Back once again for the renegade gambler...

I think a lot of people in your position (the ones who do what needs doing for elderly parents) get little thanks for it. The same sort of thing happens at the other end of the scale, Mum does the donkey work in looking after the lively toddler, but she's outshone by Dad who does little other than stroll in at the end of the day, when all the hard work is done. It's life but it's not personal, those sort of comments shouldn't be taken at face value.

KOKO,

CW

If this was cricket, I'd be happy to bring up the ton fifty today, but plenty more numbers to add on to that figure I hope. Thank you both for the comments Brandon and CW - my sister and my brother have both told me today that I can't take it all on my shoulders, and we're looking at getting a few hours of care help per day to give my mum some recovery time, with a view to making it permanent.

As for gambling, I don't come anywhere near having the time available to do that - it has always been as much a problem of idleness as anything else for me. Anyway, one year gone, hope 2016 proves to be a little more positive and a little more placid in terms of the challenges.

Well done on getting 150 days in Ryan.
Hope the new year brings you lots of calm and happiness
Deano

Still here, still gamble-free. Family life in tatters due to mum's disregard for her own health. But how can I judge when I struggle for days away from a glass of booze neither? Anyway, I cannot take responsibility for someone else's poor decision - my own weigh heavily enough.

Keep staying strong Ryan,

I struggle with both of the addictions also recently.. it's our choice to reach out for help - let's do it! World is not on our shoulders, even if it feels like it... however it is a lot lighter when we feel stronger ourselves.

Look after you to be able to look after others.

Take care & stay safe

S x

The drama never ends in this family, another tough couple of days... in and out of hospital and now I'm looking after mum for the weekend, and she is now quite confused and almost needs to be watched all the time. I'll be exhausted by the time I get back to work on Monday. Hopefully this is either a side effect of the medicine or the pneumonia, and it wears off, otherwise we will probably have no other option than to look at mum moving in to care.

Morning Ryan,

Thank you for your post. So sorry to hear things are difficult and stressful for you.
You must do and decide what you think is right for you and your loved ones. It is not easy but I'm sure you will figure it out ☺

Keep being kind to you & looking after yourself!

I am still on the wagon, just for today as my mantra goes. Not easy recently but am positive i will walk out of this mess in due course with urges & nonsense of needing my "fix".

Watched many movies over the last 3 weeks...man...i think on that evening it was "Grimsby" lol lol..that was a classic English comedy 😉

Keep looking after yourself and making the right choice for YOU!

S x

Hope things are better with your mother today...change of environment may cause increased confusion...one day at a time.

Thanks Rhoda and S,

Today seems to be much better, a good long night's sleep and I made sure she took the medication, so hopefully the virus was causing it and we've now turned the corner. Nonetheless, we've still got to be careful and continue with the treatment and hopefully mum will be back to normal soon. She scared the proverbials out of me though.

All the best 🙂

Hi Ryan thanks for the post.
It's good to have members like yourself join the challenge. Especially for people who have just joined the site as well because like I did when I joined I saw people with a reasonable amount of gf. It just gives that extra bit of incentive. The only way I can word it is. If they can do it so can I. So it's good to have members with gamble free time on there like yourself.

Also good to read that things are improving a little for you also.
Have a good week
And all the best to you and your mom
Deano

Hi Ryan ! .

Thanks for the drop by buddy and a belated Happy new year :)) .

LoL ! One things for sure I don't think having my " Hip Hop " will improve my dancing too much as it wasn't great to start with :((

Sorry to hear about all the up's and downs your having at the moment with your mum's health issues , as you know I went through the same thing with my old mum a few years back and can empathise how difficult it is to take care of thier needs and making sure you look after yourself, which you also need to do as our live's seem rightly so I suppose to go on the back burner , some difficult decisions have to be made along the way and all you can do sometimes is revert back to the One day at a time stratedgy and just deal with things as they progress .

I alway's looked at it as payback for the way our parents look out for us as we grow up and all we can do is to be there fior them when they need us .

I'm sure you'll deal with it head on as youv'e dealt with everything else youv'e found yourself struggling against over the past few years .

How did your HBA1C'S go on ? Good news I hope :))

Thanks again for the post Ryan and wishing you and your's well :))

Take care buddy and I'll talk with you soon .

Al

Absolutely exhausted tonight - just got back from nearly two hours of five-a-side in the snow - the most fun I've had in ages and a great stress buster. My old bones and muscles will be creaking for a week at least though.

Nonetheless, have to make time for myself so that I can be strong for the rest of the family, so off up north to my mum's for the weekend. She's being discharged for the third time from hospital tomorrow, so cooking, cleaning and sorting for the rest of the weekend looks like the plan.

Anyway, no gambling and no real opportunities or thoughts about it, but no surprise with how busy I am.

Alan - my HBA1C's came back great - 37, so that's me off the medication and firmly in the non-diabetic range. Now to keep that up for a year to get myself off the diabetic register.

Hope everyone is having a good week - downhill to the weekend from here.

Hi Ryan,

Keep riding those storms out, be extra kind to yourself!

Tough times will pass, ..keep moving on one step at a time.

Stay safe and well

S x

Hi, just been catching up, sorry to learn your mom has been ill, hope she's feeling better. Good news for you on your health and of course your gf days are so mounting up. I'm still gf and getting fit for snowdon. Take care x

Still marching on - tired, weary, but ultimately have to keep pushing on or give up, and I am not giving up. As they say on 5Live's film show on Friday afternoon, "It's not alright, so it can't be the end yet, because everything has to be alright in the end".