Aunt Janet

Our Aunt Janet turned 50 just over a month ago. She spent her birthday in the hospital, recovering from a gangrened-apendectomy. The doctors were amazed at her miraculous recovery; they said things would get worse before they got better and gave her a button to press for pain relief, but she never used it. She felt little to no pain and was back at work in no time! This past Saturday, we had a birthday party for Joanna and Daddy (who unfortunately had to work) and Aunt Janet was so happy, as happy as I've ever seen her.
The next morning, around 6:15, she was taking a shower and collapsed. Later, we found out it was a cardiac arythmia which caused her to pass out and led to cardiac arrest. She stopped breathing for 15 minutes until the paramedics got there. Her heart and lungs were doing okay under the circumstances, but due to lack of oxygen for so long, there was major damage done to her brain stem. After three EEG's (one with a sedative, one weaning her off the sedative, and one completely off the sedative), all with the same results, it was said that she had no brain activity. She passed away Thursday morning around 7:30. She always had touch-and-go heart problems, and had been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure, but to happen so suddenly was (and still is) completely mind-blowing.
She taught high school math for 29 years, most of those at Chamberlain High School. She was always ready to help us with schoolwork, math or otherwise. Have a paper to do and don't know how to go about starting it? "Just do it. Get it done." And she always told the best stories! I don't know what else to write about her, other than it was too soon for her to go; there was so much more that we were going to do!

We love you Aunt Janet! We miss you so much, but we know you're happy in Heaven and we will see you again!

((The picture was taken Saturday night at the party, with Aunt Loraine in the background))

Update!

It's been another long stretch since I've posted. Not that anyone reads this (except Karen because she rocks!), but here's a quick update on life since I last posted:
School's back in. Ugh! But I'm only taking two classes: Baroque and Classic Music History, and Architecture and Decor (which is almost kicking my butt). And I'm only working two, maybe three days a week, so that's not too bad except on the paycheck. I must be on someone's bad side, though, since they are having me work double shifts on the days I do work (like 9:30am to 1am this coming Friday, for example) back to back!
Hopefully, that will be fixed soon and I can get some sleep! Wicked is coming back to Tampa and I'm getting tickets for us through Busch Gardens. I'm so excited! On top of that, Joanna and I are going to see Jack Jones in concert (for $10 a ticket!)! Woohoo!
I may not be making more money at work, but I'm getting my financial situation in order. Always a good thing. I'm dumping a credit card that had an extortionate interest rate and I just got another card with a much better one to transfer most of the balance to. It's a happy day for me when my monthly interest rate fee is less than my minimum payment due.
Two CDs are coming out that I really want to get: Evanescence's "The Open Door" (already out, but I'm saving my pennies for Wicked), and Josh Groban's "Awake" (Nov. 7). The latter CD I will be purchasing the day it comes out! My willpower isn't quite that strong to resist the call of Josh. . .

And on a completely different note, why do animals and children always get the short end of the stick? Our neighbors have the sweetest dog. It's black and is a fairly large breed. They always leave it tied up outside, and the leash they use often gets tangled around the tree it's attached to and the dog gets caught up in it as well. I never see them play with him and he rarely has food or water outside. They treat him so badly and he's such a sweet-tempered dog! There is a chainlink fence between our yards and if he's close enough and there's no one outside, I will often go and pet him or give him a little treat. Whenever he sees me and Joanna, he stands up and his tail just starts going! If it wasn't illegal and we had room in the house, I'd say let's kidnap the little guy and keep him! Unfortunately, we don't have the indoor room (though we have plenty outdoors) and our four cats may mind a little bit, besides the fact that he's already owned and I would be stealing. . . Dang it.
As to our aunts' poor dog, Penny, she is at least 15 years old. She is a Lhasa apso and Daschund mix; she's short, long and has a lot of fur. At this present moment, she is nothing but skin and bones, has patchy fur to say the least, has no appetite, can't go outside by herself (most of the time, can't even move by herself!), and she is nearly completely blind and deaf. She's been having accidents lately, and since she has been unable to move she's been laying in them. They would give her a bath, but they say it would be too much for her. They say she has her good days and her bad days, but to me, they are all bad days! I know they don't want to have to let go of her since they've had her for so long, but they need to do what's best for her! She has to be suffering. Every time I see her, I wonder if it'll be the last time. The poor baby just needs to go to sleep. Why can't they do what's best for her and let her go? :*-(