Loss of my wife, my love, mother to our beautiful 2 girls

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It is hard to describe and put into words the loss I feel by the passing of my wonderful wife on November 2nd- we had been together 25 years. 19 years married. From our marriage we had 2 beautiful girls now aged 17 and another aged 14. I am upset at how sudden the death was in the end feeling robbed of another day, another hour, another moment with my precious wife. Although fighting a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer valiantly from 3 years ago I was still not prepared for her passing. Perhaps I just did not accept that she was dying next to me and perhaps she needed the space to “let go” but I feel guilty at not having hugged her one last time and having had more time generally despite having spent time with her at every opportunity for the previous 3 years. Our children miss her all the time and i find it difficult to cope with their grief while coping with my own.She spent her last few hours after having been transferred to a hospice clinging onto life I’m sure to be with us as long as humanly possible. I have great memories however struggle with the loneliness having been with her every day for the past 2.5 years after I stopped working - I would only go in to work around once or twice a month being self employed to keep the business open because I thought one day I may need this work back to return to some sense of normality. Now that my wife has passed away I can’t seem to find the strength to get back to normal life and am struggling to understand what the new normal is. The children have returned to school following her funeral which took place a week after her passing in a hospice she was in just over half a day after she’d arrived. I got angry inside me when the nurse at the hospital said to her that she had to let go and my wife had agreed. I wasn’t ready to accept it. I was queuing messages to family and friends to advise them of the move to the hospice so that it wouldn’t be a shock to them and to arrange the next day of visits when my wife’s breathing had suddenly become more stressed. Having spent the previous 3 nights sleeping cuddling, stroking her, holding her hands with me being in the day bed next to her overnight the whole while at her side in hospital, I felt upset and distressed that during her final hours I hadn’t though I should be grateful while in the hospice I was in a hospital bed at her side with the children thankfully asleep in the same room the last night  I had repositioned her with the help of a nurse and placed a rebreathing oxygen mask compared to a smaller oxygen mask she had been given to make things more comfortable for her from the hospital when I had initially realised she was stressed and the nurse was due to return again but as her breathing relaxed I heard her breathing stop - the shock of seeing her head slumped to the side with the mask not inflating was dreadful. I called the nurses who asked me to wake the children and I held the hand of my wife as her breathing and pulse slowed and she turned her head towards the children blinking as we cried how much we loved her. The guilt I feel at not having held her more in those final hours is immense. The children have times when they are very quiet and teary and although I do my best to cuddle and console them I worry for them. At the same time my grief makes me numb and overtakes my ability to feel much other than sadness and loneliness. We are grateful to have had her for so much time but the pain i feel is immense. I still wake every night at the time of her passing over 2 weeks ago and my youngest daughter is still sleeping in my bed alongside me. The eldest is more quiet and sleeps in her bedroom because t goes through quiet reflective phases and is meeting with a friend from time to time and appears to be coping better though I still worry about her as well. Grief has left a huge hole in me and our daughters. I pray that the grief will pass but struggle so much to come to terms with the loss of my wonderful wife and mother to our children. I have been visiting her grave every day and worry that I will miss a day. I also worry the effect my grief will have on the children so try to hide some of my own grief at times. I pray for peace and some relief from grief following this terrible loss 

  • Hi Family Man welcome to the forum. Words are futile at a time like this and I send sincere condolences to you and your family. You maybe need to be gentler on yourself as you sound like you have been a loving husband and also a loving father, trying to keep his head above the water in the most challenging of circumstances. I hope it may be of some comfort to know that others are thinking of you and sending some much needed hugs. If you felt that you wanted to chat with someone in person then do think about giving the Macmillan Line a call as they are good listeners. 08088080000. 

    gail

     
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  • Don’t worry that you aren’t doing the right thing by the children. You will all grieve together. And in time things will get better, together. But for now, do what you have to do. It will become less intense over time. My heart goes out to you. Heart️

  • Hello Family man,

    I have been away from all forum's for a while, returning today and just looking through to see if there is anything that I might be able to respond to, when I came upon your post, my sincere condolences to you and your daughter at the loss of this amazing Lady, Wife and Mother, whom you all love so deeply. 

    On reading I thought, that you are, at the time of writing your post above, being so extremely hard on yourself, 25 years of love, life and memories, contained in your mind and heart, and now the lost plans and dreams of all of you without this extremely special lady, is going to be tough, grief is not a passing moment, it can be endless, but somehow we wake, move through the day and then try to sleep, until somehow our new normal begins to appear, but our loss is still real and our hearts are still broken. 

    I do hope that you find that you and your girls all find time for each other, to talk, to remember good, fun loving memories and to grieve.

    Every part of every day moving forwards will be one step at a time, please give yourself that time, and some self-love, you are entitled to your time and no matter how your grief affects others, it is your grief and your loss that you are having to deal with, whilst still being there as Dad, emotional support and friend. 

    Take Care of you 

    Lowe'

    Call the helpline for free on 08088080000, 8am to 8pm everyday.
    Tomorrow is not promised but it always has potential. Aim for your potential!