We had a doctor here in P.T. whose wife had their third child and had to get blood transfusions. She was a public nurse. She developed AIDS, and died within 2 years. She was 39.
I remember seeing her downtown during her last months and I could see that she was taking it all in, saying goodbye. As she progressed and stayed in bed, the kids would run up to her room every morning and come running back downstairs cheering 'Mom's not dead yet'. They were all under age 5.
It does sound terribly sad, but as it turned out, her husband, our family doctor had gotten back in touch with his college girlfriend who remained his friend during the time he was losing his wife. After his wife died, he and the friend got together, got married after a while, and moved to Oregon. She had three kids also, so the kids had a wonderful woman to be there for them, and a new family.
It was perfect. The wife who died had developed dementia and gave him many months to part from her. He waited a good amount of time before he remarried.
When my daughter was 4-5 she had a little stuffed penguin which she took with her to an appointment.
The doc asked her what its name was and she told him 'Randy Jacobs', which is his name.
