Goodbye Milan

Early this morning, we said goodbye to our kitty.  

We noticed yesterday after I go home from work that she was acting distressed.  It was her lil song and dance for a furball, we thought, and gave her some time to cough it up.  I tried feeding her treats that help with this, but she refused.  I got a few bits down her, much to her annoyance.  I gave up and just watched her.  She'd sit there without moving and then I noticed her breathing wasn't normal this time.  It was the last straw when she raced across the room to pee (yowling in distress, not sure if it was pain or not) and didn't quite make it.  

I packed her up in her carrier and took her to the vet.  She was becoming less responsive.  They did initial tests, x-rays, and nothing showed what she was going through.  The vet suggested blood tests and I agreed.  While taking her blood, they found her bp was 240.  They realized that this was probably a stroke that she was going through.  They gave her bp meds, but which take a long time to take effect.  She was even less responsive now, but there really wasn't much they could do till the blood tests came back from the lab the next morning.   They told me to prepare myself for the worst. I took her home and made sure she was warm and comfortable.  We said our goodbyes and then I waited.  She was deteriorating pretty fast, yowling weirdly, little twitches, labored breathing, but just laying there unable to move.  I knew this was it and hoped it would be fast.

She started to seizure a little more forcefully and I called the vet to bring her in again (they said to if she seizured).  Only a little over an hour had passed since I'd brought her home.  I put her in her carrier and she seizured pretty big a couple of times.  We headed out the door and all was quiet when I put her in the car.  I knew then that she had passed away.  I was afraid to look.  Thank goodness the emergency vet is close.  I walked in in tears and they took her away.  I saw her and its amazing how one look can confirm that she had passed away.  It was almost 1am. We had her cremated and they took a clay print of her paw for me.  

It was so incredibly quick.  I was thankful that I had canceled my sub job for the next day so I could sleep in (as best I could).  Within 9 hours of symptoms, she had died.  She had pain meds as well, but since it was brain hemorrage that she was struggling with, she wouldn't have felt pain anyway.

Our kitty has had mild neurological issues before, mild, unresponsive times (just a few seconds at a time) before, or weird moments of distressed yowling for no apparent reason.  It was never enough to cause any alarm.  We just thought it was kind of silly/annoying. We also found out that she's actually borderline elderly and that she most likely had hypertension the last several years.  When her bp would go up too much, she'd act just a tiny bit weird, I think.  Yesterday, it sky-rocketed and bp medication was either too late or simply ineffective once stroke set in and the bleeding on the brain continued.  Since she had died before the blood tests were analyzed, we just skipped it, so I suppose we don't know for SURE what happened, but its a pretty good guess.

It was a very long hard night for me.  Micah was trying to sleep because he had work the next day, but he's been my rock through this.  He got off work early and bought me orchids and made me food.  This weekend I go to Brinnon with my family and it will be a nice escape.

Milan was our cuddlebug.  She was always up for hugs, kisses, loves, and naps with you.  She LOVED her "peoples" and she loved attention.  She will always have a special place in our hearts. We will always treasure the almost year and a half that we had with her.

Happy Love Day!

Well, it has been a lovely holiday.  Today is a day to celebrate love in my mind at least.  If you don't happen to be a member of a romantic couple, than you will celebrate differently.  There are no limits to love and therefore no wrong or right way to celebrate.

Micah bought me flowers on Sunday (to beat the rush:P).  So, I've already enjoyed that gift.  Then he bought me some gorgeous amber drop earrings with silver filigree.  I'll wear them sometime and take a pic so you all can see.

I bought Micah a Calvin Klein shirt that was 80% off.  Quite proud of myself for that one.  I also bought him some underwear (he needed them) and toffee crunch chocolate (frango brand, totally addictive) and a papyrus card (those are always so classy and cute).

We had a gift card for PF Chang's, so off we went to dinner.  I dressed up and wore my handmade wedding jewelry for the second time.  We had appetizer, drinks, main meal and even a mini dessert and only paid 2 dollars.  :)  Score again!  I did my best to embarass Micah by asking for kisses in public *gasp*.  He's so funny...  We must've been a cute couple today though because all the servers kept walking by and smiling at us. 

They gave us 6 fortune cookies, so I'm sitting here now dunking them into my Earl Grey tea and munching them.  My fortunes so far are:  "You are imaginative in using your skills.  Apply this next week." and "Your efforts are budding - results will appear soon".  Can you be any more generic? Ah well, even cliché positivity is still nice now and then.

These days I've been a regular sub, meaning you just accept whatever random job pops up online.  I've taught 4 special ed. classes, 4th and 6th grade so far.  I teach science tomorrow and then math I believe the rest of the week.  I think I've been doing a pretty good job considering, since just walking in and maintaining control and getting the chilluns to learn is a challenge.  Next week is midwinter break though, so I'll be twiddling my thumbs trying to entertain myself.  Perhaps I'll blog more! :P

The only other big thing these days going on is that I've been gaining too much weight.  If I don't curb the weight gain I may have to get a whole new wardrobe, and that's just not something I can afford right now, soooooo, I'm trying to get in shape and eat more reasonable portions.  I'm notoriously sedentary, and considering all the research lately that talks about how being sedentary seriously up your chances of cancer and heart disease, this needs to change.  I spend way too much time at my computer.  I've been playing KINECT Adventures to do my cardio and have bought weights.  I'm just saving up a little more so I can buy a fitness kinect program and then I'll be getting my butt in gear.

Oh!  One last thing, either I'm going to need glasses, or my eyes are so strained from staring at a computer screen that I can't read writing on the whiteboard very well at all if I'm in the back of a classroom.  I'll have to do some research to see if its actually nearsightedness or eye strain.

Well, I'm off to bed to read and hopefully give my eyes something different to look at.

I'd love to hear how all of you spent your Love Day!



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read: Cold Mage
taste: Earl Grey tea
see:  too much of my computer screen, evidentally
hear: Micah playing Terraria
smell: Our citrus candle (smells like raspberries to me interestingly though)
touch: fortune cookies!
think: my hubby is a sweetie
feel:  reasonably content, just need to exercise and spend less time on fb/blogs/interest/pinterest
via

1st Anniversary

There are my dock pictures, in honor of the dock pictures that I had hoped to have for my wedding, but the weather refused to cooperate.  Such is life. 

For our anniversary, we went out to Brinnon, WA (the wedding location) with some friends.  We had a lovely time playing games, eating good food, watching MASH, just hanging loose.  Then our good friend Laura snapped the pics above for posterity's sake. :)  And now a small letter to my handsome hubby:

Well, my dearest Micah,

We have made it one year already and it seemed to fly by.

I am still so thrilled to be spending my life with such a wonderful person.

You are hardworking, honest, caring, generous, patient, just to list a few.

We have made a happy home for ourselves and the cat.

I so look forward to our years together, whatever they may bring.

Though I'm sure they will bring much love and happiness.

I love you more than life itself.  Happy Anniversary

Love,

Your lover and wife

G's Wedding!

So, I wanted to do a post about Jeanna's wedding (affectionately called "G" by Annea and I), but I've waited until now until I got some pictures.  I did not take pictures myself as I didn't want to worry about anything other than being the matron of honor and being of service to G.

But, it was so lovely.  It poured rain early in the morning, so I think we were all a twinge worried, but it cleared off and was nice and sunny for the ceremony with a cool breeze.  Later, the wind picked up and got really chilly, but we were mostly inside for the reception.

Jeanna and Kyle Hardesty

The wedding coordinator also did all the flowers and decor.  Everything turned out just lovely, especially the bride's bouquet.

The pretty ceremony location.

Her fantastic dress with her gorgeous train.  The dress is a story in and of itself.  Annea, G, and I went wedding dress shopping and when G tried on this dress, Naynay (her affectionate nickname) sprouted and tear and that was that.  That had to be the dress.  But, G still had plenty of time and went out on her own again and found another dress that she bought after being somewhat manhandled into it.  It wasn't nearly as pretty, needed cleaning and repairs.  G decided to go for the original dress after all and ordered online.  She recieved a completely different dress!  Finally, with Kyle's helped they returned and re-ordered the RIGHT dress through a more reliable company.  It was a perfect fit, with only hemming needed.  Alls well that ends well. :)

The entire wedding party plus parents.  I don't have one yet of just the wedding party, but we sure look nice don't we?

A very lovely, passionate kiss, which is saying something for this rather shy couple that avoids even mild forms of PDA like the plague. :P

Anna, Monica (both the groom's sisters), me (matron of honor), Annea (maid of honor)

Jeanna with her new in-laws.  I just love this picture because its so joyful. (Evidentally something hilarious was going on)

Jeanna, her groom, and bridesmaids.

I walked out with Andrew, a young man I knew from 3rd grade.  It's a small world.

My handsome hubby, although a little tired.  He played cello for the quartet and had the early morning shift as well.

My lovely sister and her hubby, Derek.

Me bawling my eyes out after we gave our toasts.  We love you sooo so much G.

Photos in the getaway car.

Isn't she just the cutest thing?

And sealed with a kiss.

My own lovely wedding was one year ago and one day.  Another post of that coming up as we did snap a few pics of the occasion.