Unfortunately, my bf's mother was neither coddling nor over protective. She ignored him. She still does. She doesn't want to hear when something is wrong. When his brother was extremely ill and hospitalized, WE went to Arizona to take care of him (as well as his house and pets). His mother called once during the month we were there and sent a check. That's always her answer... . throw some money at them. It's no wonder he's craving attention, but it does wear me down.
This is pretty much where I am at with my partners current breast cancer, No S or E from family. Throws in a bit of CAPITAL T and puts some money in her bank now and then, thats about it.
Meanwhile my partner has now upped the invalid stance, I know its a real issue this this time, but rather than make life changes to fight it she is starting to wallow in it instead. Providing 24/7 solo support is draining me. We are at the recovering from surgery stage at the moment and have yet to undergo the the endless chemo & radiotherapy yet. Not sure have we are going to cope with that.
Finding that fine line between support and wolllowing in it is hard. I think we are already heading down the path of opiate painkiller addiction which has caused serious issues in the past