I was in a relationship with a woman for eight years and two years ago I left her. One of the reasons I left is because when I became sick, she would refuse to take care of me.

The first time she got really sick around me, she came down with a nasty case of the flu, the kind where you are too weak to feed yourself. I've always enjoyed taking care of sick people, and I thought this would be the perfect time to show her how much I could care for her.

I doted on her, made sure she ate properly (hand-fed her a couple of times), and when she was at her sickest, I gave her a bed-bath. I was happy to do it, and I was even happier that I got to prove to her what I great man I could be, and eventually a great father.

Of course, as these things go, I picked up what she had just as she got better, and it was a hell of a ride. I knew that I would be okay though, because I just took care of her very well, and after all of that, she's going to be chomping at the bit to repay me for my excessive kindness to her while she was sick by taking care of me.

I was wrong.

As I was dragged into the hell that is a bad flu, she wanted NOTHING to do with me. Even though she had JUST EXPERIENCED what I was now going through, she would tell me to "suck it up" because we have things to do. My weak body was fighting to keep me alive, and all she could think about was seeing her friends that she hadn't seen in the past week.

I asked her to get me a sprite and my nyquil once, and I'll never forget her reaction. I was in so much pain, I was sleep-deprived, all I wanted to do was sleep, and she makes that "tsk" sound that your mouth makes when you suck your tongue off the roof of your mouth. She rolls her eyes, made that sound and got me what I wanted.

She wouldn't touch me. She looked at me with disgust. She ignored me. I couldn't understand why this person, who said she LOVED me, could treat me this way.

I understand now though.

Women don't love you. They love the IDEA of you. They love your STRENGTH. They love what you DO for them. But they don't love you.

I don't blame her and I'm not angry anymore. She, and all other women, are hard-wired to be disgusted by weakness.

TL;DR - Girlfriend gets sick, I take care of her; I get sick and she doesn't care.