Day 200 APRIL FOOLS DAY

Before I left for work, Patti called the hospice and Lee was still sleeping. They couldn't rouse him and his breathing had gotten shallower and quicker. She told them she would be coming down later and I left for work. When I arrived, there was a message to call her and when I did Patti told me that the Hospice had called her back and told her that Lee had died quietly and peacefully about 8:45. It was over.

I drove home to pick Patti up and we both cried all the way to the Hospice. I think that was the longest drive in my life. I still do not have the words to adequately describe the feeling of dread that I felt as we pulled up to the Hospice. I had no idea what waited for us and I had no idea how I could handle what was coming. I needn't have feared. The Hospice staff, God Bless Them, had Lee laid out as if he were asleep. The psoriasis that had so disfigured and dismayed him had vanished form his face. He was clean, his hair was combed, and he was dressed in one of his good shirts, and he was safely tucked into his bed. He was finally at peace.

Patti and I both had a darned good cry and then with the help of Geri, one of the ACT team who was there to support us, we sorted his few belongings into those we wished to take home, and those that we left with Geri and the Hospice staff to donate where they could do the most good. We said our farewell to Lee, kissed him goodbye for the last time and left.

We went home and called the funeral people to make arrangements. Then with the help of the booze I had picked up on our way home, we cried, held each other tight and somehow managed to get through the rest of the day.

200 days from his admission to St. Paul's Hospital and the beginning of the nightmare journey, Lee was finally at peace. Patti and I still grieve for him, but we take comfort in the belief that Lee is finally that person; that creative, loving son who, always signed his paintings " Free Barrett",

FREE AT LAST !!!

God how we still miss him.