I started this piece very shortly after Mom passed away. It was hard too write and even harder to revisit to actually finish it up. I can't say I have reread the whole piece, but I think it's ok, and I want to share it with some people who have been important to me and my mother. I have also posted a brief slide show, which you are welcome to view on BarrettPhoto.us. Following is what I wrote late last year...
Barbara Ann Barrett — Born April 13, 1933, quietly passed away in her sleep from cancer on August 19, 2016, at about 7:05am. That is how I began her obituary posted on Adams-Green website. Quietly passed away in her sleep sounds like an euphemism, a wishful memory of what might have been, but in my mother’s case, it is remarkably accurate, though brief description of the event. I want to expand on that, provide a few more details from my memory for my memory, so that I can clearly, accurately, recall the related events that preceded it.
Mom’s battle with rectal cancer began in the fall of 2013 at the same time I had a life threatening health crisis. My intrepid wife had us both in the hospital, different hospitals, shuttling between to oversee our care. Mom’s doctors, unsurprisingly suggested a witches brew of chemo, radiology and surgical treatments, steps that might stop the disease but with a high cost in side effects and life altering changes.
