She said: the treatment is aggressive. She is going to need support.
My mother said: I’ll manage.
Dr. Reyes said: Mrs. Park, managing alone during chemotherapy is not advisable.
My mother said: I’ve managed alone before.
My mother had managed alone for nineteen years, since my father died.
She had managed alone in the specific way of a woman who has made herself into a self-sufficient system, who has organized her daily life around what she can do without help so that the question of needing help does not arise.
I said: you’re staying with me.
She said: Sara.
I said: you’re staying with us.
She said: I don’t want to be in the way.
I said: you’re not in the way.
She said: Gabriel.
