I don't mean helpless to help master a skill, or learn something. I mean helpless to help when there's some illness or injury to overcome.
I'm a lucky parent in that my children have been pretty healthy, and I haven't had to deal with serious illness. The little guy was born with a birth defect that was surgically corrected, and while it was hard as hell to hand my nine-month-old off to an anaesthesiologist and a surgeon, and then spend the night with him in recovery, knowing the poor little guy felt awful, I knew the worst would be over soon. He had to endure casts on his feet for some months prior to, and after, the surgery, but that too was of a prescribed, finite nature.
It's only lately that I've had to deal with something of indefinite -- perhaps chronic -- duration.
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