A Note About My Mom...

Surgery day for my mom was back in March. It was a simple, clean lumpectomy with the removal of a few lymph nodes to be sent away for further testing. The operation itself was a raging success! However, we were now waiting on test results.

The procedure itself is as basic as surgeries can be, but somehow, it seemed sacrilegious to us, that after altering the most defining part that makes us women, my mother was to be shipped out promptly at closing time!

All in a day's work of day surgery!


So while my mom flapped around like a rag doll, my sister set about the task of dressing her for the trek home. Arn'tcha glad we all look the same?! And really, nothing is sacred in hospitals!


but here's the great part:

As my sister is in the final stages of dressing her, my mom's womanly essence comes shining through. She asks ....wait for it....
"Do I look all right?" and pats down her hair.


"Do I look all right?????"
My sister is rendered speechless. You can well imagine what the answer to that one is!

I have to laugh, because I can see this blank, wide-eyed stare, as she looks at mom, blinks, looks again, and wonders if it's ok to lie, cuz chances are, mom won't remember anything anyway! But then, in true christian grace, my mom flops back onto the hospital bed and exclaims, "Don't answer that," thus, redeeming my dear sister of the lie that was camping out in her head.

Yes, we all roared with laughter at the telling of this stellar moment! And how great did that feel? To be able to laugh together at the comical moments because God was so merciful to allow us to keep our mom! Many, are not so lucky. Laughter never felt so good!

God knew that I was not ready to lose my mom. Back on New Years Eve when she broke the news that she had breast cancer, I struggled deeply with the thought of losing her. While it would have been difficult on all of us, as the oldest sibling, you then become the matriarch of the family. By birthright; perhaps in theory only, but very real in my heart, you have become "it." There is no one older and wiser now; with motherly love and instinct. Oh how I praise God that I have time (hopefully a lot of it!) to work this out in my spirit.


My mom's recovery has been nothing short of a miracle. While she left the hospital armed with pain killers, she never needed them. She has chosen to go through radiation treatments and that will begin soon. The pathology report came back negative, so we are rejoicing in relief.


We are praying that the radiation will go as well as the surgery did.


Mother's day is coming up, and I have every intention of celebrating it like it's the event of the year!

note: This story has been posted with permission.