My mother’s medicine is on three credit cards

Dear Delyara, My mother’s insulin, heart medication, and specialist visits are spread across three credit cards. She has insurance, but not enough. Every month, I move balances, apply for assistance, and decide which payment can be late without shutting off something essential. She thinks the pharmaceutical company reduced the cost. I told her that because she began cutting her doses when she learned how expensive they were. Now she takes everything exactly as prescribed and thanks me for “sorting it out.” I am twenty-nine and owe more than $26,000. I stopped contributing to retirement, sold my car, and moved back into her house. Friends say I am a good daughter. Good daughters apparently pay interest on keeping their mothers alive. Last night, one card was declined at the pharmacy. I used the last available balance on another. The cashier asked whether I wanted a receipt. I almost said no because the numbers feel more dangerous when printed. I took it anyway. It is folded inside my wallet beside a photograph of my mother before she got sick. I do not know which one shows the true cost of loving her.