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Then, there’s also the whole issue of when you do need personal care support, it’s very, very difficult to navigate, you know,  if you don’t have any outside help. You get into the issue of does the caregiving put strain on your relationship? Does investing all your care in this partner or significant other put you at risk for being trapped or put you at risk of abuse? But then, on the other hand, if you do have outside help, you know, some people are not going to be able to handle having all of these health care people coming in and out of the house. So you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place in many ways.

I’m not saying there aren’t people out there that make it work, but it’s extremely difficult because as far as the care thing goes, you’re kind of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Because on one hand, you don’t want your partner to be your sole caregiver, but on the other hand, introducing all these outside people into your daily life limits your privacy on some level. 

And also, like I said, being in the long-term care program the state funded severely limits your finances. So that, I guess, has made me hesitant about the whole idea of romantic relationships because sometimes it feels like, you know, sometimes it feels like, what’s the point on some level because I’m always going to be so, so financially restricted by these Medicaid care programs in a way that’s not really changeable, that I don’t feel like I can contribute financially to a relationship in the way that I would like to or in the way that most people would expect.