Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Unravelling: How our caregiving safety net came unstrung and we were left grasping at threads, struggling to plait a new one
    The Unravelling: How our caregiving safety net came unstrung and we were left grasping at threads, struggling to plait a new one
    The Unravelling: How our caregiving safety net came unstrung and we were left grasping at threads, struggling to plait a new one
    Ebook246 pages2 hours

    The Unravelling: How our caregiving safety net came unstrung and we were left grasping at threads, struggling to plait a new one

    By Clem Martini and Olivier Martini

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    In the follow-up to their award-winning memoir Bitter Medicine, brothers Clem and Olivier Martini continue the story of their family’s journey through mental illness, dementia, caregiving, and the health care system.

    Olivier Martini and his mother, Catherine, have lived together since he was diagnosed with schizophrenia thirty-six years ago. It hasn’t always been a perfect living situation, but it’s worked — Catherine has helped Olivier through the ups and downs of living with a mental illness, and Olivier has cared for his aging mother as her mobility becomes limited, and Olivier’s brothers Clem and Nic have provided support to both as well. But then Olivier experiences a health crisis at the exact same time that his mother starts slipping into dementia.

    The Martini family’s lifelong struggle with mental illness is suddenly complicated immeasurably as they begin to navigate the convoluted world of assisted living and long-term care. With anger, dry humour, and hope, The Unravelling tells the story of one family’s journey with mental illness, dementia, and caregiving, through a poignant graphic narrative from Olivier accompanied by text from his brother, award-winning playwright and novelist Clem Martini.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFreehand Books
    Release dateSep 12, 2017
    ISBN9781988298160
    The Unravelling: How our caregiving safety net came unstrung and we were left grasping at threads, struggling to plait a new one
    Author

    Clem Martini

    Clem Martini is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and novelist based in Calgary, Alberta. His popular trilogy for young adults, The Crow Chronicles, has been distributed widely and translated into six languages. His textbook on playwriting, The Blunt Playwright, is used in classes at universities and colleges across the country and he presently chairs the Department of Drama at the University of Calgary.

    Read more from Clem Martini

    Related to The Unravelling

    Related ebooks

    Wellness For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Bad News 101

      Apr 21, 2022

      Bad News 101
      13 min read

    • Article

      The Neurologist Who Diagnoses Psychosomatics

      Sep 22, 2021

      Our brains can play the worst tricks on us. They are always looking to explain and categorize incoming stimuli, sometimes perceiving threats out of the flimsiest bits of information gleaned from our bodies and our environment. Every so often they go

      13 min read

    • Article

      The Intimacy Of Covid

      Mar 23, 2021

      The Intimacy Of Covid
      5 min read

    • Article

      Where The Wild Things Are.

      Sep 3, 2020

      Where The Wild Things Are.
      12 min read

    • Article

      I Was a Prison Hospice Aide. Then Came Coronavirus.

      Apr 10, 2020

      “I know firsthand how the looming threat of COVID-19 is being absorbed by all of us behind the walls.”

      4 min read

    • Article

      Heroes Among Us

      Apr 10, 2020

      Heroes Among Us
      9 min read

    • Article

      What We Get Wrong About Dying

      Dec 28, 2017

      My first exposure to the death of a patient came during my third year of medical school, in Israel. It was my first clinical rotation, which happened to be in internal medicine. Tagging along with my mentor, a senior physician to whom I had been assi

      12 min read

    • Article

      Daddy ’s an Angel

      Jun 15, 2023

      Daddy ’s an Angel
      6 min read

    • Article

      Q&A Bruce Greyson

      Jul 25, 2021

      Q&A Bruce Greyson
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Unexplained Visitor

      Nov 25, 2019

      The Unexplained Visitor
      6 min read

    • Article

      Head Space

      Oct 21, 2022

      Head Space
      3 min read

    • Article

      Soul Survivor

      Aug 14, 2019

      Soul Survivor
      6 min read

    • Article

      ‘What Has Happened To Us?’

      Sep 25, 2022

      ‘What Has Happened To Us?’
      7 min read

    • Article

      Mental Health

      Jul 10, 2023

      Mental Health
      7 min read

    • Article

      Heroes Among Us

      Apr 10, 2020

      Heroes Among Us
      10 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Unravelling

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Unravelling - Clem Martini

      Cover: The Unravelling: How our caregiving safety net came unstrung and we were left grasping at threads, struggling to plait a new one, by Clem martini and Olivier Martini.

      Olivier Martini’s sketches, paintings, and prints have been displayed at the Marion McGrath Gallery and Studio Three Gallery, published in Alberta Views magazine, and were included as part of the Canadian Mental Health’s Copernicus Project. His first book, Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness, a collaboration with his brother Clem, won the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize.

      Olivier Martini.

      Clem Martini is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He has over thirty plays and ten books of fiction and non-fiction to his credit, including the popular young adult trilogy The Crow Chronicles. His texts on playwriting, The Blunt Playwright, The Greek Playwright, and The Ancient Comedians, are used in universities and colleges across the country. He teaches in the department of drama at the University of Calgary.

      Clem Martini.

      THE UNRAVELLING

      THE UNRAVELLING

      Clem Martini & Olivier Martini
      How our caregiving safety net came
      unstrung and we were left grasping at
      threads, struggling to plait a new one
      Freehand Books logo.Various sketches of the hospital, waiting room, security, Peter Lougheed Pharmacy, with the text: Navigating the mental Healthcare system.

      If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?

      LEWIS CARROLL

      Mom, dad, Olivier, and Clem.

      To deal with mental illnesses and dementia is to enter a mirror world, where words can often mean their opposite. Truth and lies can be exchanged, one for the other, and perhaps the most dangerous lies are the ones we tell ourselves.

      Table of Contents

      Cover

      About the Authors

      Title Page

      Copyright Page

      Introduction

      Start Reading

      Conclusion

      Epilogue

      Copyright

      Praise for Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness

      Cover Page

      About the Authors Page

      Half Title Page

      Title Page

      Table of Contents Page

      Introduction

      Start Reading

      Conclusion

      Epilogue

      Copyright Page

      Praise for Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness

      1

      2

      3

      4

      5

      6

      7

      8

      9

      10

      11

      12

      13

      14

      15

      16

      17

      18

      19

      20

      21

      22

      23

      24

      25

      26

      27

      28

      29

      30

      31

      32

      33

      34

      35

      36

      37

      38

      39

      40

      41

      42

      43

      44

      45

      46

      47

      48

      49

      50

      51

      52

      53

      54

      55

      56

      57

      58

      59

      60

      61

      62

      63

      64

      65

      66

      67

      68

      69

      70

      71

      72

      73

      74

      75

      76

      77

      78

      79

      80

      81

      82

      83

      84

      85

      86

      87

      88

      89

      90

      91

      92

      93

      94

      95

      96

      97

      98

      99

      100

      101

      102

      103

      104

      105

      106

      107

      108

      109

      110

      111

      112

      113

      114

      115

      116

      117

      118

      119

      120

      121

      122

      123

      124

      125

      126

      127

      128

      129

      130

      131

      132

      133

      134

      135

      136

      137

      138

      139

      140

      141

      142

      143

      144

      145

      146

      147

      148

      149

      150

      151

      152

      153

      154

      155

      156

      157

      158

      159

      160

      161

      162

      163

      164

      165

      166

      167

      168

      169

      170

      171

      172

      173

      174

      175

      176

      177

      178

      179

      180

      181

      182

      183

      184

      185

      186

      187

      188

      189

      190

      191

      192

      193

      194

      195

      196

      197

      198

      199

      200

      201

      202

      203

      204

      205

      206

      207

      208

      209

      210

      211

      212

      213

      214

      215

      216

      217

      218

      219

      220

      221

      222

      223

      224

      225

      226

      227

      228

      229

      230

      231

      232

      233

      234

      235

      236

      237

      238

      239

      240

      Guide

      Cover Page

      About the Authors Page

      Half Title Page

      Title Page

      Table of Contents Page

      Start of Content

      Copyright Page

      Praise for Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness

      Introduction

      The Unravelling is the story of Liv and his family. Liv has schizophrenia. His mother, his caregiver of many years, is sinking into the abyss of dementia. His brothers, who provide ongoing support, pick up the pieces whenever the health care system fails. Who or what is unravelling in this story? Liv? His mother? His brothers? The system?

      Caregiving can be complicated. In some cases the line between caregiver and recipient can be blurry. For years Liv’s mother cared for him, and in return Liv provided emotional support, companionship, and physical help to her. What happens when the delicate balance is interrupted by the onset of ill health, old age, dementia, and the once reliable caregiver becomes care recipient? Other family members intensify their engagement, now caring for a brother with schizophrenia as well as a mother with several physical health issues and escalating dementia. Clem, Liv’s brother and the narrator of this story, seems to sail through the murky waters of schizophrenia and dementia care with much poise. He is an experienced caregiver and knows how to navigate the system, but his endurance is tested times and again. Dementia, as Clem notes, isn’t a decline: it’s a plummet from a precipice. And as you fall you strike against the rocky cliff face, each strike removing another portion of who you were. For Liv, the pain of losing his mother — his main support — to dementia, is compounded by the feeling that he has failed to take care of her.

      With most of us, if not all, expected to be caregivers or care recipients at one time or another, and with the current state of health care throughout the country, the picture is bleak. This book is a testimony to the trials and tribulations of one family, whose patience and good will are exhausted by an unfriendly, often hostile health care system; it is also a manifesto against the priorities that create the many shortcomings of health and social services.

      This very personal and intimate book is extraordinary in its description of ordinary situations. Accompanied by Liv’s moving drawings, which are at once filled with compassion, confusion, fear, and at times humour, it is a must read for us all.

      Ella Amir, Executive Director, AMI-Québec Action on Mental Ilness

      Ella Amir has been working with families affected by mental illness since 1990 in her capacity as the Executive Director of the Montreal-based AMI-Quebec Action on Mental Illness. Ella was the chair of the former Family Caregivers Advisory Committee at the Mental Health Commission of Canada and is now a member of its Advisory Committee.

      It’s early and dark when the phone rings.

      I haven’t had breakfast yet and am just set up at the dining room table, papers strewn in front of me, picking at my computer keyboard and nursing a cup of warm tea. I lift the receiver, cradle it to my ear, and am surprised to hear my brother’s psychiatrist on the other end. Dr. Baxter apologizes for calling early, tells me she has phoned Olivier’s, and has been unable to reach him. Where is he?

      His blood work has returned from the lab, she tells me, and there’s a problem. The tests indicate his white blood cells have been seriously compromised. She mentions the possible condition he is suffering from — it’s long and scary-sounding: agranulocytosis. It’s essential that he get to emergency at once, she says.

      I consider where he might be. Olivier is an early riser, and each morning he promptly flies out the door. Typically, his day is crammed full of visits to support groups, social agencies, and art clinics. I recall he had mentioned that he would be working on a sculpture in his art class at Self Help, a community mental health support centre.

      I say I’ll try to get hold of him there. She tells me she’ll call the Foothills Hospital to prepare a placement for him.

      The coordinator at Self Help says Olivier has just arrived so I ask her to bring him to the phone. When he picks up, I fill him in on the situation and tell him that I’ll drive down and get him. The coordinator, who has overheard the conversation, interrupts to say she’ll call a taxi to save time.

      Liv and I meet at the hospital twenty minutes later. I steel myself to accompany him through emergency intake, which I tend to view as something like hell with all the good bits left out. There are the endless lineups: first you line up to receive an identification number and state your condition, then you line up again to see someone who will establish if the condition is serious, then you wait for someone to arrive who will actually examine you, and so on. There are the sad, angry, tortured souls haunting the waiting room, the feverish and the drunk, the bleeding and the nauseous. There are the chairs, designed to punish, and over everything hangs the smell of vomit blended with the sharp, piney odour of disinfectant.

      So, now we wait.

      Olivier

      An hour and a half later we’re transferred into the examination area and a doctor arrives. He confirms what Liv’s psychiatrist suspected: Olivier’s white blood cell count has plummeted. The doctor is young and self-assured and not particularly adept at communicating. I ask a few questions. No, he doesn’t know why this condition has suddenly appeared. No, he doesn’t know what can be done. No, there are no beds available. It will be several hours before Liv can expect a placement, and I reflect that emergency, where every form of virus, germ, or bacteria collects, is the worst possible environment for someone with a compromised immune system.

      Liv is conducted down a narrow corridor, provided with a temporary cot, and handed a sandwich wrapped in plastic and a juice pack — dinner. I ask him if he’s okay. He says he is and I tell him I’ll return in the morning — hopefully by then a bed will have been secured, and someone will be able to sort this all out.

      When I get home I phone my mother to let her know that Olivier will likely spend the next few nights at the hospital, then I text my oldest brother, Nic, to let him know what’s happened. He says he’ll pay a visit to Olivier after work the next day. I sit down at my computer and Google agranulocytosis. Wikipedia offers this definition: People with this condition are at very high risk of serious infections due to their suppressed immune system. Any number of small problems can quickly advance and become dangerous. It may clinically present with sudden fever, rigors, and sore throat. Infection of any organ may be rapidly progressive (e.g. pneumonia, urinary tract infection). Septicemia may also progress rapidly.

      Various sketches from getting into taxi, doctor visit to hospital visit, admitting, pharmacy, and discharge.Olivier in Foothills hospital lying on the gurney.

      When I get home I tell my wife, Cheryl, what’s happened. She’s sympathetic, but assures me there’s nothing to be done till Liv has received a full examination. And she’s right, but when I go to bed I can’t sleep. I keep returning to Liv’s blood problems. I’d noticed that something was wrong with Liv over a month ago. He’d seemed unusually tired and confused. When I brought breakfast over for Liv and Mom, he would eat it, finish, and flake out on the couch.

      I’d interpreted this as another side effect of his meds, and had asked him to consult with his doctor. He assured me that he’d do so, but who knows if he did? Or maybe he did, and the doctor didn’t follow up. In any case, I should have stayed on it. Obviously, I’d dropped the ball.

      I rise early, eat, and return to the hospital.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1