Mom’s having surgery again. For the second time in three months, she’ll undergo an operation to repair a toe that causes her pain when she walks. It’s a minor operation. A day surgery. She’ll go in at 10 a.m. and be out by lunchtime or shortly after.
If my memory is correct, this will be my mom’s fourth such surgery since 2005 and the second one on this particular toe. “Estoy cansada,” she says each time. She’s tired of having had so many operations, including a couple of eye surgeries, in recent years.
The procedure today involves straightening out the left middle toe and inserting a metal pin. If all goes well, it’ll provide some much-needed comfort. Hopefully, she’ll be able to walk again without hobbling.
Perhaps one of the hardest things about seeing your loved ones age is your own feeling of helplessness. You want to make things better for your parents. You take them to their doctor appointments. You make sure they have the proper medication. You do the best you can do. But at the end of the day, you realize that they are the mercy of their aging body. It may cooperate one day and then spring a new ailment the next.
Recently, after a visit to her podiatrist, my mom and I stopped to get some lunch. She planned to wait in the car while I went inside to order. Before stepping out of my car, she noticed a couple of middle-aged women walking on the sidewalk.
“How I wish I could walk like that again,” she said to me in Spanish.
I smiled, placed my hand on her shoulder and told her she would. I pray today that she get’s her wish.
My Parents' Keeper 
I hope your mom’s surgery goes well and that her wish comes true. You all are in my thoughts. :-)
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Thanks, Kristen!
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I will think good thoughts for a safe and quick recovery.
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Thanks, Kathryn!
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Very moving post, Stella. You not only explain the helplessness we all feel, but you provide a perfect, poignant example. What you wrote brought tears to my eyes because it echoes what my mother feels and often says these days, “It sucks to get old.”
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Thank you, Kristine! Yes, it does suck. But maybe we can all learn some lessons that perhaps could make life a tad easier for us when we get older. I’ll be blogging about that in the future.
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We’ll keep her in our prayers…..
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Thank you, Asher! I appreciate it.
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Yes, the helplessness. You hit it on the head. I’ll pray your mom is able to walk with ease soon.
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Thanks, Christy! Yes, let’s hope she heals quickly and notices a difference.
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