last Thursday (11-8-12) i went to SM to meet with my mom. She's been in Cebu for 3 days but i haven't been able to meet up with her because of work. She visits Cebu every other week to purchase some drugs for the pharmacy and to have her check-up. She's still fighting with cancer until now. it has been tough for her. i remember 2 years ago (2010) i have been looking for a job but i can't find any. i passed an application letter to 5 different hospitals. I didn't receive any call back. so i went back to Ormoc to have a break. i just passed the board exam and a break sounds really good. Then we found out that mom has breast cancer. at first we didn't know how to react. i went with her back to Cebu to have a 2nd opinion even 3rd.. it was positive.
Cancer runs in my mom's family. my grandmother died of cervical cancer. they were too poor to afford all those expensive treatments and medications so lola marcela died without treatment. mom has 3 brothers and 3 sisters and she was the youngest. 2 of her sisters had undergone mastectomy. and she was next. she was very afraid. i was with her when the doctor confirmed that its cancer and that she has to go under the knife to remove the affected part. she cried. i cried. for a woman to lose something that differentiates us from men was hard, to lose something that has fed all her 3 children and was important for her as a mother was hard, to lose something that has been a part of her womanhood was hard. IT WAS HARD. she has many options but she chose to have it removed. so, before we "checked-in" at the hospital i took her to a spa. father came along. all 3 of us chose to have whole body massage, facial, and foot spa. i chose a spa close to Chong Hua so after the spa treatment we just crossed a street to admit my mom at the hospital.
father and i took care of her while she stayed there for about a week or so. then after the operation we went back and father went back to his own house. i was left alone with mom. My elder sister is working out of the country. my younger sister was in manila to work in st. luke's, the country's number 1 hospital, as a pharmacist. at that time my parents live separately. we didn't have house help coz we can't find one. then it dawned on me that it was just me and mom. post-operatively i did everything for her. i prepared our meals, run the business, do errands for her, do groceries, clean the house, feed the dogs, water the plants, take care of her, buy her meds(i still do this until now) and everything you can think of. i realized that there was a reason why i didn't get a job right after i passed the licensure exam. i was the one who's gonna take care of her. it was one of the most fulfilling task i did for mom. after all her sacrifices for us, what i did was just nothing compared to how much she has done for us. a few months after, i received a call from one of the hospitals i applied in to, then after that i received another message from another hospital. since mom was feeling better and stronger i decided to take the job. but before i did that i asked my father to go back home and look after my mom. after all he is still her husband. fortunately he said yes, and i convinced mom to say yes since she can't do much when she's alone. we still can't find house help. everything happens for a reason. it was another reason why i didn't get that job right away. because of that father is still staying home up to this very day.. with mom... :)
I see my mother kneeling with our family each day.I hear the words she whispers as she bows her head to pray.Her plea to the Father quiets all my fears,And I am thankful love is spoken here.
so, back to the present. we were having halo-halo in Ice Castle at SM when she mentioned something about a sacrifice she did way back when we were kids. we were talking about debts and the US and their debts and how i don't like to have a debt or enter into a debt. she agrees with me and then she told me this story.
there was a time when she was really short of money and i was sick and she didn't know where to get some money to buy my medications. i was so young back then and mayee was still a baby. since she doesn't want to have any debt she decided to pawn her ring (the only ring she has) and buy me some medicine. that very same day was her birthday. she didn't have much left for any food all she can afford was a can of sardines. SARDINES! for her birthday! my grandpa was in manila that time and my father has no job. no one can really help her.
i cried when i heard that story about her sacrifice for me. she cried reminiscing the past. how hard life was back then. i am so grateful to have her despite all her craziness. she's my mom and i love her so very much. she's happy that life is better now financially. that she can afford to buy us everything we need and that she can afford to get some treatment for her cancer. she's still taking oral chemotherapeutic drugs (the one i buy every month and send to her via LBC). she's gonna be under it for 5 years.
and then she told me that she has another problem. osteoporosis. her bones are getting weak because of those drugs. and that she has too many maintenance drugs to take, its making her weak and its getting very expensive. i told her id be willing to pawn my ring for her to get those medications she needed. :) she just laughed teary eyed..
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