Lack of support and abuse

Hi, I had a recurrance 2 months after my dad had a stroke, I live abroad and I had told my sister I would help look after him and travel back to work online, (there are 5 siblings living near my dad and I am abroad) my sister is a nurse and put her name down as next of kin and told nursing staff she would take care of him. I had to fly back to where i live to sort out work schedule and for my yearly check up and they saw on mammogram something, cancer was back worse thsn last time and biopsied as local recurrance which meant mastectomy, with ld flap surgery but a lot of surgeon appointments to see if diep, flap etc because of previous radiation. When I told my sister i couldn’t help with my dad as I had cancer again she ignored me and said i thought you said you wete coming to help! I told her this is serious and in fact told by my cancer team more serious than dads stroke right now as he had improved lots and ready for home. i later started receiving messages from her drunk, telling me that my dads social care team thought i was selfish and wondering why im not bothered to go home. This was all through my testing to see if in bones, lungs etc and decision making. I was supposed to fly home but cancelled and didnt want to tell anyone this was happening but in the end because of my sisters behaviour i had to tell my dad, he was also wondering why i was not visiting so my cancer team advised its best to tell him and get it out as too much stress and had to focus on myself too. He was ok when told just a bit upset. Then my sister started saying i didnt have cancer at all I had hair and i had made it up. Called my brother and said rhe nurses said i was going to cause dad another stoke and just continuously non stop causing trouble, drinking alcohol (she has had issues with a while) in front of his home care nurses in the mornings and set the house on fire. She then blamed me to everyone snd said it was my fault she was drinking.. i had to block her completely as it was too stressful with the messages and call my dads nurses to explain my cancer. They told me they had no idea at all i had cancer and that it was all lies. I have since had a second big surgery and I am due another one and it is still the same, my sister is not talking to me at all. People are saying she has strong sibling rivalry and has showed that for years but I have not been living at home over 20 years and thought we always got on until this cancer. My 1st time i got cancer she ignored me too snd was not nice either but this is the 10 times worse.. Has anyone had this type of abuse going through a diagnosis etc, i have brothers and she is speaking to them all fine except me. I have spent the last 9 montys recovering from surgeries, pain, physio and sll this on top, i have slso flown home a few times only to be ignored or have stories invented about me. Last time my dad told me not to mention my cancer as it is depressing and my sister doesnt talk about it. I said the only time i mention it is when i tell them i havw an appointment. This is my sister feeding my dad with more toxic comments.. It is very stressful and she continues to be toxic and  blame me only for all the issues in her life since i got diagnosed. 

  • "strong sibling rivalry", is akin to saying an abusive partner is just "misunderstood". Barring having to deal with your dad, you need her out of your life regardless of any sentiment that may be there. As the saying goes, you can choose your friends, but not your family. True, but you have 100% control over whether or not you allow this abuse to continue.

    You did the correct thing blocking her. If you do what she is expecting you to do, then you too will reach a point where you need looked after. She isn't going to step up. Some people are just selfish to the core, and i suspect the real issue here is she doesn't want to be the carer at all to your dad, she wants her life back, and needs you to pick up the slack. Because you aren't able to, the aggression is rearing its head.

    Stick to your guns. You have one life, and you'll be no good to anyone if ignore your own health.

  • I am sorry that you find yourself in this situation, but as ProfBaw says, you need to concentrate on your own health!  If that means cutting your sister out of your life, then so be it.  As for the rest of your family, all that you can do is tell them that you love them and they have to make their own decisions about their relationships with your sister, that cannot be your concern at this time.

    You need to concentrate all of your strength on fighting this for a second time, do not let her toxic behaviour stress you and make you ill!

  • Your sister obviously has mental health issues.
    The rest of your family must know this. 
    Do what you need to do for your own wellbeing. 
    Your family will understand - even if your sister is too far gone to have any empathy.