<p>I posted before about my family situation. I am recovering from a surgery that left me in a wheelchair and unable to move a lot. It’s been 4 months now with another 3 to go…I’ve just about exhausted every possible thing there is to do in a wheelchair stuck in my house. My other major issue is my sister, who has severe OCD. She has been struggling and gets no relief. It was bad enough with the two of us being stuck in the house with nothing to do all summer but then…</p>
<p>she broke her leg. We’re an unlucky family. So now we are sharing the walker, and wheelchair, and crutches. We are both trapped in our bodies and in the house all summer. It’s been one day and I already feel myself slipping into a depression. I’m extremely stressed trying to deal with my own situation, and now I’m responsible for a 10th grader who can’t walk and has a very troubled mind. I just don’t know what to do with the two of us. I know there’s stuff like knitting, scrapbooking etc, but if I have to do one more boring project like that I might lose my mind!! Her OCD has gotten much worse the past few days because she’s been stuck in the house. I see all of her symptoms amplified because she has nothing to distract her and I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!! </p>
<p>Please, any suggestions on how to keep occupied or something we can work on. I have two online social media internships, which take up about 5 hours a week, but I do them alone so that doesn’t help my sister at all.</p>
<p>I really am at a breaking point here, I almost feel like my family won’t survive. I appreciate any help and advice you can give me. </p>
<p>If either of you are up for it, there are websites out there that will connect you with students around the world who are working on their English speaking skills. Some communication is just written (emails back and forth) and others are live conversations using Skype or equivalent software. Google for English language exchange and you should get some links. Many are blogs, so I can’t post them at CC, but here is a link to an article about one such project: <a href=“Brazilian Teens Video Chatting With Elderly Americans Is The Sweetest Thing | HuffPost Teen”>HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost;
<p>Oh no. I am so, so sorry this is going on in your lives right now. Unbelieveable. </p>
<p>My best friend had back surgery in high school and was in a full body cast for 9 months. We ( her friends) rolled her onto a stretcher and took her for a walk down the street. We ended up at the local park and tennis courts. When her mom unexpectedly drove past she couldn’t believe her eyes as we had her daughter on the court on the stretcher with a tennis racket in her hand and were throwing balls at her to hit…that didn’t last long. We took her to the mall too but that was with her parents.</p>
<p>Anyway, I hope that made you smile. </p>
<p>Can you get out with a parent for a roll around your own block when they come home from work. Sometimes being outside helps everyone. </p>
<p>Maybe the local girl scouts can take you on as a project. Maybe someone could come by and take you out in your wheelchair for a long walk?</p>
<p>My husband and I have a lifelong ongoing card game that we play. Its just gin rummy but its mindless fun. We have been keeping score since the 1980’s. So can you play cards?</p>
<p>I know your sister has the OCD but is there any chance at all you could learn a language together? I suppose that wont work too well with her condition but just a thought.</p>
<p>I know you will get all sorts of great answers and I hope something helps. </p>
<p>I am so sorry. Is there anyone you can reach out to for help? </p>
<p>I am just going to throw out some ideas. Love books on tape - maybe your library might have downloads? Have you thought about binge watching some kind of TV show.? You can gat lots of those online. My D had orthopedic surgery this year and watched all the seasons of “Supernatural” there are tons of those.</p>
<p>Podcasts? they are free and you can find them on all kinds of things. We like
“Wait Wait don’t tell me” and many of the Slate or BBC ones. There are loads of them and they are almost all free. </p>
<p>Make a You tube video? </p>
<p>I don’t know if you have any money to spend but dover publications has all kinds of cool stickers, coloring books , tattoos, and paper dolls - many that would be good for adults. <a href=“http://www.doverpublications.com”>www.doverpublications.com</a></p>
<p>If you are involved in any kind of religious organization I would let them know - usually there are people there willing to visit. </p>
<p>Could you learn code together and maybe make a web-site? </p>
<p>Write fan-fiction, review books online.</p>
<p>There are websites with really ornate nail- art -things that would be challenging on an artistic level and kind of fun. </p>
<p>Is there an outside group you can reach out to (church, prior school friends, family network, etc?) It’s really tough to go through this solo without support. Are there a few friends who could put together a schedule of people coming over to help/give company/get you out? There’s a website called Lotsa Helping Hands that can help with coordinating this…</p>
<p>I’d encourage you to check with your local Area Agency on Aging (sometimes through a local senior center) – I know you’re not a senior, but they are likely to know if there are local organizations that lend home health equipment like wheelchairs. My MIL’s church had one, and there is a different organization in the town in which I live that does the same. It would be a big help to get both you and your sister your own equipment. </p>
<p>THANK YOU SO MUCH! Everyone, your kind works and suggestions made me feel a lot better. To be honest, I was in the middle of a meltdown when I wrote this post. @VeryHappy I live in NY. That’s so nice of you lol. My family members and friends have been doing their best with visiting, but everyone has jobs and their own lives- plus they’ve been visiting me for 4 months already. @IntParent thank you for finding that for me. I was looking for it but didn’t know how to search for my old posts. </p>
<p>My grandmother bought an extra wheelchair and a walker was donated, which has been helpful. One set stays upstairs, and one downstairs. This is difficult because if we’re on the same level of the house, we are sharing the items. We can’t exactly bring the wheelchair with us to the other levels of the house haha.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who suggested help from the church. Unfortunately, one of my sister’s OCD problems is dealing with religion. Anything that has to do with religion or the church is not welcomed in our house, because it will cause her issues. Irrational, I know, but OCD is not a rational disorder. </p>
<p>I sat down with my sister to try to make up weekly events for us to do. We only got through Monday so far. If you’re interested, this is what we decided on
-Manicure Mondays. We’re going to set up a station at the kitchen table with hand cream, hot water to soak the hands in, play relaxing music- really set the vibe. And we’ll paint each other’s nails. It’s silly but fun, and I have a HUGE nail polish collection.
-Then we are going to follow that with a TEDxTalk, picked by me and pre-screened…to make sure there are no OCD triggers in the talk. Thanks @teriwtt for that suggestion!
-Our last Monday event is a card game- undecided on which one yet. We’ll keep tally the whole summer and whoever wins at the end buys the other one a nice dinner out. </p>
<p>Now for the rest of the days to get thru…again, I can’t express how much your ideas and thoughts mean to me. It’s very sweet to have a community of strangers willing to help me. Your posts all made me feel less alone while I was going thru this particularly bad day. </p>
<p>Well, you do raise a good idea, and that is games! You have a second person to play with, since your sister is also laid up with you. At our house we would have epic Parcheesi, Sorry!, Scrabble, checkers, chess, backgammon, Stratego, and Clue battles if we were stuck inside for days.</p>
<p>One thing you could ask visitors to do is bring over a game when they come that they could leave for a while with you.</p>
<p>Hi- I wonder if you could help out a local elementary or middle school teacher by doing some work at home for them. Perhaps a schedule for the word of the day or math worksheets. Much of this type of work can be done online. Also, there may be some volunteer work that is administrative you could do for the Superintendents office that is administrative in nature. There may also be other volunteer opportunities such as stuffing envelopes or other projects you could do at home. Perhaps knitting hats for babies or making fleece blankets for babies or homeless children. Maybe you can coordinate and reach out to get donations from companies/stores made to a local food bank. Perhaps there is a homeless shelter that needs administrative work. Maybe writing letters to military people abroad or making holiday cards. Could you reach out to the principals of the schools you attended to see if there is stuff you could do. Even making first day name cards. I think projects that you can do at home that are defined could make you feel really good. There is so much important volunteer needs and you seem so extremely capable. Take care! </p>
<p>@peacefulmom thank you for the suggestions. i reached out to a few non-profits in my area to see if there are any volunteer things I could do- waiting to hear back. Hopefully I get a response </p>
<p>poliscinerd- Is there anyone you already have a connection with. A local principal or teacher you had. Anybody in the hospital where you had your surgery-- a doctor, nurse, volunteer and fundraising office, child life services office. Sometimes networking with people you know can make finding opportunities easier. Can you let us know what State or area you are in. Perhaps a CC person may be able to help find you something. </p>
<p>You are such a wonderful person and I hope you will find something soon!</p>
<p>That is so sweet of you to say, it means so much to me that you and everyone else are so kind and willing to help. The hospital where I had surgery is in Manhattan and I live on Long Island, and to be honest I really don’t have a connection with anyone other than my surgeon (who I bother enough lol!)…next surgery I get I will try to connect with nurses,etc…I was too scared the first time around to really talk to any of the staff. I was quiet and withdrawn, as I tend to get when I’m stressed or scared.</p>
<p>If anyone does happen to know of volunteer things/internships/jobs that can be done remotely or on LI, I’m open to almost anything </p>
<p>I have 2 social media volunteer internships, I think I mentioned before that take about 5 hours of my week. I also do a program where I’m a pen-pal with a person with a mental disability living in a residential group home, so I will occasionally get cards and packages ready for her. Lastly, I’ve organized two donation things. A friend of a friend was in need, so I reached out to family & friends and took in a bunch of donations…I sorted through all of those and donated it over to the family just a few days ago I’m in the process of making birthday boxes for children in homeless shelters thru an org called Cheerful Givers…the idea is to get about 10 $1 items and put them in a birthday bag and drop them off at shelters. That way children will have a present to open- cards, crayons, puzzles, bouncy balls…things of that nature that are found in the dollar section of Target. I’ll be finishing that up tomorrow and I’m always scouring VolunteerMatch for new opportunities.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who reached out to me <3 </p>
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