Stories from Caregivers: Edena from MONTANA
MT
Edena
FROM MONTANA
I am caring for my little sister Henrietta. She was climbing a tree to save a cat and fell. She was on a very unsteady ladder and did not seek out anyone to assist her, thinking that she could do it on her own and broke her back. This is the second time she has fallen from that ladder and she knew that it was defective and unsafe but she chose to defy instructions and now our whole family has to suffer from her actions. I am so upset about all this, of course I am grateful and thankful that my sister isn't dead but I feel like flogging her after she gets better because of the stress and financial strain that she has put my parents through already, prior to this incident and now they have to continue paying for her mistakes. I wouldn't call this an accident because it's happened previously and she knew that she couldn't safely utilize the ladder. I am doing everything under the sun for her. I have to bathe and feed her, wash her hair and braid it so it doesn't get matted like dreadlocks, she has adult diapers that she refuses to use so I have to help her to the bathroom almost every hour because she has a bladder the size of a peanut. I love my sister. I love my sister. I love my sister. ha ha. That is my daily mantra so that I can keep helping her with a smile on my face and a song in my heart.
