any carers out there living with illness?

[fostermumtomany]

hi
thought i would introduce myself properly and see if anyone is like me!

im 33,married to paul (We have been together since i was 16) we have 3 children, aaron(13)
amii(11) and alycia-jade(9).

i have been fostering since i was 20 years of age and have taken care of so many different babies and toddlers.
i grew up with my parents fostering so have been involved with it all my life.

i previously worked with children with severe disablities.

i gave up work to foster.

now the reason i started fostering is because i love kiddies, then after i had my third child i developed endometriosis which resulted in me being infetile.

2 years later i was then diagnosed with fibromyalgia and raynaurds syndrome as well as pcos and sciatica, then this year i t was discovered i also have costochondritis and chronic fatigue syndrome.
i was terrifed i would be stopped from fostering with so many illnesses however social services and the la were great. they have supported me with my illnesses and havent minded a jot about me still fostering.

it is very hard as i suffer from insomnia but i have a wonderful husband who gave up work to help me (We are very lucky as we are financially very secure).

i also breed perisan cats and african grey parrots.

im looking forward to getting to know other carers who have illnesses or who dont have illnesses as there are very few carers where i live!
in fact there are only 5 in my town!!!

I also have fibromyalgia, Insomnia and PCOS I also have diabetes and irritable bowel syndrome thrown in too!!

I also have 3 kids - a bit younger than yours - 8, 6 and 4 at the minute.

And I too have a wonderful husband :) We have been together since I was 19 - married for 13 years now. I did first meet him when I was 12 - he was a neighbour :S

I think there is where the similarities end tho :)

There are only 2 foster carers in my town, so MN fostering board has been a life saver as sometime you just need to talk to someone who gets it!!

what is mn fostering board?

I think this is the MN fostering board. I'm just waiting for an appointment - doctors think I may have endometriosis!

LOL - yup this is the MN fostering board :)

oh hahahahaha of course it is what a muppet i am lol.

machakos i really hope it isnt endo but i do hope you get some answers.
good luck with the diagnosis.
are you to have a diagnostic laparoscopy?

I'm waiting for an appointment with the consultant to decide whether I need a laparoscopy or not. I was only referred at the beginning of the month, so not sure how long I'm going to have to wait.

well you have to be quite forceful with them or they dismiss you and try to fob you off with meds.
my advice to you would be to stay strong and be firm and if at all possible take someone with you to fight your corner.

i let them walk all over me and they left me 6 years before they did the lap and my endo had become so bad i was told i was now clinically infertile.
please dont let it get to that stage.
if they say they want to try meds first and see how you respond explain to them that you would rather find the cause than have meds you might not need.
be forceful and good luck, let us know how you get on

oh and have a look at this site, it is fabulous support and the girls are really really lovely and friendly.

www.endometriosis.org.uk

click on the endolounge header and join up. it was a life saver for me when i was going through the diagnosis process. it answered so many questions for me and i know it has helped literally thousands of other ladies.

Been to the hospital today. Will need a laparoscopy and a hysteroscopy. Not looking forward to it at all. Today's appointment was bad enough. I thought it was going to be a consultation, didn't realise it was going to involve an internal exam as well!