Am I Really a Carer?

[Sleepy104888]

Seeking advice as I'm finally taking my child's doctor's advice and seeking a carer's passport at work. He has a history of frequent hospitalisation, especially in winter, for anywhere from 1-7 days at a time and has had upwards of 10 hopsitalistions in the past 2.5 years. We spend a lot of time communicating with doctors, taking preventative measures if an illness is coming on (GP visits, liaising with community nurse, etc). He used to have more hospital equipment at home but now we only have a SATs monitor to check O2 levels when unwell.

The thing is he is otherwise well in between, has no disabilities or special educational needs, and does not have any diagnosed condition. The general thought of his consultant seems to be he will eventually outgrow this stage as he gets older, so I feel a bit like a fraud calling myself a carer but at the same time the constant chronic stress of heading to hospital in an acute situation is really wearing at my mental health and I'm constantly missing time from work and it's getting harder to manage my work responsibilities and his care when unwell plus advocating with doctors and communicating his health history over and over. We do not have any family nearby to help so it's just me and DH and we have another older child to watch over too so it's very challenging to manage everything, so I feel I really could use additional support if I'm not being unreasonable in requesting it.

Yes you are a carer. This is part of my job to identify carers.

You are absolutely a carer and if you haven't already, look at DLA for your DC xx

Yes you are and is this like respiratory distress after a virus ? Have they got him on a preventor inhaler if not speak to them about it - it helps even viral
induced wheezing

Yes, he's been on one for well over a year and they've just increased the strength as he's had more wheezy episodes lately. He's also on a preventative antibiotic as some things with his airways have improved while others have worsened, with the result being he still gets into states of respiratory distress when he has a virus and ends up needing oxygen to become stable (usually Airvo as low-flow oxygen isn't enough). We used to have Airvo at home to treat sleep apnea but that has resolved thankfully. In the past three months we have 'only' had two hospitalisations and one long period of observation in A&E to get on top of wheeze, which is actually much better than last year but still very stressful as we are always dashing off to GP to try to prevent a sudden decline as early intervention makes such a difference.

Thank you, @RuthW. That helps. I just feel it's hard to say I'm a carer as I'm his parent, so of course I would do these things, and since he doesn't have any specific condition or complex medical needs that it really isn't worthy of 'carer' status. I know we do a lot more than the norm for health-related things but still seems way less than other parents with children in hospital.

@Wellbeing24 , I have not looked into DLA for same reasons as above. Because other than this one issue with his breathing he is otherwise well and doesn't have SEND so I just never thought it's something we needed or qualified for. The main stressor is more time off of work as it's always a very sudden thing and unpredictable. I am applying for a carer's passport at work now though.