I had to go to my doctors with my new persistent backache; I thought it might be kidney stones - I've had them before so I know what they feel like.
She said it was probably just a muscle spasm or a rip or the like.
She asked me how were things, what was going on at home. I reminded her I fostered.
"Ah," she said "Enough said."
I asked;
"I suppose you have a few other foster carers on your books. How are they doing?"
Her reply was interesting;
"Well they seem to be doing better than most."
Me:
"Really? How come?"
She explained that GPs up and down the country are starting to get waves of patients coming to see them suffering from the mental effects of the pandemic. She said it seemed to be turning into a big problem particularly for people stuck at home with time on their hands.
"Some people are experiencing too much 'think-time'. They pace around the house, go to the shop where everyone is dressed like a bank robber and can't talk to anyone. They miss people."
She went on to say that perhaps people who foster have got plenty on their plate and are too busy to start listening to their own thoughts all day.
"People's thoughts turn to death and disease and their loneliness. If they go out everyone seems to look hostile. Pedestrians give everyone a wide berth with a look of suspicion. All you can see in the supermarket are shoppers' eyes and they seem to dart around menacingly."
I saw the point; in a typical day I don't get more a than 5 minutes here or there to think. If I'm lucky I have a Houseparty half-hour with the same couple of friends on my iPad. I've got a Blue Sky long distance training session tomorrow, my social worker is coming the following Monday. Every day I've five different breakfasts to make at different times of the morning (and sometimes the afternoon…). Each meal is a battleground; this morning it was over butter v margarine because eldest FC (Foster Child) didn't know they were different and ended up at my throat because he decided after I'd used butter on his toast that he preferred Flora "Because it's vegan" even though the other components of this breakfast was bacon and scrambled eggs, go figure...
Then my doctor said;
"We have patients coming in with depression and anxiety and we have things we can do for them, mainly medication and counselling. But we also have patients who are questioning the very point of their existence. They feel their lives are on enforced hold thank to the pandemic, but they also question if their lives were on hold anyway - before the pandemic."
Fostering keeps you busy.
It also gives your life a clear and burning purpose.
0 comments:
Post a Comment