Nell Casey
How did you care for your sister?
I didn't care for Maud by myself, my mother who is an unusually dedicated
person, moved from Illinois to New York to be here. If my mother wasn't
here, I don't think I would have the wherewithal to do it and sustain
caring for Maud. We needed to be able to pass off the baton of care giving
and take care of each other. I would have burned down to an anxious crisp
without my mother. Also, Maud's network of friends was incredible. Her
friends were always going to Queens and checking in on her. And our family
and relatives all came to visit.
My mom and I both felt like we could fix it and make it better. I did what
was logical, but I also went into overdrive. I went to the hospital every
day and arranged for other people to go in shifts.
I took care of a lot of medical insurance business. And, I talked to her
employers and worked to hold onto her apartment. We wanted her to have a life
to walk back into when she came out of it.
I went to the psychiatrist with her when she was still depressed to get a
second opinion. She was struggling so much that she couldn't take in everything
that the doctor said so I had to be aware of the medication. Maud went through
18 different medications, some concurrently, over four to five months before
she found a combination that worked. Maud didn't have the presence of
mind to know that one of her medications was actually giving her anxiety.
I remember one weekend when she wasn't sleeping, she was up at six, and
she was rationalizing how she was going to get better. She made new decisions
every three seconds about how she was going to get better. Finally, she mentioned
that one of her medications had changed and I realized that this was a side
effect. Ultimately, Maud found a combination of drugs that worked for her.
