An Angel Gets Her Wings

Heaven has received an new angel. On Friday, March 8, my beautiful, lively, fun-loving, adventurous wife of 36 years lost her battle with cancer. A few of you knew, most all of you didn’t, and that’s what Regina wanted. This has been a painful, ugly, fight that she did not want to talk about any more than necessary so I have kept her wishes as best I could. What everyone needs to know is that she fought beyond what anyone should have had to endure and quit was not in her vocabulary.

Our Great Loop adventure ended at Herrington Harbor, mid-way up the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. We saw a dermatologist and discovered that Regina had a melanoma on her leg. The doctors advised us to return to Atlanta for treatment which we did at the end of May. Scans, biopsies, doctor visits and tests followed by three surgeries for three different cancers was our summer. In September, additional scans showed that the melanoma had spread and immunotherapy treatments were started. For a while, Regina did all right with the drugs, but in late October she began to get very sick. Doctors treated the symptoms and the results seemed positive, but after the last of the four scheduled double drug infusions, she was hospitalized for a week just before Christmas. While there, scans actually showed the cancer in remission, but the side effect was a severe inflammation of her digestive system.

After that stay, it again seemed that things were better and in January she received the first of what was to be a nine month, bi-weekly, maintenance infusion regiment to complete the immunotherapy. After that day, she had a few good days, but suddenly, quickly began a decline. More scans indicated colitis, diverticulitis and multiple bowel abscesses. Another two weeks in the hospital did little to help and on February 25, I brought her home. Weakened by a weight loss of about 40 pounds over a two month period, she had little strength left and just wanted to be at peace and at home. Hospice was brought in on March 1 to assist and they have provided great comfort.

Before all of this happened, many had asked how we would have a “normal” life after spending a year on a boat. We had ideas about that and planned to start looking for a place to move to for our permanent retirement location. Right now, I don’t know what comes next. Our boat is on the hard in Maryland, halfway through the loop. So there are options to evaluate and decisions to be made at some time in the future. For now, I just have to finish this chapter and try to find the new “normal” without my partner.

“Life gives us only brief moments with another.  But sometimes, in those brief moments, we get memories that last a lifetime.”  Author unknown

“Love is the wind, the tide, the waves, the sunshine.” Henry David Thoreau