What was your day-to-day life when she was back at home?
Hard. Not knowing what to do. Trying to do everything, but as I say not knowing. Trying to cope with [my partner's mother]. Mood swings for instance. You know, one day on a high, 'Yeah, I'm going to get better…' And the next day deeply depressed and in tears. You know, there was days where she just cried for hours. And then there was days where [my partner's mother] would be in tears and [my partner's father] would be in tears. So I'd sit with [my partner's mother] for two hours and say 'You know you are getting better.' But then [my partner's father] would be in tears, so I'd sit with [my partner's father] and say “Common now.” He'd say, “Oh.” He'd say, “It's my fault.” And then going upstairs and seeing [my partner] in tears. So some days, you know, I felt really drained. Obviously I'd go out to work and I'd miss quite a lot. I'd come back and, you know, [my partner's mother] would be upset because it had been a long, hard day. As I say, all of them would be upset. So it was terrible.
How long did this go on for?
I can't, I honestly can't give you a time-span. It seemed forever. It really did seem to take a long time. As I say, she did, you know, she did develop, she did get better.
Did you have anybody to talk to at work, that you could just offload? Or you didn't feel you needed to?
I felt like I needed to offload. I mean they've got family friends and we chatted. They went to the hospital when we went to the hospital. I'd go round there occasionally and say, “I can't stand it over there at the moment.” You know, because they did go through a stage of bickering, all three of them, you know, at each other's throats. And it, you know, it was just horrible to watch. But none of them were in the wrong, it was just tiredness and stress. And so I suppose, you know, I spoke to the family friends, but no one else really. |
