His ship has sailed; raise a glass to the Captain

My husband and best friend Stephen passed peacefully Friday night with his close family by his side after a long battle with Stage IVb esophageal adenocarcinoma due to Barrett's esophagus/acid reflux with mets to the lungs.
We all admire his courage, dignity and grace throughout this entire year. He fought this disease on his own terms right from the get-go.
When he found out in October that he had mets to lungs, he immediately booked a 6-week trip to the Florida Keys to a cottage with a sailboat. His friends and family joined him during this time, I got down for 3 weeks and the kids for the week of Thanksgiving. Friends made plans and flew down to spend quality "Steve" time. His doctor told him it was a brave and gutsy thing to do, and sent him with good wishes.
All Steve's choices were his own: The decision to take his good health and enjoy himself in the Keys, his decision for us to have a honeymoon week in Aruba in January. When we got back, he decided then to do the Big Cannons of chemo.
Enduring 6 sessions of one mix of chemo, he had to switch to another Big Cannon mix. Two sessions of that and he'd had enough. The results were only moderate: stable with perhaps a tiny amount of tumor shrinkage. The side effects had become too much.
Although the chemo regimen didn't offer the great results we had hoped for, it did allow us a pause in disease progression and some great sailing time during end May to end June. Late June found him unable to swallow his own saliva, so he opted for a stent, which gave him immediate relief and allowed him to eat and drink right up to the end. July found that the lungs were showing disease progression, and he had to go on home oxygen. Still, we got in some sailing time with the oxygen, but then it became too difficult for him to breathe in the hot summertime air, so it became necessary for him to remain indoors starting that first week of July. By end July, he opted to go to Hospice House, where the nursing staff gave him such a measure of relief that Steve picked up his art supplies and spent his time painting and using his graphics programs on his laptop. I can't say enough about Hospice House and their entire philosophy about having the resident be in charge of their own care, if they are able. Steve called all the shots right up til the last couple of days, when he slipped to sleep and eventually slipped away. But just like in the movies, which Steve loved, he got the chance to awake Wednesday night and spend a few minutes with each of his children, giving them his blessing and advice on life, and how proud he was of each of them. It was truly beautiful, and something they will carry with them for the rest of his life. After his evening of being awake, he told me "it's time to go, it's time", and he allowed himself to relax and let his body do what had to be done.
We are so thankful for the time we spent with him, and feel privileged that we were able to be there tending to him, especially in these past weeks. He made it easy for us, always with his beautiful smile and pleasant words to everyone who met him, be it his family, the nurses or the cleaning lady.
A true gentleman and wonderful human being.
Jo-Ann