Hi
Some time since my last update, I didn’t want to bore you.
Things have moved on.
I now have the full Attendance Allowance, awarded under the Special Rules, two doctors having certified that my condition is inoperable and I am not expected to live six months.
The award was backdated to November last year, so I have now beat the average and have not died in double that time period.
I am fully self funding for my care costs, the tax free Attendance Allowance is £101.75 a week.
My care costs have risen by £260 a week.
If I had never paid into a private pension, or been on benefits, I would all my care costs provided free.
I do get some things on a 100% Grant Aid and some things provided free on loan as it is cheaper for the NHS to keep me at home rather than in a high dependency ward.
I have a fantastic electric adjustable hospital bed in my lounge, which I have to spend a lot of time on, a curved stairlift with remotes, an electric bath lift, WC enclose and a commode on wheels.
The stairlift and bath lift are grant aided and mine, the other stuff is on loan.
They have also insisted on a wheelchair ramp from the vehicle access to my front door.
It is a steep rise from my front door to the crossover, and having this will mean they only need one ambulance and crew to get me into an ambulance.
We are arguing about their insistence on door widening for a manual wheelchair, no good to me at all because my hands do not work at times due to blood clots.
I am having to buy and pay for myself, a narrow, lightweight folding electric wheelchair for the bad days , the ambulance trolley they use is narrow enough to go through the doors.
Door widening is very expensive, not having to do it would save the taxpayer an awful lot of money.
These 100% Grants are only available if you have less than £20,000 in savings.
I have, my kids have had the money long before this current illness started and I have also done a massive downsize.
I now have Vascular Dementia, my blood pressure is so low at random times I cannot stand up, I have no balance and my brain does not work properly.
I lose the ability to think straight, spell and do maths.
Such is life and I am told it will get worse over time.
I was a scientist, so no problems with medication, however I have found strong evidence that natural things, such as a change of diet, can and do lead to improvements.
I am now going down this natural remedy but also taking my meds.
In a nutshell, I have always made stupid posts, now you must accept that I will make more.
You can be reassured however, that I will never post that Boris and Liz Truss were the best Prime Ministers we have ever had.
