1998

I have found myself stalling on writing about 1998, even though the year had many good things and for us an exciting ending, but the year itself will forever be etched in our minds as the year we lost Katrina.

I'm sure that everyone who reads this blog will have their own memories of Katrina and some will go back to when she was a child as they do with Dick.    But for me, Katrina and my story started in 1966 when she was still 15 and went through the trauma of her parents splitting up and her father's ultimate marriage to me.    Even with this, somehow we 'clicked' from the beginning and Katrina said that she felt that she had a sister, which she had always wanted.

When Katrina told us about her cancer we were of course devastated, but were very optimistic about the outlook since Hodgkins disease had a high rate of recovery.     She asked me to go with her to the Cancer Center in the Bay area, and a plan of chemo was scheduled.    But after the first treatment, things started to go wrong and it seemed that one bad thing followed another, all made more complicated by the compromised immune system from the therapy and from the disease itself.    During the first three months of that year, Katrina and I spent a lot of time together, she lived with us during certain periods of recovery.     It was during one of these times that she asked me to handle her affairs for her and asked if I would be her Power of Attorney on health matters.     I took it as an enormous compliment and felt that she had put a lot of faith in me.     Little did I know that the full burden of that would come so soon.

But we ultimately lost Katrina on April 10th, and when she was taken off life support, I held her hand, and Joey held the other one, until she took her last breath.   

She will always be a part of my life, and I would like to share my most precious possession from her.    A card that she gave to me on Mother's Day.    It was a simple card, not a mother's day as such, but contained a brooch of an angel and inside she wrote:

Dear Margaret:  On this Mothers Day I wish to say Thank you.    I know this is not the traditional "Mother Day" card but it says what I feel most in my heart.    You have been a friend when I have needed one.    You have been there in my ups and downs & every crazy thing in between.   I just want you to know I love you & appreciate you & want to say,    Thankyou for being you, Love Katrina.