• The Bard in Green@lemmy.starlightkel.xyz
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    3 months ago

    I have people who depend on me.

    My 14-year-old son has Long Covid with what they’re calling reversible small airways disease. He’s missed so much school over the last 3 years that we’ve had to transfer him to online school. He also has like three or four medical appointments a week he has to be driven to.

    My wife has severe autism and EDS. She can barely do anything due to body pain and sensory overload.

    Oh yeah, and all of their needs run 100% counter to one another and cause horrible conflict. Like “my wife uses cannabis to manage pain and sensory overload, it’s one of the few things that can help her function like a normal person for a little while” and “due to his small airways disease, my son’s pulmonologist has told us it’s very important for him to never be in a house where someone is smoking or vaping.” Like “due to the EDS my wife’s body can’t regulate its own temperature and she starts overheating if the temperature goes above 70° (like vomiting and passing out overheating)” and “due to complications from Post Acute COVID Syndrome, my son’s body gets chilled easily, and he starts getting asthma attacks if he breathes cold air.” Like “due to her autism, my wife’s life needs to be a carefully regimented routine, that as much as possible goes the same way everyday, the same things happen at the same times, things need to be predictable and planned in advance, or she literally breaks down, can’t function, has violent meltdowns and panic attacks” and “due to the online school, the medical appointments, combined with just being a teenager, my son’s life is barely manageable chaos.”

    Oh yeah, and if I don’t get out of bed, go to work and bring in money, both of these people are fucked!