The Selfish Pig's Guide to Caring

I put the TV on today whilst I ate my lunchtime sandwich and discovered that this week is National Carers' Week here in the UK. With an ageing population, many of us will spend some part of our life as a carer and the extreme importance of carers practising good self-care is often overlooked. Therefore, I was interested to hear about a new book, entitled 'The Selfish Pig's Guide to Caring' which was written by Hugh Marriott, who cared for his wife, Cathie, for 10 years. The book was described as 'invaluable', 'easy-to-read' and 'a book that will lift your spirits' by the show's presenters and I am enclosing below a description of the book (which costs £7.99) from the 'This Morning' website:

In 'The Selfish Pigs Guide To Caring', Hugh tries to put his finger on the advice he would like to have been given while he was struggling to learn new skills and find his way in a new and unfamiliar role. The book airs such topics as sex, thoughts of murder, and dealing with the responses of friends and officials who fail to understand. The book states that it is not a medical text book, a care manual nor is it politically correct but simply an honest guide book revealing the truth behind carers and all the things he wished he'd been told. In the book he uses the term "piglet" to describe the person being cared for and has called the book "The Selfish Pigs Guide" as he said; " I felt resentful towards Cathie for wrecking my life. I didn't know it would strike a chord with anyone but then I realised that all carers go through that same thought process. There's a lot of guilt that hangs over carers".

Ann's note: PIGLET is an acronym for Person I Give Love and Endless Therapy to