Is this some kind of a cruel joke?

So, I got a call from my mother the other day. She went for her yearly mammogram, which was abnormal, so she had to go for more tests. So, being the pessimist that I am, I automatically assumed cancer and cried myself to sleep that night.


So I go to work the next day, and who am I assigned to take care of? A sweet little old lady with end stage breast cancer. You can't make this stuff up.


I spent a lot of time with her. She told me all about her youth, and her husband of 54 years, and how she used to wear a size 34-C bra when she still had her body intact. She was so brave and I felt like such a baby because I couldn't stop crying, between her being so sweet and my mom's pending diagnosis.


Then, my sweet little old ladies' sweet little old husband showed up, and they were so freaking cute together! They were like teenagers in love, holding hands and making googly eyes at each other. Why do these bad things have to happen to such good people? I could never go in to oncology.


Close to the end of my shift, their son showed up. I went in there to talk to them (you don't just take care of patients, you take care of the whole family), and it was too much. I actually had to leave the room because I started sobbing quietly and making pathetic noises. And what do you know? Their son was a total sweetheart, too! This was the nicest family ever. I apologized for crying, explaining that I was supposed to be taking care of them, not the other way around, and he just told me that it was okay, nurses are people, too. We talked about different options for his mom, different facilities she could be accepted into, if she should go home, respite care for him, etc. What a great bunch of people. I'm happy to have met them.


My mother went for more tests, and the doc's said that the abnormality was nothing to worry about, and to come back next year. What a relief. I love my mom.