Good morning fine people. I am pleased to be back in NYC today and coming to you from the subway again.
The last 16 days have been pretty horrendous. The first part was finding out that my mother had a cancerous tumor in her brain. No matter how operable it is, it still sounds bad when you hear that.
Then, a few days later, I found out that the tumor was the size of an orange. This was impacting her ability to speak, see, walk and handle most anything else in her left side. Upon hearing that, I flew to Texas, where my parents live, to tend to my mother. I was certain that she would be in the hospital for weeks and be out of commission for all or most of my 10 day trip. To my shock, she was doing laps by the end of the same day she had surgery. This does not downgrade the seriousness of the procedure, it does speak volumes about the hospital, its technologies and its doctors.
It appears that her motor skills are returning and that she is only weeks away from freeing herself from a 4-point walker. Again, a testament to the care she received. I am grateful that she is doing so well…almost in spite of herself.
As I wrote in my last post, I do believe the manner in which my mother has chosen to live has laid the groundwork for this. She and my father are desperately selfish people who swap dysfunctions the way most couples ‘swap spits.’ If one of them eats a piece of cake, the other one does too. If one buys a new iPod, the other has to have one too. This has gone for cars and other purchases as well.
Maybe selfish isn’t the word. Maybe it’s childish.