| |
|
Family memberBorn in England in 1940.
|
|
Overview:
Isobel was brought up in a small English market town. She moved to a large city in the 1960s where she met and married her husband, two years after he`d arrived in England from Pakistan. Both their families were anxious about the relationship at first, but they found much in common between her Methodist and his Muslim values and ate a mixture of English and Asian food. They were happy until the late 1990s, when he began to develop many of the complications associated with Type 2 diabetes. His loss of mobility made him depressed until he died in 2006. This interview is in written form only.
Please note that Overview relates to date of recording Thursday, November 1, 2007
|
|
| Short
samples |
 |
|
1 N/A [ 0 secs ] |  | 2 N/A [ 0 secs ] | |
|
| |
| Available
interview tracks |
|
|
|
From here you can listen
to any tracks that are of interest or
read the transcript. If a track is highlighted
this indicates it contains the subject
you searched for. Clicking [Play On]
will play the entire interview from
that point onwards.
Where an interviewee refers to a particular item, there is sometimes a picture of that item among the thumbnails beneath the interviewee’s main photo and in the Extras section.
|
|
|
There are no audio recordings for this interview.
|
01 Small market town. Grammar school. Local government job. Went away for higher education & subsequent local authority job. Met husband at International Friendship League.
Husband born 1930s. Came here as overseas student in early 1960s. Mixed marriages weren’t acceptable, but our families gradually accepted. | |
| 02 Different backgrounds, same values - mine Methodist, his Muslim.
I’d never had Asian food, but learnt to cook it. Some English food. Diabetes in husband’s family. We weren’t aware of dangers of fat & salt. Salt in Asian cooking then – less now. | |
| | 03 1960s – rice or chapatti. Red meat in richer families. Poorer families ate more healthily. Husband’s family wealthy. Sweets high in sugar & fat. Cooking began with frying onion. People used to high salt. Had plenty of exercise. | |
| 04 After marriage, I gave up work until children grown up.
Husband fell at work – medical centre found sugar high, but diagnosis not immediate. We weren’t horrified. Went to see dietitian together. Cut down fat & sugar. | |
| 05 Saw dietitian, mid 1980s. Awareness of Asian diet dangers perhaps came later. Think we were given measurements, but didn’t do much weighing.
Husband not depressed by diagnosis – didn’t realise dangers. | |
| 06 Diet only, then tablets. Good control for long time. Involved in research into Asian community – well monitored.
Maybe only couple of years on diet only. Then medication. Had angioplasty, then given insulin, late 1990s.
He managed own diabetes. I provided healthy diet & shared exercise. Only accompanied him to hospital after complications. Perhaps I became over-anxious re diet. | |
| | 07 Complications began late 1990s. Angina, neuropathy, retinopathy, physical relationship, depression, kidneys, heart attacks. Couldn’t exercise because of back problem – put on weight. Vicious circle – depression. | |
| | 08 He felt life becoming intolerable. Heart trouble. Depressed, but in some ways, philosophical. Lack of mobility had bad effect – painful to watch. We’d always been active. Sometimes philosophical, sometimes angry because affecting our retirement. | |
| | 09 Diabetes insidious. He thought he should have been more careful. He did try, but not enjoyable to watch diet. | |
| | 10 His depression affected me - I couldn’t help; he was sometimes irritable; I was afraid of future, because he’d supported me in my health problem. Wondered if my over-anxiety made him worse. Pressures are not recognised. He always told others he was fine. | |
| | 11 Professionals unaware – he only told me life not worth living. In his generation, depression taboo subject. People afraid. Frightening for sufferer. Didn’t want more medication. | |
| | 12 Lack of mobility main cause of depression. Affected family outings, but refused mobility scooter until final time in hospital. Didn’t want to alter life, so gave up. I chivvied him & felt guilty. | |
| | 13 Difficulties in adjusting to insulin. Had hypos – irritable. I sometimes felt resentful re situation. | |
| | 14 2000/06, he joined education programme – found it helpful. Information too late, but helped to meet others. An exercise programme would have helped him & that would have helped me. I attended short-term carers’ course. Now a carers’ centre – would have helped to avoid isolation | |
|
|
|
|
|
