okay genuine question
For about the past year or so, I have been taking care of my widowed grandma. She has early dementia, Parkinson's disease, and English is not her first language. She has trouble hearing, does not wear her hearing aids around the house, and has trouble communicating what she does or does not know.
why me and not other family members?
my sister is 15 (turning 16 soon) and is working a few tutoring jobs and does not deserve this pressure.
my mom is her primary daytime caretaker
my dad is the main provider for the family and works a job that has odd hours and high stress.
my uncles unemployed and takes her grocery shopping where he uses her credit card to pay for his groceries. no he is not popular in the family right now and would most likely continue to pull this shit.
both dad and uncle have a very tense relationship with her and i am starting to understand why
- Been woken up at 2 AM to turn off a light downstairs that does not light up her bedroom.
- Lived through all summer with a non functioning air conditioner in a house that gets to 87 degrees during the day.
- Kept the second story windows closed at night due to grandma's extreme paranoia.
- Had her come into my room while I am butt naked, asleep, spread out on the mattress because it is 85 degrees in my room to lean over me and close my open window at 2 am and only being told after the fact by my mother.
- Check all the doors every night before I go to bed
- Run laundry for hand towels and her
- Go grocery shopping for the household
- Been made to wake up at 4:45 AM to open up all the windows throughout July to keep the house from overheating.
- Been asked after I get in bed several times to do something.
- Changed my college plans to take care of her.
- Had a curfew assigned to before dark not because I can't be with friends but because my grandma gets paranoid.
I have been given $50 dollars so far when I set my college choice in stone.
Gas, groceries and house bills are not charged to me. I do not pay rent or spend money on my own groceries. I do not pay for gas because my mom and sister use the car more frequently than I do.
reblog for a larger sample size please im trying to gauge.