When I was growing up, my mom was sick. She was actually diagnosed before I was born. She had syringomelia. She spent a lot of my childhood in and out of hospitals. When she was home she was in a wheelchair. Her right arm and left leg were paralyzed. I used to help her in and out of bed and in and out of the car.
My mom was a great person. She was very strong. Her mind was fine it was her body that was useless. When I was 12 years old, she went into the hospital for the last time. She would spend the next 15 years in the hospital. She passed away 11 years ago on Dec. 23, two days before Christmas.
My father was and still is a wonderful man. He raised my brother and I and had a sick wife. Most men would not have hung around for that. He went to see my mother almost everyday or every other day. He brought us to see her on a regular basis.
This was a stressor in my childhood because my mom was in my life but not right there when I need her. I can't imagine how stressful this was for her. To this day I still miss my mother and wish she was here to see her grandchildren grow up.
Children in China live in a very stressful world. There is the stress and pressure from school and from their parents to do well. There is a high suicide rate among post-secondary school-agers.
The stress can be related to China's one child rule. Parents put everything they have into their one child. China sees that there is a problem with stress in children but at this point have not found ways to help resolve it.
Reference
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/7027377/Third-of-Chinese-primary-school-children-suffer-stress-study-finds.html
When I read your post, I thought it was amazing what your father did for you. I agree that most people (not just men) would have given up and find another life. Taking care of a loved one that has an illness is never easy. I think it is hard because you love the person and you have to watch them suffer. I remember my grandmother who had cancer and died in the hospital. Because she was diagnosed relatively late, she did not spend much time suffering. This was hard on me because she died when I was abou 6 years old. At that time, I did not understand what death meant. However, I cannot imagine what you were going through watching your mother die over 15 years. I think it is amazing that you had someone in life that helped you through the difficult times. I think this is a message that we need to pass on in live.
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