Caption: Just being part of the team
The COVID crisis has brought out the very best in James’ care team, we are incredibly lucky to have them all be part of our family.
A couple of things struck me; how united we are as a team and how everyone pulled together to clean disinfect and generally keep James’ bedroom, equipment and medication room spotless and James as safe as possible. They all got into a routine easily despite it being such a different way of caring for James, no hugs and kisses which is hard not do as he is such a cutie. No one complained (well not much) about the PPE requirements, how hot they got with the masks and face shields, how sore and dry their hands got.
I think the stress we have all had to endure to try and to keep James safe but also how the carers had to live with the possibility they could bring COVID into our home and the consequences could have been fatal. We as a team went into isolation. The care team all shut down their lives to protect James and I.
During the COVID outbreak, our team was under strain as we had to furlough one of our day time carers due to her still working in the community, then we had another blow to our team as one of James’ night carers had the devastating news that her daughter may have a brain tumour and would need to step out of work for the foreseeable future.
“There's no I in the team” this saying is appropriate as the remaining team stepped up to take on the responsibilities of the two missing teams members picking up more shifts and putting their lives on hold. I too came to the rescue taking on a night shift per week to offer some stability to the team. I have to say night shifts and I do not mix well, I find them completely exhausting and draining. Also, this is not helped by the fact James decides to make my shift as difficult as possible, I think this is because I have no idea what to do on a night shift, as I tend to do day shifts and make things up as I go along on nights, which he finds hilarious. He pulls out his tracheostomy at least 5 times per night, he makes all his machine beep and never goes to sleep!
A couple of COVID scares later we are nearing the end of our COVID shielding. We don't know how we are going to fair when we come to go out into the big wide world, I'm sure we will all be fine once we get used to the new normal.
The best news the team has received, just last week was to find out our night carers daughter does not have a brain tumour! The whole team is delighted and thrilled, the black cloud which has been over the team has been lifted, thank goodness!
This means she can also come back to work and we can all do a happy dance, and get some rest as we are all running on fumes, as we are all exhausted, COVID has certainly been a test for us all, but we as a team are made of strong stuff!
We have vowed to have celebrations most weekends in 2021 to make up for all the birthdays, anniversaries and anything else which we feel like celebrating. It has been a tough few months and we can't wait to rejoin and reconnect with each other and be able to hug for the first time in months. We are hoping we can all come together for our annual Christmas thank-you meal.
This year will be a year of "Thanks"
Christine x