Caregiving:
The Blessings and Challenges for Which I was Unprepared
I
By Patricia M. Hammock, M.Ed./AET remember exactly where I was and exactly what I was doing when I got the call. It was the spring of 2012; I was happily working for an awesome executive at a lauded graduate institution. I was exactly halfway through my master’s degree program. I was working fifty to sixty hours per week and excelling in my degree program. I was on a roll towards my preferred professional future. It was rare for my mother to call me during the week because she knows she raised a workaholic. She called on a Tuesday evening and I was still at work. She said she would just talk to me the next day. When she called on Wednesday, I had just left the office when she uttered the words, “I have what the doctor’s say is inoperable lung cancer. They say I will not survive and need to put my affairs in order.” My world stopped. I don’t know where I found the words, but I said, “Oh, my God! I’ve got to come get you.” I lived in Tennessee; my mother lived in Illinois. I told her to start packing. I was coming to get her and bring her to Tennessee where we have world renowned cancer centers. I told her that I would begin researching cancer doctors and would be there in two weeks to help her finish packing. You see, as an only child, I am all she has. Although I was scared out of my mind and didn’t have a clue how I was going to do what I had just committed to, it was my honor and duty to care for my mother. If it 12
Women Who Rock Nashville
Loving Ms. Lydia Elaine Dixon
