Keep a personal wellness journal on DailyStrength to track your health and communicate with friends. http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:17:31 +0100 DailyStrength RSS 0.11.3.0.6833 (FeedCreator 1.7.2) http://dailystrength.org/images/comprofiler/avatar/44995/1213247820.jpg http://dailystrength.org/people/44995 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/1324855 I've spent the last year working through my grief over the death of my husband, Bob. I've come a long way and spent a lot of emotional and physical energy in working through my grief. I don't know what I should be feeling at this time. My grief has evolved over the past year. I've be... Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:48:53 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/1260320 It's almost the first anniversay of Bob's death. I've been going to a grief counselor and to group grief therapy meetings since last Novemeber. All this grief couselling has help me work through the greif process. It's been very hard, exhausting mental work but I'm making progres... Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:56:41 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/1090017 Sat, 31 May 2008 10:05:39 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/1041379 I've been attending grief therapy group meetings every week and feel like I'm almost addicted to them. I've also been treated for post traumatic stress syndrom by a specialist. These treatments helped tremendously. While going through the process of grieving for Bob, a bunch of other gri... Fri, 09 May 2008 22:57:20 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/1010749 Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:22:27 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/748278 Friday, January 18, 2007I’ve not felt like writing for several months but thought I would check in and catch you up on what’s been going on in my life. I’m moving along in the grief process with the help of a bereavement counselor and a weekly grief therapy support group. Both of t... Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:11:24 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/536925 Friday, October 19, 2007So much has happened since Bob’s death 6 weeks ago.My mother has fallen and broken her leg, both the tibia and fibula down near her ankle. She had surgery with the use of a plate and screws and pins to put the bones back together again. She is now in a rehab/nursing hom... Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:34:26 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/474061 Late Sunday evening: My BIL called back. He has spoken with his nephew, Bob’s oldest son, and told him that he and his siblings absolutely shouldn’t bury Bob in a national cemetery. He actually did tell him that Bob would come back and haunt them if they did. The son finally agreed and n... Sun, 23 Sep 2007 23:05:12 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/473656 Today I went through Bob’s remaining clothes, those that his daughters didn’t take, bagged them up and now they are in the back of my car to be taken to Goodwill. It’s still hard to wrap my brain around the fact that he will no longer need his things; his shoes, boxer shorts, socks... Sun, 23 Sep 2007 20:13:59 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/462876 This past weekend Bob’s two daughters came to go through Bob’s things. As expected, they were a bit obnoxious. I was involved in a Heritage Festival at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway all day Saturday and Sunday so I had told the daughters to come by as soon as they got to ... Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:14:15 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/443375 I received a phone call last evening that was both comforting and very disturbing. The wife of another resident at the memory care facility called to tell me her husband had just died. She and I had spent a short time talking one day while sitting with our husbands in the facility’s garden. We... Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:19:48 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/437304 I don’t know where to begin: I’ve been going through the motions of a normal life but I’m really completely in a fog.On Wednesday I picked up Bob’s ashes from the crematorium. That was not easy! I told Bob’s kids that they could have his ashes and they could have their ... Sat, 08 Sep 2007 19:22:59 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/423811 Last night I kept dreaming and/or almost waking up thinking that I was still with Bob while he was dying and somehow I couldn’t find him or hear him struggling to breath. I was so confused all night then very relieved this morning to realize it was no longer real. I guess with time my disturbi... Mon, 03 Sep 2007 13:50:31 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/421923 This morning I drove over to my son’s hotel and we had breakfast together before he had to leave for his home. Then I went to the memory care facility and packed up Bob’s belongings. I was able to tell the staff members how much I appreciated all the wonderful care they gave him.After I ... Sun, 02 Sep 2007 17:31:50 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/420339 I want to thank all of you for your prayers and messages of support. At this time I’m just not up to answering each of you individually.I am OK. I can look back and feel good about my life with Bob. I feel good about all my decisions concerning Bob’s care and I have absolutely no regrets... Sat, 01 Sep 2007 22:36:15 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/416996 Bob passed away peacefully this morning at the Hospice Solace Center.  He was transferred there yesterday morning from the hospital. Everything was very quiet and peaceful. Three of his children and my son were there. I was holding his hand when he took his last breath.He will be cremated tomor... Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:46:03 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/406017 5 pm - Bob has not died yet and they can’t give me any kind of accurate time line. He has not spoken or even opened his eyes since Saturday night. The doctors think he could have colon cancer. A tumor would explain the recent weight loss and the bowel obstuction.His kids are driving me nuts. T... Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:19:36 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/401773 1 AM - I’ve just made the hardest decision of my life but it is absolutely the only decision I could possibly make.Bob’s condition took a huge turn for the worst today. He has multiple medical problems: his abdomen distension is not an impaction, it is gas and getting worse and they don... Sun, 26 Aug 2007 01:15:33 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/400133 Yesterday Bob was taken by ambulance to the hospital at 10 am. He came in through the ER and there is where we waited until he finally got to his room at 5 pm. His belly has become much more distended, looks like he swallowed a basketball. All they have done so far is give him Fleets enemas every 6 ... Sat, 25 Aug 2007 09:47:54 +0100 http://dailystrength.org/people/44995/journal/396072 I spent most of the day with Bob and he’s really sick. He is being treated for a bowel impaction which is too high up in the distal colon to be broken up manually. The nursing home staff will be giving him a Fleets enema and Go Lightly to drink.He had this same problem last February and had to... Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:36:26 +0100