My First Priority
A Caregiving Story

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All right, it's time.

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Wake up.

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Come on.

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We got to pick out
your clothes. Now.

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And what do you got today?

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Tuesday. You got library.

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All right, so go get your books,
get everything ready.

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All right.

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And then your eggs are right
here.

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When you're done.

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If you take the switch now.

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Okay, here I come.

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Ty was three.

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When can Leah
had her massive stroke.

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And when our lives turned upside
down.

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Kanlaya and I always said that

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if, God forbid,
anything happened to one of us,

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we ought to put him
as our focus.

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But for me, it was like,
all right,

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if I'm going to put Ty first,
he needs his mom. Oh.

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But I trust you. If.

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Cousin Leah was 35 at the time.

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Young, healthy,

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no medical issues to all
of a sudden become paralyzed.

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Her brain
was permanently damaged.

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At that time, I didn't even know
what a caregiver was,

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but I always thought it was for

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old folks or parents.

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I just learned as much
as I could at the hospital

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changing her, cleaning her.

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The transition

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from hospital to home was tough.

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You're not prepared for it.

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It took a lot of trial and error

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to get things right.

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Oh, you want to do that?

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Yeah.

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Yeah, you get one point.

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In the beginning,
one of the most difficult

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things was juggling
between Cornelia and Ty.

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All right, shoes on.

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We're going to go now.

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It was always Ty
and I taking care of her.

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He grew up really fast
through this whole experience.

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Okay.

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Oh, it was great. See,
I love you.

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See you after my mom,
I love you.

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I love you, I love you.

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My main focus was always.

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Just give him the most.

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Normal childhood as possible.

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Here's your backpack.

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This one's.

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Got it.

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All right, let's roll.

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It is tough to see the future
right now.

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I had to quit my job.

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I couldn't juggle

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that and take care of my family
at the same time.

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We've been living off
of savings and donations. Hi.

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Good morning.

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I need to refill a prescription
for my wife.

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This is not how I wanted it
to be.

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At 37 years old.

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Everything that you plan out in
your head is just.

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It's gone. Right.
See you then. Thank you.

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By knowing I have 40 more years
of this, God willing.

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But got this far.

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Keep going.

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Tonight is not supposed to be

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anywhere near
where she's at today.

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Good.

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Say, that wasn't bad.

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So, you know, crack that time.

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She's proving the doctors wrong.

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Do you?

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That's one.

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See? It's going out like that.

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Try to keep it up like that.

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Okay.

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Try to make a fist.

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Some moved.

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That's a good.

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Come on.

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Yes. Oh.

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It's a win.

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I mean she's she's here with us
and able to be Ty's mom.

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Still.

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Oh thank you.

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Is it butter cup.

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It's a yellow butter.

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Just keeping that strong family
bond.

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That strong family unit
I really think is what

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what helped progress this far?

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Oh, right.

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So, like, if my.

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She needs me, Ty needs me.

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And so I'm going to keep going
until just keep going

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until,

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There is no
until just keep going.

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I got a book.

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I'm going
to put mom in bed. Ooh,

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I love my family.

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It's really all I have
when you boil down to it.

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Love you. Your turn.

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So I did everything I could
to keep it.

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She chomped on a tomato.

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The biggest, reddest one.

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You wanna do this one?

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If you want, I can read books

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for you to love.

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The end.

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Good job.

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You did awesome.

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I'll be back in to check on you.

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Love you buddy. Good night.