Coping with Loss of Wife,Best Friend and Soul Mate

Hi, 

I have been with my beautiful wife for 30 years, and we have 3 beautiful teenage daughters.

My wife has been fighting breast cancer since 2009, with numerous Chemotherapies, natural rememdies, surgery and radiotheraphy - after 4/5 years she was in reammission, and then 9 months later in 2015 it came back harder and faster - she has daily lung drains, and was put on various chemotheraphy drugs and in April 2017 she was deemed stage 4 as it had spread to her spine, liver, kidney, both breasts, neck etc - We thought the worse.

I took 9 months off from work to care for my wife, and in that time I studied Chemotherapy treatments, wrote to Pharmecetical firms, and went through weekly blood results in order to do anything I could to save my beloved wifes life.

With my research I was also able to push the Oncologists and talk to them on a 1-2-1 level (even my wife said it was like 2 Oncologists where in the room !) - and I was the one who discovered why my wife had rejected the Chemotherapy in the first place due to her Albumin levels where very low.

Armed with Blood results every week, checking white cells, B12, Albumin I was able to tailor my wifes diet and she was able to have the chemotheraphy week on week.

Working together we managed to keep her alive for another 9 months, however sadly it caught up with her and she died in December 2017 just after Christmas.

Althought this is still very raw, I miss her every day, and have 3-4 breakdowns a day, constant crying, longing, and yearning for my wife - I wear her perfume and jewellery and still sleep with her dressing gown and have kept the house exactly as she left it so ther are no changes "when she returns home"

In 30 years we were together, we were only away from each other for 2 weeks, and we were more than Husband and Wife, she was my soul mate, best friend, we were a unit, we held hands, told each other we loved each other everyday, and I wanted no one else - she was my everything and the only thing in my life I was ever afraid of losing.

I still cry in pain that this could happen to someone so beautiful, and I have had the phases of grief doubt, and anger.

I hate the cliches, "be strong for the children" but how can I when I am not strong for myself, and the girls are teenagers, they are in their rooms talking to their friends, or boyfriends, and I am left on my own - the girls will grow up and I will walk the rest of my time on this earth without my beloved.

I particularly like the "it will get better after the funeral" this I can tell you is ********* ! it has got worse - I have more crying breakdowns, even when I go to places that me and my wife visited I hyper ventilate and freeze on the spot.

Yes I have couselling, but everyday the pain intesifies as does the emptiness and hollowness inside.

I am told I did all I could for my beautiful wife, and I would give everything I own just to have her back with me again.

I wanted to share my story, with others and I read a statistic once that said "75 men a day under the age of 50 are made widowers" and now I am in that statistic.

I am finding it hard to cope everyday, and it feels like my head is caving in with all the tears and emotions - I assume I am not alone

Simon 

Parents
  • Hi Simon

    I have just read your original post and it could have been me that composed it. My beautiful wife died two weeks ago of metestatic breast cancer after a brave nine year fight during which she never complained once.

    We had been together for 46 years and we loved each other for every day of that duration. Now my life is empty and the emotions are uncontrollable. The pain and the numerous daily crying breakdowns which are triggered even by looking at a photo of her, is my daily norm. I am swamped by all the questions I never asked her and I feel immense guilt but not sure why.

    I have never been in such a bereavement situation before and I could never have imagined how bad it could be. I know that my wife would want me to be happy after her passing but at the moment I cannot imagine that ever happening. The feeling of loss is overwhelming.

    Martin

  • Hello Simon

    May I begin by apologising, I'm new to cancer chat & have noted that you began this string a few years back, but reading almost evey post on this site i've found your experience is so similar to that of my own.

    My "best friend & soul mate" is exactly the description that i now describe my wife, but how I wish I had told her whilst she was alive how much I loved her. Sadly Lynn passed away 12 weeks ago with bowel and bladder cancer but in reality it had also spread throughout her body. In August '19 she was playing with our grandchildren on a beach yet in March '20 I was arranging her funeral. These past months, weeks and days have been a blur. I have no will to get up in the mornings, I have no wish to go to bed, I don't have an apitite, I don't want to speak to anyone, I have no ability to concentrate on anything, I breakdown for no reason and I feel guilty that it should have been me & not my wife which died. 

    We were together for 48 years and married for 45 of these. For all of this time her only stay in hospital was for the birth of our children, so how could she have no indication whatsoever that a water infection be diagnosed as cancer?

    Radiotherapy was perscribed to eliviate pain in her hip, chemo followed which didn't agree with Lynn. She experienced problems with her calcium levels, constantly had infections and generally was feeling unwell. Her health continuded to go downhill rapidly to the point where she needed overnight stays in our local hospital.  Her consultant thought a break in treatment and/or a change to the form of chemo she was given may help, but the pain returned to her hip but now it was also in her neck, shoulder and back.

    CT, Ultrasound and Xrays were given to Lynn but they proved she wasn't getting over cancer but being beaten by it. The consultant had the horrendous job of telling us that she only had a few weeks & was withdrawing her treatment.

    We were fortunate that the hospital gave our details to our local hospice where the units consultant suggested Lynn should be "stableised". Within a few days the doctors appeared to have her general pain under control although this was via an automatic pump and any additional relief came from nasal spays, injections or tablets. We began looking to to have Lynn come home where nursing care was arranged, but Lynn continued to deteriorate. Daily the amount and type of drugs within the automatic dispencer was changed to allow Lynn some comfort. Before long we were told she had just days to live. My daughter flew from Melbourne & together with my son we lived/slept in the same bedroom as Lynn. Lynn's eyes were closed but she continuded to battle on for 3 days, but just before midnight her breathing stopped.

    Like previous writers in this string I had prior knowledge of bereavement as my farther, mother & my sister have passed but although upset I haven't experienced the feeling of depression previously. The restrictions coronavirus on my meeting anyone has only increased my feeling of isolation.

    Being lost is an understatement

    Allan 

     

Reply
  • Hello Simon

    May I begin by apologising, I'm new to cancer chat & have noted that you began this string a few years back, but reading almost evey post on this site i've found your experience is so similar to that of my own.

    My "best friend & soul mate" is exactly the description that i now describe my wife, but how I wish I had told her whilst she was alive how much I loved her. Sadly Lynn passed away 12 weeks ago with bowel and bladder cancer but in reality it had also spread throughout her body. In August '19 she was playing with our grandchildren on a beach yet in March '20 I was arranging her funeral. These past months, weeks and days have been a blur. I have no will to get up in the mornings, I have no wish to go to bed, I don't have an apitite, I don't want to speak to anyone, I have no ability to concentrate on anything, I breakdown for no reason and I feel guilty that it should have been me & not my wife which died. 

    We were together for 48 years and married for 45 of these. For all of this time her only stay in hospital was for the birth of our children, so how could she have no indication whatsoever that a water infection be diagnosed as cancer?

    Radiotherapy was perscribed to eliviate pain in her hip, chemo followed which didn't agree with Lynn. She experienced problems with her calcium levels, constantly had infections and generally was feeling unwell. Her health continuded to go downhill rapidly to the point where she needed overnight stays in our local hospital.  Her consultant thought a break in treatment and/or a change to the form of chemo she was given may help, but the pain returned to her hip but now it was also in her neck, shoulder and back.

    CT, Ultrasound and Xrays were given to Lynn but they proved she wasn't getting over cancer but being beaten by it. The consultant had the horrendous job of telling us that she only had a few weeks & was withdrawing her treatment.

    We were fortunate that the hospital gave our details to our local hospice where the units consultant suggested Lynn should be "stableised". Within a few days the doctors appeared to have her general pain under control although this was via an automatic pump and any additional relief came from nasal spays, injections or tablets. We began looking to to have Lynn come home where nursing care was arranged, but Lynn continued to deteriorate. Daily the amount and type of drugs within the automatic dispencer was changed to allow Lynn some comfort. Before long we were told she had just days to live. My daughter flew from Melbourne & together with my son we lived/slept in the same bedroom as Lynn. Lynn's eyes were closed but she continuded to battle on for 3 days, but just before midnight her breathing stopped.

    Like previous writers in this string I had prior knowledge of bereavement as my farther, mother & my sister have passed but although upset I haven't experienced the feeling of depression previously. The restrictions coronavirus on my meeting anyone has only increased my feeling of isolation.

    Being lost is an understatement

    Allan 

     

Children
  • Hello Allan

    That was a hard and tearful read, I'm sure it must have been stressful to write. I understand what you are going through and everything must seem like a blur. Does life seem surreal and this is a film you are watching but it is actually real. It's like a bad dream that you are going to wake up from.

    The same devastating thing happend to me and my family 2 years ago yesterday when my wife passed away. But I'm not hear to speak about me. This is all so tragic and you have to somehow try and battle through these dark days, even though there doesn't seem as if there is any light at the end of the tunnel.

    Stay strong

    Chris