It Was No Big Deal

While I am by no means bashful, I take my mom’s gratitude for being there for her in stride. I cringe when I hear here tell family and friends what a little Angel I am because I don’t think I did anything extraordinary – except dealing with the drainage tube.

Think back to a previous post when I said that I was not the same daughter that cancer knew back in 1998. Not only was cancer probably astounded, but so was my mom (come to think of it, so was I.)

When someone goes through major surgery, there are certain things that need to be done in order to facilitate recovery. Once again, everyone that knows me will tell you that I am no Florence Nightingale, except …perhaps my mom.

I am one of those people that happen to be a sympathetic puker and I would categorize myself under the “squeamish” heading. But something remarkable happened during this second round of dealing with cancer. I have no idea where it came from, but I am guessing the Good Lord had something to do with it - I became Superman…able to change dressings in a single bound!

Seriously, there were some things that were not pleasant, but they needed to be done. One would be amazed at how fast the autopilot kicks in. You are able to do things without thinking or cringing – which are pretty cool.

Now, it’s pretty hard for someone like my mom to rely on others to do for her. She’s a spunky little Italian who is the backbone of our family. I know it was difficult for her to be incapacitated and allow others to take care of her for a change, but I don’t think that what I did was a big deal.

A few times she had some crazy idea that she was a burden. But let me tell you how I looked at it. I didn’t feel obligated to do those things. I did them for all those years she took care of me with such love and unselfishness.

Consider it a return on your initial investment, mom!

Helpful Hint:

Trust me when I saw that there will be days that you will have no idea what or how you are going to help. There will be days when you will doubt if you can even do it or deal with it. But you will be amazed on the amount of inner strength and faith that you can muster up, at times without much effort, to do what needs to be done.

Hang in there, it will come and you will be able to get through it.