True Love

Anyone who is married knows that it requires a significant amount of sacrifice, teamwork, and a lot of love to make a marriage work. That is especially true when one of you gets sick. I remember when I first got the news that I had cancer thinking that I was so glad it was me and not Nick. While I would have preferred that neither of us would ever have to go through something like this, having the cancer myself means that I at least feel a little bit in control. If it was Nick who was going through the same thing I would feel so helpless and out of control, wanting to be able to fix it but not being able to do so. I'm sure that is how he feels too, given the circumstances.

Fortunately when I got married, I picked the absolute best, most amazing, loving, and wonderful husband that anyone could ever be lucky enough to get, and he has been right by my side through this whole thing, providing the best care while I have been laid up. I was browsing through some breast cancer forums before the surgery to try and figure out what the recovery would be like, and remember stumbling across a post from a woman who was terrified of the surgery because she was concerned her husband was going to be upset with her for not being able to take care of the kids and the house. That seemed really devastating to me--not only to have to go through the trauma of cancer and surgery, but have the added stress of an unsupportive spouse on top of that. For me it was the exact opposite.

When you get a mastectomy, they put a couple of drains into your body at the incision site to help drain excess blood and fluids and prevent swelling and infection. The little tubes dangle from your side, and must be drained a couple of times each day. In addition to being kind of gross, and supremely annoying, they make most daily activities difficult, and they are in addition to the six-inch incision across my chest that was pretty painful. So it was that for two weeks I couldn't really get dressed, shower, brush my hair, cut my food, or even open the lid to the water bottle I brought home after surgery (seriously, they tell you to stay hydrated and give you a water bottle, but you can't even get the lid off...thanks a lot, hospital).

The great news is I have a great husband, and tons of other loving and supportive friends and family. From the first day that I returned home from the hospital, I had a constant stream of visitors, plus all the help I needed from Nick. In the hospital he spent the night on a pull-out "bed" that was about a foot shorter than his body, held the bucket for me while I threw up when I got nauseated from the surgery, and didn't care that I probably looked pretty horrific after a couple of days without a shower. Since we came home he has tirelessly helped with getting me dressed, undressed, and showered, and even learned how to blow-dry my hair when I couldn't do it on my own (despite the fact that Nick had never even held a blow dryer before this whole experience). He has cooked me food, woken up in the middle of the night to fetch me some pain medication or get the water bottle I couldn't reach from bed, and gone on walks around the neighborhood so I could get out of the house for a few minutes. He texts me from work to make sure I'm doing okay when I'm home alone, and hangs out with me all day on his days off.

I have always known that I have a great husband who is a ton of fun to be around, and makes my life happy, but after these two weeks I am more convinced than ever that I hit the true love jackpot.