On February 1st 2016, Robbie had been in treatment in Oklahoma with MD Anderson coordinating with Robbie’s Dr. His blood counts had dropped dangerously low and even with blood transfusions, they wouldn’t come back up. It was looking like we were losing him, because he couldn’t have further treatments with his blood counts so low….

My mother’s brother Don (Riechers) passed away yesterday. He was the last of her siblings still living. She had 7 brothers. One brother passed away at a couple months old and her youngest brother died at age 3. The rest lived long lives. Her brother Don was a twin. A wonderful and kind man that…

I’m reading more books about grief and I’ve learned that grief can throw your brain into a fight/flight mode, which explains the overreacting I have been experiencing. One coping strategy that I read about is to “Pause, Breathe, and Think” to try to slow your response, calm yourself down, and hopefully engage your brain first….

When my father passed away 17 years ago, I couldn’t understand why my mother lost her filter and would say anything. Although she was known to speak her mind on occasion, this was a whole new level. Now I find myself doing the same thing. I hear myself saying stuff and I wonder where did…

I’m not sure if it is due to the fact we started a new year without Robbie or because his one year anniversary is coming up, but I’m drowning in grief the past week. It impacts everyone around me. I am wondering if this is my new normal and if so, how do I cope…

Our family trip to Costa Rica was two years ago this week. Thanks to the help of many people, Robbie was able to go to Costa Rica and visit the sloth sanctuary and other places of interest. He talked about the trip the rest of his life. We have wonderful memories from our time together…

A year ago today, Robbie and I took our last trip to a bookstore together. He was so weak that we only stayed for a few minutes. You can tell by his picture that he isn’t feeling well. We both love to read and we used to enjoy going to book stores together. They are…