Deep Regret - January 6

It is with deep regret that I finally posted this. I have been avoiding this for most of this week. Syd is no longer able to do Chemo and has transitioned to hospice care. While the outcome is incredibly sad and she has fought for so many years to overcome the odds, this final phase has given us some bonus time to say our farewells.

She is incredibly loved and, while even in this weakened state, she has been entertaining her many friends from all aspects of her many lives. If you would like to see her contact me and I will tell you where she ends up because she will most likely change facilities tomorrow. Please send photos or if you want to say something in a video I will show it to her. She is quite alert but can’t really have phone calls. Her spirits are quite high. I had a close friend call to console me and he was having trouble getting his words out. At one point, he remarked: “I feel more broken up than you.” I explained, “the experience has been strangely fun. The stories she has been reliving with everyone are hilarious. There is a lot of laughter coming from that room. If you have ever heard Syd’s cackle, it is magical.

If you would like to share a picture of you with her, please send them to me. She has a Frameo digital frame by her bed and there is a constant loop of pics.

(Note: Thanks to the roughly hundred people who made the journey and came to visit her. I believe she was able to recognize everyone that came. If you sent in a video, I played it for her and she was grateful. If you sent pictures to her Frameo, it was by her bed side until the end. It was every bit the slow motion tragedy of an anticipated tsunami or hurricane. We had all the time in the world to hunker down and say goodbye. There were many days when I left and thought to myself, "I guess that is the last time I will hear her voice, and then to my surprise, I got a phone call from the hospital land line and it was her--She thought she was in a hotel but the "friendly staff" had helped her contact me. She told me she loved me and I resigned myself to the fact that she was gone. Imagine my surprise when I returned the next day and she was alert and waiting for me. Most days we listened to playlists I had made for her through the years). I described it as the strangest vacation I had ever had. I still went into work for part of each day--Believe me when I say being on the water was a welcome therapy.