Sometimes there are no Words...

 

 Today's date is January 18, 2025. I actually started this blog entry on January 11th.  But I haven't had the heart to finish it.  I will let it stand as it is and continue on down below with an update. To put it mildly January 2025 stinks.

January 11, 2025    ...just so many thoughts and memories. For the past 2 days or so I have pondered what to write in this post, and having sat down and opened this page to actually write..well, I have been sitting here for quite some time, not knowing where to start. So I will just throw some garbled thoughts onto the blank screen here and hope that you can catch the gist and make sense.

My sister-in-law, Deb, passed away 2 days ago; January 9, 2025.  She had been battling ovarian cancer for the past...almost 3 years I believe it had been.  There is much that could be said there about her battle and the ups and downs of it.  But what is most important about it is that throughout it all, the treatments, remission and then the cancer's return and spread, more treatments...throughout it all she retained a faith and positivity that shone for all who knew her to see the love of Christ in her. She never wavered in her faith.

Her passing has left a gaping hole in so many lives. My brother, Dan, had been blessed to have a job he could work from home.  Throughout her cancer journey he was able to stay home, work, and care for her.  They had so many friends who would help transport to Dr visits, or run errands or help where needed.  Their two children, Deanna and Daniel, live close there and have spent as much time with their mother as they possibly could.  


January 18, 2025

Today was the funeral for the husband of the elderly couple I had been caregiving for the past year almost.  He had been diagnosed with some kind of lymphoma cancer, or something, I can't even remember what it was now, back about a year ago or so.  They were told it was treatable,even though he was 85 then, so he went through surgery and a couple rounds of chemo and all.  That was back last winter, because I started going over there to sit with them and help them in late February I believe.  At any rate, over the course of his treatment he indeed was declared cancer-free, but he never did regain his strength or the ability to walk again.  He'd already had congestive heart failure and that just grew steadily worse.  He held out until the day after Christmas 2024, when I was there, and told me he thought he needed to go to the dr.  So his daughter took him.  They kept him a good week, then I believe he came home on hospice.  He passed away this past Wed, January 15th.  I had been there with them on Monday, and then again on Wed.  I left Wednesday afternoon at 3 pm, and we got the notification text from his daughter that he had passed at about 7:30 pm.  He was 86.  His wife is 89, they had been married for 68 years.  Their daughters will take her in with them; one or the other of them.  

So anyway.  In between all of this yeah, January stinks.  And sometimes there are no words to say to describe how badly it stinks to lose family and loved ones. It's all part of living, but not a welcome part. 

I will miss Deb, I will miss going to sit with my couple every week.  But I know that they are both with the Lord, and that I will see them again some day.  And that is what I have to cling to.  I will do what I can to pray for and to help my brother and the grieving families.  

There is not much more to say. 

Comments

Donna. W said…
And the weather certainly isn't helping how anybody feels at the presence. I'm sorry for you losing people you loved.
January 19, 2025 at 6:38 PM
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