The Reluctant Carer: Dispatches from the Edge of Life by the Reluctant Carer

 

From Goodreads

An irresistibly moving, funny and urgent memoir about the reality of caring for your parents, when you can barely care for yourself.

‘Hilarious, bitter, poignant and profound, this is the human condition laid brilliantly bare, like an existential soap opera – only with more laughs.‘ - Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan

It was the kind of phone call we all dread. Your elderly father has been admitted to hospital. He’s not well and he needs your help. Your mum is about to be left at home alone. She needs you too. The answer? Drop everything. Go. Help. The reality? Not so straightforward. Suddenly, you’re a kid again, stranded in the overheated house you grew up in. They need you 24/7, that much is obvious. And you want to help, of course you do. But soon your life starts to unravel almost as quickly as their health.

In between bouts of washing, feeding, cooking and fighting there are days that test you, days where everything goes wrong and days where everyone, miraculously rises to the occasion. And in between all of that, you learn how to care. But this time with feeling.

Irresistibly funny, unflinching and deeply moving, this is a love letter to family and friends, to carers and to anyone who has ever packed a small bag intent on staying for just a few days. This is a true story of what it really means to be a carer, and of the ties that bind even tighter when you least expect it. This is The Reluctant Carer .

My thoughts

I grabbed a copy of this from BorrowBox the digital lending side of my local Library. 

This book is an insight into what life is like for you as you become the parent to your parents that need your help to care for them, as they cared for you when you were a child.   

Sadly, the difference is that as an adult they are still wanting to do things tea way that they've always done them, regardless of whether this is an energy efficient use of your time. ( I speak from experience here, having become a part time carer at times along with other members of my family for elderly family members.)

I enjoyed reading this book, if enjoyed is the right word.  It didn't teach me anything that I didn't already know would possibly happen if you became a carer, but it did tell me the experience that the Reluctant Carer was having as they became the carer.  I can thoroughly recommend reading this bool and it  will make you laugh at times, feel sad at times, but most of all it shows that YOU are not alone out there as you care for your elderly family members.