I'm rather worried about me mum.
She's been tired lately. And a little cranky. But that's not why. I'm used to her being a little cranky, especially when she's tired.
It's just that, every once in a while, she makes these little comments. Comments that really aren't like her. Not every day or anything, but just occasionally. It's still enough to worry me.
"I'm not always going to be here to take care of you," she scolded my dad, a slight edge in her voice as she cleaned up after one of his infamous kitchen messes.
Every time she says it, my heart stops a moment.
I've been trying to get her to go see the doctor for a check up. Not that anything is wrong, but she was supposed to be going every 6 months or so, and hasn't been. Part of it is financial - she couldn't afford PPO coverage at first, and would have had to go to a different doctor, which she wasn't confortable with.
On one level, I understand. It's hard to share with a complete stranger your medical history, especially for ovarian cancer. That's such a private thing for a woman, especially for someone as reserved and private as my mom. It was really painful for her to have to get that operation, which in her eyes took away much of her womanhood. To have to share that with a stranger, and talk about it even... I mean, I understand that she'd rather stay with the doctor she already knows and trusts. I even understand the financial situation - even though she knows I'd help out with any money issues, she doesn't like to rely on others for stuff like that. Then again, since the rest of her family always comes to HER with their financial woes every time, I can see WHY she wouldn't want to come to me with her own.
But that doesn't matter. She needs to go. She says she's waiting until the open enrollment period for her company, which is in February. I'm not really comfortable with that, but she's stubborn. My dad and I have kind of tag-teamed her on this, but we both know direct confrontation won't work. All THAT would do is make her even more determined to stay the course she's decided on already. The only thing we can do is try to convince her, with logic and gentle persistence.
Even though I don't know that she's going to change her mind on this one. *sigh*
2 comments:
Well, I don't have the pleasure of knowing your mother, but I do know many stubborn people. (yours truly included) And I think your best chance, honestly, is to confront her with it, and just don't be gentle about it at all. Insist on paying, and do everything short of pushing her out the door. Call up the doctor's office and hand her the phone if need be.
That's my advice, and I'm sticking to it. :P
Thanks. I'm not sure if I can do that, but I will take it into consideration.
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