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Destroyed Hips, Walker Life, and Caregiver Ruin

Day 2 · 7:39:43 · Dean Allison · Charles Hoffe · Jennifer Britain · Jannine Duffy

  • 🦴 Hip X-rays showed circulation-destroyed joints surgeons said looked like a decade of damage though she walked well six months earlier.
  • ♿ She spent six months in a wheelchair, now manages about ten minutes on burning, seashell-feeling feet with a walker.
  • 💸 Jennifer describes overnight financial ruin, single-income caregiving for three kids, lost work, and isolation from friends.

Long-term disability, hip surgery disbelief, and the daughter’s caregiving burden.

← Second Shot, Collapse, and Walking Only Backward | Son Robert’s Sudden Death and Family Fracture →

Transcript

Dean Allison · 7:39:43

Okay, now today You've gone from being able to walk 2 kilometers for work, being on your feet all day, and then walking back. You can maybe have 10 minutes on your feet.

Charles Hoffe · 7:39:57

Yeah.

Dean Allison · 7:39:57

And then that's it.

Jennifer Britain · 7:39:59

The burning.

Jannine Duffy · 7:40:00

The burning. And it's like I can feel— it feels like the bottom of my feet almost get lumpy or that I'm walking on like broken seashells. So, and when I look at my feet, they look absolutely normal. I thought I was having phantom pain for the longest time. It's like, this is not real. Maybe I'm just imagining it. Because it's like none of it made any sense. I've never even heard of half of this stuff.

Dean Allison · 7:40:27

Now, I've seen you today using a walker to get around.

Jennifer Britain · 7:40:31

Yeah.

Dean Allison · 7:40:31

But you were in a wheelchair for 6 months and then you had to graduate up to being able to use a walker.

Jannine Duffy · 7:40:37

Um, when I was going through a lot of testing and my legs were just not working properly, and I finally went to my family doctor and it's like, okay, I know they've done all these tests, can I please get an X-ray on my hips? And I got the X-ray. They had me into hip surgery very, very quickly. When I went, the, um, the doctor had told me, he says, oh my God, your hips are absolutely destroyed. Destroyed because of lack of circulation.

Charles Hoffe · 7:41:10

And what he said then as well is that this must have been going on for 10 years to get to this point.

Jennifer Britain · 7:41:16

And we laughed and we're like, no, she was walking beautifully 6 months ago. And he didn't believe us because he says it's impossible, there's no way that it could be this deteriorated that quickly.

Jennifer Britain · 7:41:28

And I was like, well, you should have seen her walk not long ago.

Dean Allison · 7:41:33

Right. So Jennifer, what's the effect been on you and the experience? But you've shared with us that you basically become a caregiver to your mother. Because Janine, you've had to stop cooking and you have trouble holding things. You do need assistance now. Jennifer, what's it been like on you?

Jennifer Britain · 7:41:53

And honestly, it changed everything, everything overnight. You know, after that first vaccine, there was a couple of doctor's appointments things like that. So we were just a little bit worried. But after that second one and she was basically immobile, I took over. I took over. And listening to some of these other stories, we didn't have a farm to sell. We didn't have a business to sell. It was financial ruin almost immediately. She lives alone. She's an independent woman who worked at a grocery store. She was not in a position to lose her job overnight.

Jennifer Britain · 7:42:27

And that was another element to this story that was very difficult.

Jennifer Britain · 7:42:32

She never went back to work, and, you know, still to this day hasn't. We struggled to get her resources in every facet. I work full-time. I'm a mom of 3.

Jennifer Britain · 7:42:40

I had—.

Jennifer Britain · 7:42:41

I was raising my 3 kids at home by myself on a single income, trying to help out my mom, who's now disabled and without an income. And for a lot of you, I'm sure you're aware, it's not easy to get yourself on disability or CPP disability now. To get— I needed to get her a PSW into the house. I would stop by every day after work, pick up her laundry, do her laundry, make sure she was— make sure she had, um, things to eat. And I would bring her meals, make sure she was okay, just to have someone visit her. Because when all of this happened, she gave up her entire social life, for one, because she didn't feel well, and two, you didn't talk about we didn't talk about it to most people, and they didn't— nobody wanted to hear it either.

Jennifer Britain · 7:43:24

Right.

Dean Allison · 7:43:25

That's the theme. Now, Janine, my last question for you is, um, I'd asked you during the interview what, what was the most dangerous part.