Dotty G

Sometimes it feels as if you cannot afford to be ill in the slightest as a single parent.

I came down with a nasty chesty cough, which very much had the symptoms of a bad chest infection (I say this, as I have had the very same symptoms in the past, and it was diagnosed as a chest infection).

Obtaining a Dr's appointment was impossible, so I walked into my local Walk-in Centre, (after the school run) but told there could be a 3-4 hour wait.

After having waited nearly 2 hours, with a hungry child, I gave in with waiting & had no other choice but to discharge myself, as I had soo much to do when i got home, like, getting my child's dinner ready, getting his uniform prepared for school, housework, phone calls, etc despite being unwell.

However, things were no better the following day, as after the morning school run, I had shopping to do, and washing to hang out to dry whilst the weather was nice, and before I knew it - it was time to do the school run again! and so the cycle continued!

It very much felt as if getting well was a luxury, of which I just didn't have the time to recover!

Fortunately, I was able to get some over the counter medication, which was very expensive, but helped take the edge of things, but my episode of being unwell made me wonder about how many more single parents have faced this dilemma, but just soldiered on, and not ask for help for fear of Government agencies stepping in.