Life Changes~

Yes, the phone call was the Doctor, confirming that Charlie's dad in fact had pancreatic cancer, they thought that when he had been hospitalized original and the diagnosis of Diabetes was given, that in fact at that time it was his pancreatic

I watched Charlie on the phone the  slump of his shoulders and the color drain from his face, I knew.  All I could hear was Charlie saying "okay, okay" "yes, where do we go from here?" how long?"  my heart was breaking, I sat and made small talk with his Dad, he just wanted to go home.  Charlie hung up the phone and then had to tell his Dad the bad news, he took his hand and said "Dad, I'm sorry, but the doctor was right you have cancer"  His Dad said "anything they can do" Charlie said "No Dad" he said, "okay then lets go home"

We drove home in silence taking it all in, as we pulled in the driveway, Charlie said "you ok Dad"? His Dad looked at him and said "we'll at least I got to see the Red Sox win the World Series", for him it was as simple as that, such a gentle man, he just took the information in stride.

We got Charlie's Dad settled and went upstairs, at the same time we both began to cry, at this point I had only seen Charlie cry on most Christmas's eve/mornings, he always missed the kids and it was hard for him,  he hadn't shared those times with the kids since his divorce.  To see him cry is so  hard for me,  I told him we needed to talk to the kids, we called Thomas who was away at school and we told Dan and Bethany then we called other family members, and friends.  Strangely this I was good at, I had to do it when I lost my son at 7 months and when I found out I couldn't have children, I found the strength then and I would find it now.  Goes without saying it was the longest night, neither Charlie or I slept a wink.

The next morning, I took his blood sugar, it was off the chart high, probably from the drink he had for the Ultrasound, I put a call into Dr. Taylor who called me back, sounding very sad, Joe had been his patient for years.  He told me I no longer needed to check his blood sugar and

Joe could have what ever he wanted to eat or drink, at this point with his diagnosis and life expectancy it didn't matter, I just said "oh" and to be honest I think it was truly at that moment that I realized what was actually happening.  I got the kids off to school and Charlie and I took Joe to visit Fran and out to lunch, it was a good day.  His Sister came down the next day and we all talked,  On Monday Hospice was set up to come to the house to evaluate and offer us help and guidance.  I must say that the staff from Hospice and the Kaplan House staff were some of the most amazing people I have ever meet...... We took care of Joe at home for about a week and a half before the level of care he needed became more than we could give him.  One Friday morning I found him on the floor, his legs had given out and he could no longer walk.  On Sunday he was admitted to the Kaplan Hospice house.   We took Fran to see him that Tuesday, he took one look at her and said "there is the love of my life" they held hands for a while said their goodbyes, he sat up and gave her a kiss, sadly Joe passed away the next day with Me, Charlie and Francine at his side.  All our lives have been forever changed.  there is so much more that happened during those 2 weeks, it made me a better person, a better wife, it brought Charlie and I so much closer, which I didn't think was possible.  I learned so much from Joe in the short time he was in my life and I carry it with me to this day. 

Now we can move forward with the rest of my journey...thanks for letting me share~