I admired my former (and late) mother-in-law for being one of the few wives who stayed with the men with facial injuries who returned on the hospital ship with my ex's father. The vets with face and jaw injuries from the Italian campaign were evacuated together to an Army plastic surgery center. While his face was being put back together, she lived for two years with a toddler in a tiny house that was part of row on row of tiny houses they threw together for families. When I met my FiL, I could tell that the bottom half of his face was scar tissue, but it wasn't terribly noticeable. It was apparently horrifying in the early years. He took up photography and managed to stay out of any pictures for about 20 years.

In completely other news, I think I need this dress: [link]

t edit My kryptonite is polka dots. Please don't tell Lex Luthor.

My husband helped me and my brother take care of my mother when she was sick, including all the unglamorous stuff, like helping her to the bathroom, feeding her, bathing her, helping her to dress, etc. He was wonderful to her and he truly loved her. Sorta along the same lines as Steph, I can never leave him because I married a man who will take care of me when I'm an old lady.

Ooo, cute dress!

really cute dress.

I'm not the best nurse I have the patience of a hyper-active rat, yet I would nurse/help DH though any illness. And I am sure he feels the same way. And yes, he has helped me in some very unglamorous, undignified illness.

I had a boyfriend in college that asked me if i would stay with him under his worse case scenario He didn't like my answer of I don't know. but we hadn't know each other that long - I was young and so not planning on settling down . So I suspect different times and different people change the answer. And If I had decided to commit to him - I am guessing the answer would have changed

One of the very red flags early on in my last relationship was that whenever I was ill, including a bout of pneumonia for which I was hospitalized, he was absent. I really should have ended it right then. Lessons learned and all that.

Yes, there are horrific homo sapiens out there who abandon people when life gets tough, but I profoundly resented the thought that I would have considered such a thing. That she thinks I contemplated that choice utterly boggles me. She meant it in all approval, but damn.

TG gets this a lot. We were only together about a year when I first started to get really ill, but we were also deeply in love - and, y'know, I was a person beyond my illness. She thinks it's atrocious when people treat her like a saint for staying with the useless cripple. (So do I.) She does a lot for me, but she always says that I do just as much for her.

The thing is, you don't know in advance how you will react. I didn't think I had a nurturing bone in the body. Was convinced of that. It was a complete surprise. Honestly, the absolute worst part of the whole 24x7 caretaker thing is the sudden and total not being needed thing. Sucks beyond telling.

Teppy clearly needs that dress.

Teppy clearly needs that dress.

I did buy a Groupon for a pin-up photo shoot -- that dress might be perfect for it.

Oh yes. And half off!