I saw her waiting by our doorstep, and she smiled as soon as we approached. "Don't run! No need to hurry!", she said, even though we had kept her waiting for over half an hour. Mum's chemo session at the hospital took longer than expected.
Since her last treatment, mum has asked g a cleaning lady at her office to come to the house for a few hours a day while mum is doing her treatment. Little things, like housework, cooking and cleaning... things that may appear simple and ordinary, but to someone under the influence of chemo may become a challenge. Mum said the lady has been a caregiver at the hospital for a long time, and is now retired but doing odd jobs here and there to keep herself busy. The lady has worked with cancer patients, so she knows what to eat and cook, especially during those first few dreadful days of chemo.
Since she stepped through the door, she's been busying around, cleaning, tidying, sweeping, and occasionally telling mum to go and rest. She's around my mum's age, perhaps older, but she is extremely healthy. She says she has been lucky and blessed with a body that's still working well. She wants to devote the remainder of her life to helping people, servicing people in need. She even showed me a picture of her fluffy Persian cat, and her donor card. She said that when she dies, she wants her organs to continue to help others. Whenever she smiles, her eyes squint to a sliver, and her rosy cheeks curl up kindly. A few teeth are missing, revealing a gaping black against a row of white.
Watching her work from a distance, I feel comforted that mum has help and someone to keep her company when I am not here...
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