Well, I had been feeling a lot better physically and mentally in a lot of ways after the funeral. Still grieving, still knowing this was going to be a long slog of a process and a huge uphill battle to tackle everything, but more confident I could get through it, more about to grab onto the positives and not spinning out so much emotionally. Still trying to get better quality sleep and into more of a normal routine, but I've made some healthier meals for family and I and had leftovers, spent more time with the other animals, and was determined to keep building off the baby steps of progress we have made.
But it seems to take relatively little to drag me down again, and send me spiralling into fear, panic, and doubt.
I'm still so grateful for a lot of things, and people, and trying to hold onto that, and remind myself that the rest is basically paperwork and hoop jumping, and getting organised.
Not life and death anymore, that whatever happens, it can be sorted out. Somehow.
After the funeral Monday, I had to call GP surgery because I'd run out of basically all of my meds, had ordered my routine prescriptions including a reliever inhaler last week, but pharmacy didn't have the script yet, so had to chase the surgery for that. They arranged for my wonderful GP to call me later that Tuesday, and he was amazingly reassuring again, got everything sorted and sent through to pharmacy, told me I'm doing incredibly well and to give myself credit, and that he's in my corner, and not to fret about the benefits system applications and stuff (I'm currently on ESA, but reapplying for PIP, and I'm terrified and depressed about having to apply for more benefits help, again, but know that I need to to stand a chance of making it, financially and in terms of getting the support I'd need to stand a chance of rebuilding some kind of life for myself), that they'd contact him for medical evidence, and he has plenty, that I'm entitled to that help because he knows it's genuine mental illness, and that I'm working so so hard to try to fight through it, and rebuild again, after I'd given up on myself a long time ago.
So I'd been feeling more positive. Writing thank you cards for friends and family that came to the service, getting some more of the physical housework and animal care done, but also trying to do some more proper self care, like getting some sleep, making some meals for my brother and I, and my uncle when he was here, then freezing extra portions, so I'd have healthier, home made but still fairly quick and easy meals on hand. Appreciating the signs of Spring, dealing with the calls and emails that came in, and letting myself cry when I needed to.
Spent some more time here engaged in the actual forum, instead of just pm's and this thread, and getting excited again about setting up my other tanks and transferring current fish, and potential "new" (second hand) set ups, using the tanks and decor/substrate I already have. Because I know that having positive things to look forward to and focus on other than the sad and hard stuff is important too. CBT techniques and psychology say so, anyway.
Today I was ready to tackle probate/settling funeral invoices, and a priority, getting myself a mobile phone and SIM set up. I haven't had a mobile in a few years now. Never cared for tech, so always had an ancient phone even when I did used to have one, so I'm not wanting anything expensive or fancy. But most come with free calls and texts plans now, and landline doesn't, but since I've been largely housebound between caring for parents, and my own agoraphobia, I just relied on parents landline, and things like FB messenger on laptop for contact with friends. But you can't function without one nowadays.
I had been going to use an ancient Nokia dumbphone, any potentially a pay as you go SIM. Then my brother decided to instantly blow through his own carer's grant on a new PS5 and second hand but still much newer smartphone, because he loves his tech and toys, and said I should use his old handset, even though the battery life is apparently rubbish now, but still, better than the ancient Nokia option I'd been going with previously.
I have a SIM for giffgaff I was going to try to activate and use with either of those old handsets. But decided to try to get a really basic, but newer, inexpensive contract with phone through Tesco mobile after seeing one of their ads. Got confused by website so called, I'd been looking between a Samsung Galaxy A14, Motorola Moto E13, and a Nokia C32. Didn't know much about or care about which, just whatever was available on a cheaper contract plan, wasn't too complex etc. Guy on the phone suggested Nokia is basically the same phone as the Samsung, but cheaper, and better than the Motorola, so I was like great, okay, lets go with that, low data plan, and about £11.50 per month, 24 month contract.
Nothing fancy, wild or expensive, plenty of money in my account, but payment wasn't successful, so had the embarrassment of explaining that my card had been frozen for online stuff before (although I could use it in stores, and didn't online shop much anyway, so hadn't rushed to fix it), but that I thought it had been sorted with the bank a few weeks ago, so I'm guessing something in my credit history meant it had declined.
Found out the DWP doesn't communicate with different departments, and ESA wasn't yet aware of my change of address from 2020/2021(!!) so panicked and began trying to wade through my own messy and unorganised paperwork, trying to find out the exact date I officially gave up my council flat to move back to parents to help care for them and because having my PIP stopped and ESA cut in half while there had financially crippled me, so I'd avoided opening mail and sunk into avoidant depression, then just focused on caring for parents, planning to opt out of life myself once they no longer needed me, because I felt too broken to ever make a proper recovery.
Couldn't find the date and slipped into a full on panic attack, thinking of what a nightmare this is. That I'd need to contact the bank again to figure out how I could manage to have a mobile again if I can't pass a credit check, or afford a handset, that I'd have to continue using landline just to sort all this out, and also needing to contact mum and dad's banks again to settle the invoices for their funerals, and when I spoke to funeral company this morning, they weren't sure if they could add the invoice from the previous company for the cost of collecting mum to their own invoice anymore, but I'm pretty sure that before, the funeral director said they could, I'd just asked him to hold off while I contested the £25 per day storage free that Thomas Day had snuck onto there and not told me about, despite my specifically asking on the 27th, when they called to refuse to handle mum's funeral since dad's wasn't fully paid off yet, and been icy cold and cruel to me, at such a low point.
Using the landline is running up yet more bills that we won't be able to afford, but have no choice right now. So got my brother to look after Pixie for me while I took some diazepam and waited for it to kick in, called and left a voicemail for the social worker through St Peter's Hospice that have given us the most practical help and encouragement to say I was getting overwhelmed and needed help, again, plus the PIP application form has arrived, and she had said to let her know when it came and she'd help me make sure it was done properly too, as did CAB, who are due to call me next week.
Called DWP ESA to try to sort the change of address, and got that done, but was super scary, especially since they wanted to know dates, of course, and I can't remember dates, and explained I was wading through tons of paperwork trying to find it, that the details will be here somewhere, but I need time and/or help to uncover the right paperwork, and panic was making my brain shut down. Even pre-illness, my memory for dates and things has always been terrible. The bank, the city council, the housing benefit people, most other companies all knew about the change of address, how did I overlook the one benefit I'm still on?? But I also kind of assumed they all drew from the same database, and knew?? But apparently, they don't. So who knows what sensitive info may have been mailed to my old addy...
Got the ESA change of address done anyway, even though I couldn't give precise dates, was on hold for more than 30 minutes just to get through, and haven't contacted the bank yet (again) to sort out the funeral invoices, why my card is still acting up for online payments/what I'm meant to do in terms of having a mobile if I'm too financially f-ed to get even a basic cheap contract. I guess pay as you go SIM and old broken down handset it is.
St Peter's Social worker is coming Monday morning to help me. I'll contact the bank again tomorrow to see about getting these funeral invoices paid directly from parents estates, which means facing going into a branch with the documents and my ID etc, so panic inducing, but will have to face it, and will also ask them to help me figure out why my card is still not always working online (it also declined when I tried to purchase the double urn for mum and dad on Etsy on my own account, even though I was able to buy thank you/Birthday gifts for my friend who came for the funeral weekend on there).
*Sigh*. Berating myself for letting all of this pile up in the first place, for being mentally ill, for finding all of this so hard, for being so useless. I can't even sort out getting myself a mobile. How the heck am I going to manage wading through probate/dealing with the house??? But it's either I do it myself, or hire the legal services to do it, and they can't help me wade through all the paperwork or parents belongings in the house anyway.
But right at this moment, it feels like the more mentally ill you are, or the less money you have, the more expensive and difficult everything is made for you. I can't verify online accounts because I no longer have a mobile phone, but can't get a mobile phone because I can't pay online. I don't want to be in benefits. I always worked, and worked hard. It's humiliating, depressing and awful to share the very worst of your illnesses in order to claim benefits, and I understand why they have to be tough, and often decline, and especially when the illnesses are all in my own brain, and I know on an intellectual level that my illnesses are real illnesses, as much as a physical illness is... I can't help comparing myself to my old, much more functional and capable self, feeling awful for having to claim, feeling humiliated and ashamed that I have to, and that every time I try to climb out of these pits, something always knocks me back down again.