Death of my wife: Don't know how to move on

Posted by charlieindia @charlieindia, Jul 25, 2020

AM MALE AGED 47 YEARS OLD. I LOST MY WIFE AFTER SHE SUFFERED A STROKE 9 YEARS AGO. SINCE THEN I ALWAYS HAVE A FEELING THAT I NEVER DID ENOUGH TO SAVE HER LIFE. I HAVE FAILED TO DATE BECAUSE I ALWAYS FEEL THAT THE WOMAN I WILL MARRY WILL DIE TOO AND LEAVE ME ALONE. I REALLY DON'T KNOW HOW TO MOVE ON. PLEASE SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Loss & Grief Support Group.

@lilypaws

@charlieindia Thank you for your kind words. See I told you were a wonderful man or you wouldn't have written about my husband and my mom. My dad's name was Charlie. Love to you and healing too. Lets keep connected.

Jump to this post

Hi, Lilypaws. Its amazing how great comforting words can bring healing. I thought i was alone and i never wanted to share my grief with people thinking they will see me to be weak. thanks for the encouraging words you have poured out from your kind heart. i appreciate your precious time to share your experience to uplift my soul.God bless you.

REPLY
@barbbie

I was the primary caregiver for my husband who was first dx with mild cognitive impairment about 15 years ago. As dementia set in, it was difficult to make medical decisions for him. He had non-Hodgekins lymphoma and Afib as well as heart failure. A cardiologist wanted to do surgery to put in a filter to catch blood clots. The hemotologist felt he would have to go back on chemo before any heart surgery.. Having been in a support group at the Alzheimer's Association I saw the results of people who had been hospitalized and that was not good. They never got back to the point they were at before hospitalization.
I knew his anxiety level was high, he had spent two days in the hospital due to being admitted for an irregular heart beat, no surgery. I had told both doctors no for further treatment. At the hospital the hemotologist that saw him suggested I enroll him in a home hospice program which I did. That was the end of August. He died January 2, 2020. As probably all caregivers of people with dementia know, I found it stressful in responding to him because I never knew who I was in his eyes..Sometmes I was his sister, his cousin, some unknown person. The Alzheimer's Association said to get in his world. Not knowing what world that was, I just responded as me. While driving him to an appointment, he said, "I'm so glad Barb isn't driving! When she drives I have to hold on for dear life." What could I do? I just laughed and agreed with him! Being a caregiver is an awesome job but we had talked about wanting to die at home years before and that home hospice program allowed for great home medical care and fulfillment of that desire. I do see a therapist and I have a marvelous PCP helping me through the grieving process but the greatest help for me by far is my spiritual life and dependency on God for comfort and healing. May you open up your faith life to a new level to help you during this time.

Jump to this post

Am sorry Barbbie, my condolences for the painful loss of your dear husband so soon. Thank you for taking your time to share your experience. No words can take away your sorrows. but God will hold you by your hand in all your life. Believing in God has helped me so much without trusting him i would have not been here to share. What an experience of love and sorrow you experienced. You are great woman of virtue who fulfilled the desire of your husband to die at home. He must be proud you wherever he is looking at what you did. Everything happens for a purpose.I will surely open up to another new level of faith. Remember me and my children in your prayers. God bless you and looking forward to know how you are coping up.

REPLY
@lilypaws

@charlieindia I'm so glad you feel better. I noticed Scott sent you a message and it must of helped. You are a great man and I know you will be okay it may just be awhile to go through grieving. And again you did everything you could do and probably did more.

Jump to this post

Hello, Thank you once more for words of love and encouragement. Yes Scott sharing is amazing and it has added a lot of encouragement
i really appreciate this interaction. its helping a lot to know the people you share experiences with. You are indeed a great woman too.God bless you

REPLY

charlieindia I am glad my messages help you. You help me too knowing I have helped you too. I can tell you that you are full of caring, so I know you cared for your wife the best you could. Remember it takes time and it's ok to feel sad or want to cry. I still feel sad about my first husband and good grief it's been 50 years. I can't really believe it. Remember to take care of yourself. It will probably be awhile before you might be interested in another woman, but if you don't that's ok too. Love you, Jeanie I am married.

REPLY
@charlieindia

Am sorry Barbbie, my condolences for the painful loss of your dear husband so soon. Thank you for taking your time to share your experience. No words can take away your sorrows. but God will hold you by your hand in all your life. Believing in God has helped me so much without trusting him i would have not been here to share. What an experience of love and sorrow you experienced. You are great woman of virtue who fulfilled the desire of your husband to die at home. He must be proud you wherever he is looking at what you did. Everything happens for a purpose.I will surely open up to another new level of faith. Remember me and my children in your prayers. God bless you and looking forward to know how you are coping up.

Jump to this post

@charlieindia @barbbie I first wanted to comment to Charlie what a wonderful message you sent to Barbbie. I bless you Barbbie. I know how hard it can be, like I told Charlieindia I lost my first husband in a car accident. I was only 18 and we were married for only 11 days. But it must really hard what you went through. I want to repeat Charlie's words. God is with you and don't do like I did and hated him . but I have been back with him for many years. I will keep you in my thoughts and prays. Charlieindia, I will do the same for you.

REPLY
@lilypaws

@charlieindia @barbbie I first wanted to comment to Charlie what a wonderful message you sent to Barbbie. I bless you Barbbie. I know how hard it can be, like I told Charlieindia I lost my first husband in a car accident. I was only 18 and we were married for only 11 days. But it must really hard what you went through. I want to repeat Charlie's words. God is with you and don't do like I did and hated him . but I have been back with him for many years. I will keep you in my thoughts and prays. Charlieindia, I will do the same for you.

Jump to this post

@charlieindia Thank you for your kind words to me. May God Bless you and Keep you in His hands. You are very special, because you aend messages to everyone that has sent you messages Thank you. Jeanie

REPLY

hello all. been a long time. am doing very fine am living a very happy life now i appreciate all your help it helped me very much. God bless you all

REPLY
@charlieindia

hello all. been a long time. am doing very fine am living a very happy life now i appreciate all your help it helped me very much. God bless you all

Jump to this post

Great to hear you are doing well @charlieindia

REPLY
@charlieindia

hello all. been a long time. am doing very fine am living a very happy life now i appreciate all your help it helped me very much. God bless you all

Jump to this post

@charlieindia Good to hear from you and to know you're doing better. God bless.

REPLY
@lilypaws

@charlieindia I am so sorry for you after the lost of your wife. I know you did everything for her for I can tell you are very loving person.
My experience of death was at age 18. I loved my husband and he ran around a lot, but did marry me, I loved him so much. He died of a car accident only after 11 days of being married and our best friend, who was only a Senior in High school, also died with him. Of course this has been 50 years ago. 1969. They will always be in my heart. My mom commited suicide at age 69. I had lots of counseling.
So is that something you might want to do? It does help. I got remarried in 1971 almost too soon, so don't be in a hurry, but do start being friends with women that attract you. It's not too much of a chance they would die before you. I know it's scary. You may have to see a Psychitrist it wouldn't be bad to start on some medicine, since you do sound depressed. I am on Lexapro, Lamicatal, and klonopin. My family has mental illness in our family..
Even my son who is Bipolar 1 and we have no contact with him There's many things before that could have caused it. Bipolar 1. He had a wife who is controlling, I'm glad she's with him, but I feel that's one reason we no contact. They have an 8 year old daughter, which was born on my birthday. I haven't seen her since she was 3, except for skyping at her grand mothers in Chicago But this year my son and his wife with my granddaughter are not going to Chicago because of the Covid-19. They are both professors, but my son can't teach because of his illness, but his wife is a very successful and got her tenour (SP) at Duke, but live in NYC now and she at Columbia. She even talked my son out of coming to Iowa for hie grandmothers funeral. We can't mail anything to them and have to mail it to the other grandmother in Chicago and she forwards it.to my Marlowe (granddaughter
I'm sorry for talkng so much about me. Take care, You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Jump to this post

@lilypaws your daughter in law is controlling to make herself feel in control.Your son's illness might be all consuming for her. Being highly educated doesn't eliminate the possibility that she is withholding information from you because she is unable to let go at all. Or worse blames you for something that you didn't cause. It may not have been a good idea for him to attend the funeral. He isn't in a good place and she may have too much on her plate to have compassion for you. I would be great if she could communicate with you directly. It just may be too much for her to handle. Have you ever researched bipolar1 I thought it was a gene passed down randomly. Had you ever let her think you thought it was her fault? I can image she's hyper sensitive knowing that she can't fix it. Take care of yourself it's not your burden to carry. Try not to dwell on it. My mother and brother were bipolar. It was horrendous but I survived. Our younger sister on her 69th BD called tell me that she resented me because life was so easy for me. I find that amusing. Stay resolute and survive.

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.