It’s eight weeks before my wedding and I’m not sure that my maid of honor will be standing beside me on the big day. She is in the hospital—again.
I feel selfish. When she texted me two days ago to tell me that she was back in the hospital, I couldn’t help but think of all the exciting events in the next few weeks—the shower, bachelorette, the actual wedding—and wonder if she will be able to attend.
Liz was born with spina bifida, the birth defect that has caused all ob-gyns to espouse that pregnant women should consume large amounts of folic acid. The birth defect has caused complications upon complications, many of which I don’t understand.
Since I met her our freshman year of high school fourteen years ago, she has been able to maintain a relatively normal life while undergoing surgeries, wearing leg braces, and withstanding frightening levels of pain. However, within the last year, her condition has become increasingly worse. While she does have a job as a special education teacher, her boss told her that they couldn’t review her this year because she was out of work more than she was there. She had a life-threatening infection last spring that caused her to be on a respirator and in the hospital for about two months. Her leg pain recently has become so unbearable that she had a neurostimulator implanted to attempt to manage it. Unfortunately, the neurostimulator doesn’t seem to be working, because her escalating pain level is why she was admitted to the hospital this time.
Although Liz has been battling her condition as long as I have known her, our lives had seemed to be on the same course for the majority of the time. We both went away to college, pursued our Masters’ degrees, and landed jobs. However, it is now becoming apparent just how different our lives have become.
I moved out of my parents’ house to live with my boyfriend (now fiancé) at age twenty-two. We are now getting married and have dreams for a family in the relatively near future. Liz has never had a boyfriend and is still living at home. Her reasons for not moving out are two-fold: all of her disposable income goes towards medical expenses and her serious medical condition has made living alone tricky.
