Hand in all work on time

2.      Celebrate finishing

3.      Go on a small holiday

4.      Celebrate 21^st birthday

5.      Return back to Weatherspoon’s, get enough money to pay off all debts.

6.      Start to learn to drive

7.      Pass text around December time

8.      Start looking for a full time job

Although I feel that this is a reasonable idea I am not sure I want to go back to kitchen work. So still struggling with ideas, a flyer came from my door, my mum picked it up and simply said ‘You’d be good as a carer’. And that really got me thinking. Maybe I could do that, I really thought about it and it made more sense to me. I could work a lot closer to home, saving on money expenses for travelling, there are plenty of care homes near me. But I do not see myself doing that as a full career. I’d really like to either go into Dentistry or work with children and young adults with special needs. I know I know they are completely different ideas and sectors to work in and for, but I have real interest in both areas.

So as you can see I still have zero idea on my future, nothing at all is set in stone as of yet, except the growing older part. I am enjoying being young and not have to worry about grown up stuff. But I know every day I am becoming closer and closer to having to decide what to do after University.

I am sure there are plenty of people stood in my shoes. I hope you aren’t as confused as I am.

Love yah 

IsThataRedHerring