My mother told me I should never date a guy who didn't have his own car. She said that it set some bad precedent, mixed up the lines between provider and provided-for. There's nothing more ladylike ... [+]
It was October of 1992, and Betty had a horrible cold. She was coughing constantly. It was so bad that it would keep her up at night. Worse than that, though, was the fact that it was keeping her husband up as well. He wasn't the nicest person and could get mean sometimes. He finally said that he had had enough and made Betty sleep on the couch. That didn't help any, though, and she still kept him awake. Late one night, he was angry because he couldn't sleep so he made Betty get up and they went to the ER. He dropped her off there and left.
The ER doctors and nurses were very kind. They put Betty in bed with warm blankets and gave her some tender loving care. They then decided to do a chest X-ray on Betty to assess her lungs. There was a shadow on her lungs that the doctors thought was pneumonia. After that, they ordered a CT scan to evaluate the severity of the pneumonia. They even decided to admit her for antibiotics and rest.
The next morning, the doctor came in to speak with Betty. "I have some news for you," he said. He wanted to know if Betty's husband was coming to see her or if any other family was around. Unfortunately, Betty's husband was fishing, and she really didn't have anyone else who could come to the hospital, so she faced the doctor herself. The doctor told her, "Betty, you have a tumor in your chest. We need to do a biopsy. We are going to take you into surgery right away."
Betty woke up from surgery. She was still alone. A few hours later, the doctor came back, and he told Betty that she had Hodgkin's Lymphoma, which is a type of blood cancer. He told her that she would need chemotherapy and radiation. They would let her go home the next day, but she would need to go to her first Oncology appointment later that week.
Betty was then alone again. She was in shock. She wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Laugh because she just got devastating news on her own, or cry because she has cancer. She didn't know what to do. She finally decided to call her auntie. Her auntie answered, and Betty began sobbing uncontrollably on the phone. She told her the whole story, and her auntie offered to pick her up the next day. Betty still hadn't heard from her husband.
Her auntie came, picked her up, and took her to her house. Betty stayed with her auntie for a few days before her husband came home. He went over to pick Betty up and take her to their home. While they were driving home, Betty told him what the doctor had said. Her husband's response was, "Is that a joke?" Betty knew that when her husband responded that way, her marriage was over. She couldn't stay married to such an uncaring man. Betty channeled all her inner strength and left his ass.
When Betty told auntie what happened, her auntie came and picked her up and took her home. Her auntie told her not to worry about it that she would take care of her. They would get through it together because auntie told her, "We will get you through this." You and I will get through this together because we are all in on your remission.