I once worked as a direct care aide for a 65 year old woman with a developmental disability.

Her daughter, who was in her 40s, worked overnights, and she needed a caretaker with medical

experience to watch her overnight.

When I say once worked for them, I mean I literally worked once, just this night, and you're

about to hear why I never went back.

The 65-year-old woman's name was Martha. Her daughter's name, who contacted me, was named

Colleen. It's possible Colleen didn't have any other family to watch her and didn't want to or couldn't

afford to put Martha in a nursing home, or it was possible that she

felt more comfortable hiring somebody with some form of experience to watch over her.

At the time, I was already a direct care worker for two other women who suffered some forms of developmental disabilities so I had experience

But nothing prepared me for that night

Colleen left for work earlier that day day I worked my first job, so I was really pushing my body to exhaustion, trying to make as much money as possible.

Colleen had introduced Martha and I.

Martha had given me a smile before Colleen brought her upstairs to her bedroom for the night.

It was around 9 p.m.

Colleen told me that Martha would sometimes walk around the house at night acting confused and I'd need to calm her down

and bring her back to her room. She specifically addressed this not to be a form of

sleepwalking when I asked. She said it's one of the symptoms of her mother's dementia. I told her to rest assured

that I'd know how to handle it. I spent my time initially in the living room, catching up on my

show. These jobs aren't super glamorous, and for the most part,

it is a lot of sitting around.

I heard footsteps from upstairs.

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