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April 6, 2008.  Three years ago today my sweet companion died after suffering from leukemia for three years.  I will love her until the day I die.  I miss her very much.  If you want to see the woman of my life, check her pictures out in the photo section.

Nothing I write here can fully describe Ellen Diltz.  I simply am not eloquent enough to do justice to her memory.  It is sad that you never will have the opportunity to meet such a special person.  She really was a rare one!

Ellen was beautiful inside as well as outside.  She was a devoted Christian who lived her faith by example.  She truly loved her fellow man.  That is why she chose her career field as a nurse.  Ellen was a highly skilled labor and delivery nurse at Baylor Medical Center, but she also seriously considered working in hospice.  She loved the idea of bringing new life into the world, but she believed that she could help in that transition to death.  She thought labor and delivery and hospice were part of the same continuum.  She not only was adored by her colleagues, her patients and their families loved her as well.  At Baylor, they give patient care buttons to staff who get five letters from patients and/or their families.  Ellen received five pins over her 25 year career.

Ellen Diltz was absolutely charismatic!  I fell in love with her on the very first time I met her.  We talked for about three hours that night after my son Jeremy and her daughter Elizabeth introduced us.  I proposed to her the first time just five days later.  She was intelligent, warm hearted and witty woman.  She had a way of blinking her eyes that attracted my attention.  Her laughter, which came often, was like music to my ears.

Ellen was completely devoted and unselfish when it came to her children.  She had two children at home and one in college.  She worked the graveyard shift so she could be with her children during the day.  She got home about 7:30 AM, got her kids off to school, and slept during the day.  If there were school activities for her children during the day, she attended and participated, no matter how little sleep she got.  Although her income fell dramatically following her divorce, Ellen made sure that her daughter Mary had an elegant church wedding and full reception.  She just worked extra hours to make up the difference.  She ensured that her daughter Elizabeth got to attend the University of Texas.  For her son Michael, she made selfless choices that were good for him, but not necessarily for her.

Ellen fell ill in April 2003.  She was diagnosed with ALL-a form of leukemia that is highly deadly for adults.  She attacked the problem with vigor.  She underwent chemotherapy and then radiation treatment, followed by three different bone marrow transplants.  She encouraged the doctors to aggressively treat her.  For example, when they were giving her steroids to suppress the grant-host disease (a reaction to the bone marrow transplant), she told them to back off because she felt it would help her body accept the new bone marrow more completely and quickly.  Because of that, she itched over her entire body and the skin on her fingers and hands cracked..but she was willing to do everything she could to beat her leukemia.

During her illness, Ellen retained her sense of humor and her loving spirit.  She made every birthday of every one of her children special.  She joined in leukemia support organizations.  She remained a passionate and loving companion.

Ellen was my best friend.  I told her all the dark secrets of my life and she never violated my trust.  She was devoted to me as I was to her.  Often one of us would begin a sentence, and the other would complete it.  It was not unusual for someone to stop us at a Wal Mart or in a shopping mall and comment on how obviously we loved each other.

After fighting leukemia very hard for two years, Ellen died peacefully at Baylor Medical Center on April 6, 2005, while a nurse softly sang “It Is Well”.  I will miss her very much!