This is merely a vent about my family. It just makes me wonder if people even think!
My cousin wants to host a family reunion camping trip over the July 4th weekend. She wants everyone in the family to be there so she announced it yesterday so that everyone can request time off work. OK...not a bad idea, even though only a few of us have ever been camping and a lot of the family is elderly, but that is not the issue.
I work in a nursing home. My cousin, who is about ten years older than me lives in the same nursing home. She was in a car crash and has a spinal injury. She has a supra-pubic catheter, an insulin pump, transfers with a mechanical lift, needs digital stimulation to have a bowel movement, needs daily extensive PROM, and is just a lot of work! She is also less than pleasant (and she has a right to be to an extent). The CNAs actually bribe each other to answer her call lights..."I'll do the next three BMs and start your car if you get her light."
Well...this cousin wants to go to the campsite every day and spend the night at least one night. Several relative thinks that I should be the one to care for her while she is there. Ummm...no...I am not going to do it. She is too much work for one person. There is no way in the world that I could do her transfers, dig stim, catheter irrigation, etc. My family thinks I am being selfish and I am no longer invited to the reunion...not that I really wanted to go in the first place.
No one has ever asked the accountant in the family to do their taxes for free. No one asks the cousin who owns the lawn service to mow their lawn. No one asks my aunt who works at a jewelry store for a discount on diamonds. Why would they think I am willing to spend the entire reunion caring for someone that requires such extensive care?
