I will give you my take, it is better that you found out now, rather than later. If you were the one to get sick later in life, odds are, you would have woke up one morning to find that you had been abandoned. You should be proud to be one of the few that stood up and did the RIGHT THING by taking care of your sick mother! You have my respect, you are a rare person in these times. The pain will eventually go away, but for the rest of your life, you will always know, that when things went south, you stepped up to the plate and did the morally correct thing. Your wife can never say that. "Many are called, but few are chosen". Best of luck!