Oh! It has been such a long and painful 6 months

I was doing very well with my diet. I went down to 15st 10lbs back in October 2008. Then my poor mum broke her hip and wrist and we found out that she had fallen because she had a stroke. So apart from the breaks she was also diagnosed with vascular dementia. She cannot walk and her memory is so badly affected that each sentence she speaks contains many totally unrelated topics. It is tragic because she was such a vital, intelligent, energetic person.

Anyway, to cut a long story short she had to spend three months being moved from ward to ward then from hospital to hospital. We thought it would be better for us and for our mum if she was discharged from hospital and brought home. My sister thought she would be able to cope with mum at her home. She had a room build downstairs with an en-suite shower and toilet and Social Services set up the maximum care package available. Mum came home and it was a joyous occasion. However, it soon became apparent that it was just too much. My mum was not sleeping - at all. Day or night. So my sister did not sleep either. Even with my brother and I helping as much as we physically could it was just not going to be a viable option having mum living at my sisters. My sister was becoming ill herself. All the while we were comfort eating.

The decision was made that mum would be better cared for in a nursing home. She was awarded full NHS funding due to her medical condition. But the guilt we are feeling is considerable even though we know we had no choice. We had been mum's carers and she hated us. Now she is in the nursing home we are her children again and that is how it should be. She is very well cared for there but we just can't help feeling bad about it.

Anyway, back to the diet. I am back on track. I rejoined WeightWatchers last week and lost 6lb in my first week. A good start. I have joined a WW Challenge called New Year New You and we have 33 weeks which will take us to 1st January 2010 and we have to see how much weight we can lose in that time.

I will keep you posted.