On December 1, 2012, Carlton was being a museum guard at a fancy fundraiser at his Palace. When he came home from the event he said “You know that bump on my chest? It ruptured.” That started my worrying. My campaign to get us back to Arlington ASAP to have that thing looked at. My attempts to convince Carlton that sensible people did not go in the ocean when they have an open wound. We didn’t get back to Arlington ASAP, he continued to go in the ocean. We ended up with metastatic squamous cell cancer and a raging life threatening infection. This ended with a massive amount of radiation to his sternum in December 2013. Which weakened his heart. Which is why I am a widow in December 2014.
And, I think it is why I am dealing “so well”. I had 2 years to get ready. The Merkel Cell Carcinoma was just a bonus cancer that showed up in the spring of 2014. If the heart attack hadn’t gotten him the Merkel was waiting to nail him sooner not later.
I found this picture today. I was wondering if the fundraiser was taking place this year. I went to the old website and it was abandoned. But, surprise – there was a picture of Carlton on the header banner. They used a 2012 photo to advertise the 2013 event. There is no 2014 event.