Another Loss...

We've had yet another loss in our family - my favorite great aunt, Pansy, died on Sunday. She lived in Ashland - about 2 1/2 hours from me, so I didn't get to see her before she died. She had a very aggressive form of cancer. Her manor of death was a blessing...they had moved her to hospice and had given her 2-3 days to live at that time. She was in NO pain at all. The nurses kept trying to come in to give her medication for pain, and she kept telling them that she wouldn't take it - she didn't feel bad. She was full of laughter and smiled right up until she passed in her sleep. That is just how I would have wanted to remember her.

I always loved going to spend the night with her when I was a kid. She was SO much fun. She would get out her Atari game system (LOL!) and she would get down in the floor with us and play Frogger for hours on end. She was SO competitive! In the mornings, we would wake up to the smell of a WONDERFUL, HUGE breakfast - eggs, sausage, bacon, grits, toast, muffins, and biscuits - I got to help butter the biscuits every time! That was MY job. Oh...and we can't forget her FAMOUS red-eye gravy!! I will miss her, but I will remember her SO fondly.

In other news...my baby turns FOUR in just 3 days. I can't believe how fast the time has gone!!! She's just such a beautiful, loving, excited, happy, and glowing child. I'm so proud of her. Oh, don't get me wrong...she has my Irish temper, that's for sure, but overall, she's a true joy and just so much fun! Phil has been building her wooden playset that we got her for her birthday in our backyard. Now, she doesn't know what it is yet, as it STILL doesn't quite resemble a playset. Anyway, yesterday, she asked my Mom what Daddy was building in the backyard. Mom told her that she didn't know what it was, and Maddie replied with, "Oh, I know what it is...Daddy's building an exercise thing....but why's he building it outside!?!" :) Nothing gets past this kid.

I go to the Neurologist on Friday...I'm nervous. I just want answers, and I'm so scared that I will never have answers. I have my MRI scans to take to him. Maybe he will be able to tell something as he has never looked directly at the scans themselves. I have a lot to tell him about, that's for sure. I'll report here how it went, as always.

Thanks for reading...and especially THANK YOU for all of your support, phone calls and e-mails that you've all sent when I was feeling down last week. Friendships are the biggest thing that help me get through this! I love you all!!