You may have seen that November is National Caregiver Appreciation Month. November also is kind of the formal month of gratitude. The combination of those two pieces lead me to the thought that it would be the perfect time for a blog in gratitude of my parents.
I have been living with myasthenia gravis since age 5. I don’t know life any differently or recall the years before my diagnosis. That also means my parents have been leaving with my diagnosis for over half of their lives. Times of worry and distress, conversations with medical personnel and doctors, watching me go through treatment after treatment, driving me to treatment after treatment, handling my affairs and household duties when I didn’t have the strength, looking after my dog when I didn’t have the energy to power through and naturally just being at the end of nearly every text or call with my ever changing situation has been a role they have played pretty seemlessly.
I realize most people my age rely probably on a significant other. That’s where I’m yet again different, I don’t have a significant other, therefore my parents play this role. While they may live four hours away, they are just a jump in the car to be at my side anytime I need them. I have been even more lucky this year with my dad as my personal Uber driver to and from treatments. My mom played that role for some 15 years after her retirement and now it’s been fun to have my dad get his turn.
I realize how special and lucky I am to have this suppport. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about how different I could have it. I see firsthand how others have to craft their lives with minimal support and it makes me feel sick.
None of us asked for a rare disease or chronic illness. And lets face it, our caregivers didn’t either. Sometimes in life you are dealt cards that don’t always line up. But one of the most important things in life is to take the cards you are dealt and figure out how to play with them to make it work!
I am beyond grateful for the relationship with my parents as my caregivers and hope they know that National Caregiver Month and beyond, I wouldn’t know what I’d do without them.
