Well, maybe not but it does make me feel better.
I had the worst care call with this agency so far this morning. The care worker scheduled to come for my call phoned in sick, and as they’re understaffed the supervisor on call came to do my call. She was incredibly loud, and worse than that had her phone ringtone set really high so every time it went off I felt really ill. And it went off several times. I was hoping to have my teeth brushed and was considering asking for breakfast, but the phone going off so many times so loud right next to me meant I lost speech and panicked completely, so Johan had to ask her to leave. Due to the panic attack I ended up sleeping most of the day. I understand she needed to be contactable but after the first couple of times of me showing obvious signs of distress (hands covering ears, face scrunched up, curling up into a ball) I would have thought she’d have at least turned it down, but nope. And she’s meant to be one of the more senior members of staff.
This evening’s call was much better. A new care worker, but she actually read the sign on my door and was quiet. Johan helped explain what to do as I still couldn’t speak and was still rather anxious, but she listened and did what was needed. We’ve asked her to tell the agency we like her so we want her more often. She was surprised at how many different people I’ve had coming for my calls (apparently you’re not meant to get more than three different care workers a week- I’m getting at least 7) so understood why I wasn’t coping. She’s also going to ask for a rota for me as even just knowing who’s coming and when will be easier.
I’ve spent most of the evening playing games on my tablet and reading What If? by Randell Monroe. I’d bought the book for Sammie last year and she was really surprised when I told her last week that I’d not read it yet, so I bought the Kindle version for me. I’ve read the blog but it’s nice to have them all together, and I’ve seen a couple of questions I’d not read before. My laughing at the book made Johan interested, so now he’s reading it as well on his iPad. I had cheesy chips for tea which I’d been craving for a while.
Johan made me a cup of tea this evening! I’m not 100% sure, but I think it’s the first time he’s ever made me one. He’s made me hot chocolate a couple of times before, but he’s scared of normal kettles so it was a special thing. He’s not as scared of the new one cup kettle though so hopefully I’ll be able to have tea more often. Unfortunately the milk we had was bitty (the use by date was tomorrow so we thought it’d be okay) so he had to use the UHT milk I keep in for porridge but even with that it was lovely and made me feel better 🙂
I’ve got loads of Blizzcon panels and eSports to catch up with, but I’m taking a break today as I’m not feeling up to it after this morning. Hopefully I’ll get through them the next few days. I’m glad I saw the World of Warcraft Q&A yesterday, as they were the best questions asked so far, and Red Shirt Guy was first again! Finding out they’re just letting us switch specs whenever we like rather than having to choose two out of three (or four if you’re a druid) made me really happy. Johan and I both want to play more Heroes of the Storm when I’m up to it as it’s loads of fun.
I’ve got nothing particularly planned this coming week other than the CFS team coming out on Thursday. It’ll be the first time I’ve seen them since I got the hoist so it’ll be good to see if they can help me plan how I’m going to get out of bed more without risking going backwards. It would be easier though if I wasn’t so anxious from the care agency though as it takes so much energy I’d rather be using on things like getting up more or being on my computer. If it carries on much longer I might have to ask about going on direct payments now the council is able to manage them for me (which wasn’t available the last time I tried it). Hopefully there’s an agency in the area that can meet my needs as I just need consistency, communication and a bit of understanding of how things affect me.
