It's Time for the Rest of the Story

Back in 2020, I started this blog to tell the story of our lives as expats in Portugal. Over the course of over two years, I shared our experiences living in Cascais and our travels around Europe. During our time there, we visited 16 countries and enjoyed what was a magical time experiencing life together in this beautiful corner of the world.

Most of you know that life took a dramatic turn early in 2023. The blog posts stopped suddenly in February. In one of the last posts, I referenced that during our stay in Madeira in December of 2022, Will was having a difficult time shaking off a cold and a case of bronchitis. When attempting to find the right course of treatment, tests identified that he had a tumor in his lung. Many more tests (CAT scans, endoscopies, and visits to pulmonologists and other specialists) made it clear that he had lung cancer. Our focus at that time was to clarify the diagnosis and determine the type and stage of his cancer. It took a while, but in April, we learned that he had non-small cell lung cancer that was in both lungs and had spread to his shoulder. So, it was Stage IV. After many discussions, we both decided that we wanted to stay in Portugal to pursue his treatment.

In late May, coincidentally exactly one year ago today, he was hospitalized in Lisbon following a rapid deterioration in his condition. After three weeks in palliative care, Will died on June 14, 2023.

Over the next few days, I am going to add blog posts that tell the rest of the story. That story included several more trips and visits from Meagan and Carolyn and other dear friends. Doing this now -- long overdue, I know -- is therapeutic for me. Over the past year, I have assured friends that while his last few months were challenging but that we continued to explore and had wonderful trips and experiences right up until his hospitalization. We loved our nightly conversations on our balcony overlooking the cliffs by the Atlantic. It turns out that those last few months were particularly precious and I cherish those memories. I hope that sharing these memories will allow me to share those moments with you and that you will find it as comforting as I do.

The story will pick up again in March of last year and I will fill in more details as I progress in chronological order.