Darrell

Thank you for all of your beautiful messages. It's clear to me that you are all very special people. I was wondering if you have had trouble staying in your house/apartment after your spouse's/partner's passing, especially if it was just you and your spouse/partner living there? I'm at my parent's place right now... I'm dreading the move back to the apartment. What has been your experience with this? Thanks.

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I'm here for another outlet... Although I have support from friends and family, I think getting support from people who have already gone through something similar will help me a little more. I've shed a million tears over the past several days, and I have no doubt I'll shed a million more in the coming days. On New Year's Eve, I lost my girlfriend... She suffered from a rare genetic heart disorder (1 in a million people have it). It's called Familial Hypercholesterolemia. 1 in 500 people have the heterozygous form, while 1 in a million have the worse, homozygous form... Andrea was unfortunate and had the homozygous form. On December 16th, Andrea suffered a mild heart attack... On the 21st, she had an angio to get a better idea of what was going on. They determined that she needed a triple bypass and valve replacement, and that was done on Dec 29th. She seemed to be doing well, but then had complications and passed away on Dec 31st. I feel so many emotions right now. I'm sad, because I've lost my best friend of 8 years... Everyone said we were the exact same person, and we were the perfect match, and we were. We shared so many common interests, it was crazy. In the future, whenever I do anything, I'll be reminded of her, because we did everything together. This is good and bad... I want to remember her, but I fear that I'll never be able to get back to normal if everything I do reminds me of her. I feel guilt... She fought so hard for what most people take for granted. She just wanted to live a normal life, but couldn't. Leading up to her surgery, I convinced her and myself that she would be OK... That this surgery would help her become a new woman... The woman who she wanted to be. That didn't happen, and although I know I had no control over it, I feel guilt for convincing her that everything was going to be OK. I feel scared and confused... Everything has changed so quickly... My whole world has been turned upside down. I don't know how I'm going to rebuild my life right now, without being with her. I can't believe she's gone, this just doesn't seem real. Darrell