Hey all. Sorry I haven't been updating, I seem to say that a lot huh? Well, it's true.
Last week we had a family tragedy. I mean it in every sense of the word. Jose's Aunt passed away. It was quite all-of-a-sudden. She went into the hospital Wednesday for congestive heart failure, basically her heart had fluid in it and it stopped. For those who don't know, when they diagnose that they say the patient has no more than five years left. Thursday we went to visit her and she was awake and talking, joking, in fact, about things. We stayed for a couple of hours until she just couldn't stay awake any more and we left, we each said good bye and that was the last any of us were ever to speak to her again.
Friday we were told she had a stroke and was in ICU and she wasn't doing well, in fact they thought she might be paralyzed. If you know, my history with ICU isn't a pleasant one but I went to visit and to be there for Jose who was taking it pretty hard, and still is. Right before we got there she, apparently, had another stroke, a really bad one. We stayed at the hospital and during that time they took her for scans to see if they were able to relieve the pressure that her brain was putting on her skull, causing the brain to push against it. They considered surgery to remove some of the inflamed tissue but decided that it would be too much for her body to handle. We left to get some rest.
Saturday morning Jose was told she was on life support. The family had decided to take her off of it after everyone said their goodbye because the doctor said there wasn't any way she would survive this, her body was too weak. Saturday we spent a lot of time in the ICU room and it is very hard to see someone who is so nice and kind, so helpless and knowing that there would be time very soon she wouldn't be with us anymore. After the family was sure everyone was able to say their goodbyes, even people flew in to see her, they took her off life support. That time after that was a blur but I remember thinking, maybe she'll hold on, maybe she'll surprise us all and wake up and be fine, like I did before, but that isn't what happened, and a few minutes before 7pm she passed away.
She is survived by her husband, two sons, four daughters and seven grandchildren. She will always be remembered as the aunt who cooked the best food and was so kind and forgiving. It truly is a tragedy and we are getting through but I worry about her children. I know what it is like to lose someone you think will always be there so I hope they are able to learn to deal with the sadness that I have, and learn to enjoy the time we have here and with the people that are still around us. Also to know that no matter what she will always be around, in the wind and rain and sunshine. She will be that little voice in their heads telling them how to be and how much she loves them.
On another note, we have been busy with the house and redecorating it. Our completions so far, you ask? The downstairs bathroom - we painted the walls revamped the carpets and all we need is some new hardware but what we have looks good, just not our ideal. The family room - we painted the walls a deep purple, bought a carpet to go over the brick floor in one half and the other half has carpet and only needs a pool table. We bought a new TV stand and hope to buy a flat screen, once things turn around, and we will be obtaining art, pictures of actors, such as Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn & Elvis. In the area with the pool table we will hang the likes of the rat pack and old time gangsters. The back yard - We took down a lot of the ugly trees (we found out they were olive...) on the slope and took out the decking, we will be filling in the pool with some of the dirt from the slope and build a retaining wall to grade the hill back a bit so we have more yard space. We are hoping to pave a bunch of the back yard so we can set up a bar and above ground Jacuzzi but that'll be in a while. We are also wanting to put a wall around the house to secure it and add value to the house.
The dogs are soo big and I am hoping to post pictures of them soon but my computer is being fixed as we speak so its only a matter of days until that is up and running.
My next project you ask? Since we went through all of my mom's boxes I know I have all the photos she ever took. This being the case, I am hoping to be able to start scanning them into the computer, once I figure out how, so we will have digital copies for generations to come. We also plan on taking out a lot of the shrubbery on the slope so we can start the grading.
Live, Laugh, Love
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