Protecting myself — COVID-19

When I first started writing this blog, I felt like it was a bit of a selfish blog to write considering everything that is going on, but I feel like it needs to be written because, as parents, if we don't protect ourselves, we can't protect our children.

Most of us Duchenne parents have been really worried about COVID-19 for a while. We are worried what this could mean for our children if they caught it. The scariest thought that goes through our heads is — could this kill them? No parents should have to have these thoughts in their heads.

For a lot of us at times, the uncertainty has sent our anxieties through the roof. We are daunted and feel great sadness that we won't have access to our usual support networks of schools, carers, friends and family.

It was around March 22nd/23rd I realised that my mental health was really suffering. We had taken Jack out of school on March 9th because we were worried about him being exposed to too many people. It was a difficult decision because if we were going to effectively protect Jack, we also had to remove James from school and stop him playing football which he loves.

COVID-19 was impacting our whole family. I questioned and tortured myself. Were we doing the right thing? Were we overreacting? There was no clear guidance from anyone, and there were a lot of mixed communications coming out from different sources.

I wasn't sleeping well. I stopped exercising and was eating so much rubbish. I felt really worried about Jack and everyone in our community. I was getting really frustrated with everything and everyone.

I was trying to be a supportive wife to Andy with his worries, a mum to my boys, trying to homeschool them in subjects I haven't studied for more than 20 years, and trying to carry on working. I was working more hours than ever trying to support families who were understandably struggling and confused.