Chapter 3

In retrospect, Michelle was a joy to our lives and lived a happy life despite her limitations. She was proud of her accomplishments in Special Olympics and other highpoints in her life.

Her competitive spirit and independence were high on her list of character traits.

One of her favorite places was Disneyland and the other attractions in Orlando, Florida like Medieval Times, and Universal Studios. She traveled with us everywhere and was a part of the family in everything that we did. She would always go with me when I went to a movie or shopped for food after I was fully retired right up until the time, she had a small stroke and lost her ability to function normally. That happened around 2013 and caused a change in our lifestyle with her new challenges of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. She lost most of her limited vocabulary and forgot all her sign language. Her appetite was impacted, and she evidenced signs of agoraphobia losing all desire to leave the house or even walk to other rooms. Her sleep cycle was also erratic, and she suffered from sleep apnea and insomnia. We had to find a home visiting doctor which worked out well until he suffered a stroke himself in early 2019.

My wife Dorothea’s health started to fail in February of 2019, and we traveled up to my son’s house in Georgia in March of that year and eventually she was diagnosed with advanced Cancer at the hospital. It was only a short while later that she was placed on hospice care by the doctor, and she passed on the last day of March that same year.

Michelle and I moved into an apartment nearby and were assisted by a healthcare nurse called Penny until November of 2020 when we all moved into a home in Norcross, Georgia where we could look after Michelle at all hours with the assistance of a visiting Home health care PA to check her vitals and other needs. The home health car PA did her blood work each time she visited, and she advised me just after Christmas of 2020 that her readings were at a dangerously low level and she needed hospital care.

My daughter was in the hospital mostly in the ICU unit for twenty days until 15 January 2021 with Hospice care indicated as necessary due to her declining status.

I had mixed feelings at that time because I had not fully accepted the fact that she was starting to shut down her systems. I still had hope that she would recover and get back into a more comfortable quality of life situation despite her obvious signs of decline.

She lasted from 15 January 2021 to 2 April 2021 with the help from the hospice staff and passed on Good Friday only two days before Easter Sunday.

I recently returned to the Funeral Parlor in Cumming, Ga. to give them the outfit for burial purchased by her live-in nurse Penny along with a bunny rabbit and a straw purse with a new box of crayons inside. It was always her cute fetish to purchase a new box each time we went to the store in Florida.

I will visit them on Monday next to view her in the outfit and her burial is set for April 13th in a grave right next to her mother. I am so appreciative to the Veterans Administration for their assistance in these burials of my wife and my daughter. In all honesty, I had never anticipated either of them preceding me out of this world and my sense of solitude has not quite hit me as yet.

Most of all, I must thank Michelle for making me laugh when I was gloomy. She was always happy to make people laugh and she knew just what to do to get them to smile. Her innocence was an inspiration for me to do the right thing in difficult situations and was my constant companion throughout much of my adult life. Perhaps at a later date, I might be able to write something more engrossing to the reader. At the moment, I am just happy to be around to tell you this little bit about her life.