Happy ending to a terrible story

[Courtesy Flush]

In October '09 I posted this mess of a post while I was in a deep depression over a suicide that I blamed myself for:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=9056471&mesg_id=9056471

The situation was still new at that time, and it got even worse. A few weeks after posting, I learned that my wife is terminally ill with brain cancer. 2009 was officially the worst year of my life. I cried day and night, and googled suicide methods to the point that I'm now way too well acquainted with easy ways to kill myself.

Well, I thought I'd share an update:

First the family from my caseload. The dad got out of prison and failed miserably at holding his life together, so the children were placed with some very nice relatives out of state just this week. They moved into their new home yesterday, and I've added the family to my Facebook friends. I'm now drying my eyes after looking at pictures of the kids playing in the snow, with huge smiles. This is an awesome outcome that I think would make their mother happy.

Update on my wife: Not as great. She's just finishing her 14th month of chemo, but doing very well. All the medical sites I visit tell me that her life expectancy is 3.5 years after diagnosis. But I have come to the conclusion that this is based on outdated data, since everyone I've found on cancer messageboards have told me that they're still going strong with the same disease, after 18 or 20 years. I can hardly find a story of anyone who has died of this, so I'm coming to think of it as a chronic illness, rather than a terminal one. She could live to be 70.

I'm still battling depression over both of these issues, but seeing those kids do so well has given me so much hope.

Thought I'd share.

[Angry Dragon]

1. ............

:hug:

[abq e streeter]

2. Thanks for posting, and prayers and best wishes to you and your wife.

I've battled depression for much of my life too, but I'm very happy that you have seen reason to hope. Sincerely, (if as usual, awkwardly stated), abq e streeter

[rurallib]

3. !!!

thanks for the update!

[abq e streeter]

4. Kicking in the hope more people can see this during the day time; hope you don't mind me doing that

[Tuesday Afternoon]

5. thanks for the update

:hug: