Craig’s death ceremony pictures

Craig Sowle

Dec 8, 1960 - Dec 18, 2018

RIP CRAIG, MY BEAUTIFUL HUSBAND

I had bad news today  My beautiful husband Craig had passed away Tuesday morning 18th December 2018.  I am having a hard time moving forward and living without him now.  I’m very much heartbroken because I have been taking care of him since his nervous system attacked his body about 5 years ago.  He was in Letterkenny Hospital for 2 weeks because he had been having headaches.

I was going to view a house in Killea (Ireland) and after the viewing (it was raining out too) I got the call from Galway hospital since he was going down there to get a stent put in.  He wasn’t feeling well and kept going in and out of consciousness and then his heart stopped.  They used CPR for 50 minutes and then stopped.

I called a couple of my aunts because I was heading back at home in letterkenny.  I didn’t know what to do either go Letterkenny or Derry to be with family and friends.  So I chosen Derry because I didn’t want to be alone.  I went to my friend Lorraine’s work and have a talk and some tea.

At Lorraine’s work I tried everything to get in touch with my family and my uncle Joe said he will pick me up.  OMG I’m soo depressed and devastated.  I’m freaking out.

I'm in Galway

Got messages on skype that Craig needed me down in Galway so I took the next bus out there which was last Friday evening.  I was starting to get scared.  He was in the HDU (High Dependency Unit) where he was hooked up in the machine, and tube through his nose.

I ended up staying at the hospital that night and slept out in the hallway waiting room.  The next morning quickly looked at a B&B but took the first that was available for 3 days.  Had to dip into the savings.  He was eventually transferred to St Teresas Ward.  When the 3 days were up I told him that I had to leave to go back up to Letterkenny.  He started to get emotional because it meant that he was going to be alone.  I told him that I will dip into savings again to spend another 3 days in the same B&B (Abbey Lodge) so he was relieved about that.

Update on Craig

Craig's in Galway hospital

I tell ya, this has been the longest time that I have been without Craig because he has been in hospital, 13 full weeks this year he has been in there so far.  And now he is in Galway for who knows how long he will be in there for.  I'm getting tired and depressed all the time he is away.  A friend of mine tell me that I should had gone down with him.  Its not that easy when you have to rent a room at the hotel for who knows how long he will be in hospital for, so I have to wait at the house.  If I had the money I would be down there, just can't afford it.  Perhaps whenever he is finished there they could take him home.

He knows that I don't like being alone.  I've been so used to being around him 24/7 for taking care of him that I got used to that and now he's not around I have to live on my own for a while until whenever he gets home.  To be honest, I miss seeing him around.  I'm so tired of seeing him going into the hospital and wish they would just help him and stop pumping him with antibiotics because they will wear off.  I am not sure what will happen after the antibiotics stops working to the person.  All I want is to have his life back and we could do things we used to do.

Another trip to the hospital

Its been a bumpy road so far this year for the both of us.  Craig is landed in the hospital as of a weekend and a half ago.  So I have been going back and forth visiting him every day.  He was having breathing problems again.  After all the tests which coming out clear they did all they could do.  But I did find out that he has slight pneumonia on his upper right lung.

Tomorrow morning he is being transferred to Galway Hospital where there is a better system there and better bigger machines which they don't have here in Letterkenny.

I am concerned on seeing him go down there on his own by ambulance without my presense.  I wish I could go but we just could not afford a hotel room for the duration and we don't know how long he is staying down in Galway.  So I guess I have to wait and see.  All I want is him to be alright and be home. 

craig back in hospital (video)

He's finally home.

Its been a couple of months since I last blogged.  Update on Craig's visit in the hospital lasted for 10 weeks altogether.  Turned out that he had to get 3 stents put in around his heart.  He had to get that done in Galway.  He does feel a bit better since it was put in.  He did say he doesn't feel as cold as he was before.  Which I think is a good sign.

It tired me out taking trips back and forth to the hospital.  Brought him food for lunch or dinner as well as fruits because hospital food is the same food every day and it did get boring for him.

I couldn't wait for him to get home, not only because he needed to be home and it was a long time in the hospital but I was getting lonely and depressed.  Its been very quiet in the house during his time in the hospital. 

Back in Hospital

Friday I was so happy to see Craig come home from the hospital after being in there for 4 weeks.  When we walked down the corrider in the hospital he had to stop half way to catch his breath.  I knew something was happening.  Perhaps he wasn't ready to be released yet.  We continued to go home.

It was really nice to see him home.  He was happy too.  It was a stressful month that's for sure.  We ended up ordering chinese food since that was what he wanted.

Later on that night he wasn't feeling well.  He started having that weasing sound again.  We both were worried about that was going to happen.  By midnight the ambulance was called and we went to ER to see what was wrong with him.  Turning out he has pneumonia and we both laughed when we found out we were going back to the ward where he left from.  Quite a few nurses weren't nice to him.  It annoys me that they are claiming he got the pneumonia from the time he was discharged to the time he was readmitted to ER.  I think they are trying to hide their asses.

I stayed with Craig from ER until the time he got his bed (12.30am-6.30am).  I was very tired and my eyes were burning.  So we are back to square one him back in Medical 5 in the bed when he left from.  This is very frustrating to him and me.

I stayed until he got all sorted out.  I know he wishes to be home.  He kept apologizing for being in the hospital and would understand if I left him for another person.  That got me upset.  Why would I do that?  We are married.

Waiting is driving me crazy

Craig is still in hospital going on two weeks tomorrow and its frustrating because I can't do anything.  I feel hopeless and I can't make things better on him.  All i could do is take trips back and forth on visiting hours to see him and its burning out my wallet with cab rides.  He knows this too. It wasn't too bad going down there because I walked and it was a nice day out and everything was down hill to Letterkenny Hospital. 

They found out he has a swelling in the back of his eye or something which causing him to have burry vision.  Also they found lung infection.  So he will be in the hospital until the end of the week.  So now they could do something to work on getting him better.   Hopefully he will be out by the end of next week.

He had gone down to Galway on Tuesday and he had panic attack down there because they couldn't find his name in the computer and was strapped down and he was getting hot and sweaty and couldn't breathe and went into panic mode while the ambulance crew went on their lunch break.  But glad he is home safely as I was worried about him being down there.

Can't wait until he gets back home again.

Back in the hospital again he goes

Well Craig has been in hospital all week since Monday due to complications with his breathing in the middle of the night.  We were suppose to go to Galway that day and sleep over at a B&B so he could go to his appointment the next morning.

The hospital had cancelled the appointment and reschedule it for next Tuesday.  I have a feeling that he will still be there and it will be their responsibility to take him down there and back again.  I guess I'm sort of concerned about what will happen there and hoping he doesn't get stranded down there, but like I said, I mean at the end of the day he's their patient and its their responsibility to get him down there and back again.

Since all the tests are coming out clear, they checked his heart rate and there was an extra beat, and they are wondering why that is and also why his legs are swollen like they are. 

Going back and forth to the hospital frustrates me because it means taking cabs back and forth when we could use that money for something else.  So I am trying not to cab it on the way down to the hospital because its down hill.  Try and save money that way.