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I stopped working so that I could stay home and take care of Josh.

Melissa Hansen, Wife of a Veteran with PTSD, talks about what it's like to live with someone who has PTSD.

Transcript

When Josh first came back from Iraq,

from his second tour of duty, and he had the TBI and the PTSD,

I was working just part-time.

I worked four hours a day, and at first we thought,

"Well, he'll be able to take care of the kids,

and we won't have to put them in day care."

And he was completely incapable

of caretaking of the children.

So we still had to have them in day care

even though he was home during the day,

and eventually it just got to the point

where my husband needed so much help

that the four hours a day wasn't worth me working.

So I stopped working so that I could

stay home and take care of Josh.

Before Iraq, he took care of all of our finances.

He paid all the bills, he did all of the finances.

And after Iraq, I had to take over all of the finances.

I had to take care of the house.

I had to take care of the kids.

I had to take over all of Josh's appointments,

his medical appointments.

I had to talk with all of the doctors.

He was not capable of even making a phone call

because he didn't know what to ask

and didn't always remember what they said.

So I handled all of his medical appointments.

I took him to all of his appointments.

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