My Aunt Bonnie Died

 

Today....today is a very sad day. I got an early morning phone call from my Mom letting me know that Aunt Bonnie had passed away. She has been battling cancer for awhile now, and has been having some complications. After several rounds of chemotherapy, she started having problems eating. After some tests, they found a mass that was pressing on her esophagus. So, they went in for surgery and put a stint in the esophagus to open it back up. This was a temporary fix because the mass was still there. She was placed on a ventilator after surgery and had a hard time coming off of it. But, after a few days, she was finally strong enough to come off of it, and she was able to go home. Bonnie still hadn't decided what she wanted to do about the mass that still remained.

After several trips back to the hospital, she made the statement that she was tired. Tired of being sick. Either she wanted to get better, or just give up. But she didn't want to keep going on like this.

Earlier this week, Bonnie was having trouble keeping food down, so she went back to the hospital again where they placed a feeding tube so that she could get some nourishment. She has dwindled to under 100 lbs. Then yesterday, late night, while still in the hospital, she started complaining about shortness of breath. When the nurse came in to check on her, she went into cardiac arrest. They were able to revive her, only to be able to place her on the ventilator and meds to keep her alive. Family was called, and they came to the hospital to make the decision to take her off of all the machines. She then passed away at around 5:00a.m.

She was a no frills kinda gal. Didn't do anything to try to impress anyone. She was just someone who wasn't afraid to be herself. I admired this in her. When you were talking to her - you were the only person that she thought was important at the time. (At least that is how I felt). I hope that she knew that I really thought highly of her. She was a favorite Aunt of mine. I even made her a quilt some years ago, and as a surprise, entered it into the "Pahrump Harvest Festival" and named it Bonnie. When she saw it, she really liked it, and was kinda shocked at first, that I had made it for her. (I still have a quilt that she made for me when I was a teenager). I am really gonna miss this wonderful lady.

She lived in Pahrump, and I wasn't able to get out to see her as often as I would have liked. Bart & I did try to go every year at the time of the Harvest Festival (Oct), to get in a good visit with both Jim & Bonnie. Bart and I even ran out there a few times for a surprise visit with them when one of Bart's jobs took us out in that area. These memories I will hold dear to my heart.

I Love You Aunt Bonnie. R.I.P. 1943-2015