Next Wednesday will mark the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death.  I can remember the moment that the world found out, as Marissa had the worst case of Chicken Pox and I was up all night with her.  She was seven and delicious with nary a complaint, and I held her extra tight when programming was interrupted to say that the world’s Princess had died.  The paparazzi had been chasing her, as they always did, to get pictures of her with her rebellious beau, Dodi Fayed.  She was 36, her boys were 12 and 15, and she could never outrun her demons.  Beautiful, beloved, and benevolent, she, like I, didn’t have much self-love.  And, to further compare, we were each married to somebody who used that deficiency to his advantage.

That awful case of Chicken Pox would prove nothing compared to the health issues Marissa would eventually face.  This beautiful warrior endured 8 surgeries, 13 hospital stays, and 85 days and nights in the hospital from the Ulcerative Colitis that would eventually claim her colon.  She wore a bag for a year, including her junior year of college, and though there was exponential physical pain and emotional pain, my Princess, whose side I never left throughout the entire 8 year nightmare, graduated from college, went on to P.A. School, got married, and is now a successful Physician Assistant with a daughter of her own.  I only saw the college graduation and the first 6 months of P.A. School.

I am attaching the link to the blog I wrote during Marissa’s hospital stays.  It was the perfect way for me to communicate with everybody how my girl was doing.  Marissa wrote it with me, often providing the medical details, and she so looked forward to hearing what everybody wrote.  After her third surgery, when her bag was removed and her j-pouch connected, she even asked me to take her picture pointing to the spot where the bag used to be.

The link to the blog is http://www.marissasurgery.wordpress.com

My first blog post was on July 1st of 2010, and my last was on February 4th of 2014.  Marissa left me for good on February 24th of 2014.  My ex-husband told the judge that I published the entire blog without Marissa’s permission and that I violated her privacy.

I’m not sure much more needs to be said about my ex-husband …