August 25, 2010-Family Tradgedy

From left. A cousin ( I think) . It might be Jaimie from up here in Ilion. Patty holding her Grandson, Bradyn. My brother Steve and his
Granddaughter, Jaylin and his daughter Alysha. In front are Kevin and Faith with their daughter Jordyn in the middle.

My brother, Steve's, estranged wife, Patty, committed suicide on the 23rd. She lived down in Asheville, NC. Her daughter, Alysha lived with her. Her other daughter and grandchildren lived nearby. How sad for them. My brother lives up here in NY but had always hoped to be moving down there soon. Don't know what will happen now. My sister, Jane and brother, Mike, drove Steve down to Asheville last night. They should be there by now. My nephew, Gavin rode down with them. Alysha and he were close cousins and Alysha wanted him to come. I was glad that I had gotten hold of Gavin yesterday afternoon before they left so he could call Jane. He was afraid of losing his job if he took too many days off but I guess his girlfriend is going cover his shift for him. They both work at McDonald's down in Hamilton, NY. Jane expects to be back by Saturday or Sunday. The cremation is Thursday. Memorial services Friday and gathering at the house afterwards.
My brother had just been down there to visit them all last month and they got a nice family photo. I'm sure glad he went. Patty had bought him a plane ticket to fly down for his 60th birthday.
I hope Alysha will be okay and get through this. She is planning on moving to NH next month. That might be a good thing. Another sad day for my brother and his family. Patty has always been depressed off and on through her life I guess she just wasn't happy with the way her life was going. How selfish to do that to the kids though. That's all I will say about that.

Update: Patty's Obit.

Patricia Miller died Monday, August 23rd in Asheville, NC. She was 51.

A service will be held at 7 p.m. Friday at the Center for Creative Living - 2 Science of Mind Way in Asheville, NC. Ministers Barbara and John Waterhouse will officiate.

In a word, Patricia was – LOVING. She loved everything in nature: the mountains, the sun, the animals (especially sheep); and long hikes. She was inspired while singing and dancing and found the humor in almost all situations. She also loved deeply and sincerely everybody she knew. Patricia will be remembered by her family and friends as an exceptional woman. She was breath of fresh air who was always funny, sweet, and loyal.

Born November 21, 1958, Patricia was the last of six children born to Annie Hogan and Ward Sweet in Ilion, NY.

In 1977 Patricia and first husband William Marquissee celebrated the birth of their daughter Faith Marquissee Brygidowicz. In 1982 Patricia celebrated the birth of her second child, Alysha Miller, and remarried to Stephen Miller. Patricia, Stephen and her two daughters lived as a family in Ilion until 2001 when Patricia’s love for the mountains and her desire to live in a warmer climate inspired her to relocate to Asheville, NC.

Before her move to Asheville, Patricia received a Licensed Practical Nursing Degree and dedicated her career and life to helping others. She worked as a nurse and caregiver in several hospitals and private doctor’s offices, as a hospice nurse, as a teacher’s assistant at a special education facility, and later as a chiropractic assistant. She held a strong passion for alternative and holistic healing modalities.

Patricia is survived by her husband Stephen, her children Faith and Alysha, her son-in-law Kevin Brygidowicz , her three grandchildren Jordyn, Jaylin and Bradyn, siblings Eleanor “Snookie” Stubba, Lorraine “Brenda” DeJohn, James “Erkie” Sweet, and Prudence “Prud” Seaman, several nieces, nephews, cousins, countless friends and her beloved cat Muffin.

She will always be considered a caring mother, devoted sister, loving nana, loyal friend and she will be eternally missed.

The family will host Celebration of Life in her honor Friday after the ceremony, at their home in south Asheville. They request that in lieu of flowers; please send donations to help with funeral expenses to Faith Brygidowicz , 121 Rosscraggon Rd., Asheville, NC 28803.

August 17, 2010-Family Reunion

This is the old tree that we used to swing on in front of my Aunt Shirley's camp, that sits on the old homestead where my grandparents house used to be. This is just up the road from where the reunion was. My cousin, Karen and her husband hold the reunions at their place every year now. They built a pavilion a little ways from their new home there. Real nice spot.

Some of my extended family. My niece, Crystal was there with her two daughters, Brooke and Kendra. Danielle was there with her boyfriend, Billy. They are my sister, Debby's kids. My sister, Jane and her husband, Savey were there. My sister, Pam was there with her boyfriend, John and then her kids came later. Gregory, Zachory and Stephanie. Steph has a little boy named Nathan, who was there also. My deceased sister, Chris's son, Gavin showed up just in time for this photo. I left right after these were taken.

This is me with my three sisters. From left are Debby, Pam and Jane and me.

This is me sitting with the only Aunts left in that family. from left are my Aunt Sarah, Aunt Shirley, me, Aunt Betty and Aunt Beverly, who all are my father's sisters. The last one on the right is my Aunt Mary. She was married to my father's brother.

Some of my family standing around in the hot sun drinking a beer or whatever. I can't stand being in the sun so I stayed under the roof with the other relatives.

I made it to my family reunion on Saturday. The only way I could do it was not to eat much the day before and not eat anything at all at the reunion. It worked and I stayed for three and a half hours. But I sure was hungry when I got home. And for the past two days I'm suffering. I guess I'd feel better if I didn't eat any solid food at all but I cannot go back to liquid diets. I'll just have to keep popping more laxatives.
I had a good time Saturday, talking to the relatives and sharing a few laughs.. Only three of my sisters were there. All my brothers were off somewhere else that weekend. I was kind of hoping to see more of us but maybe at Christmas this year we can get together and hopefully I will be able to go also. My sister, Jeanne, wanted to be there but she got stuck babysitting her two young granddaughters that day. I felt bad for her. My daughter wasn't there either. Don't know why she didn't come. Haven't heard from her in a while. I know she's getting ready to start her new teaching job at the college and trying to buy that home. Not sure if she got it or not. And she's been trying to spend as much time with her kids as she can before school starts. They go camping and kayaking a lot now.
Here's a few pictures from Saturday. It was a beautiful day. I made slide shows with all my photos and videos. My cousin, Diana, took a lot for me because it's too hard for me to get around with crutches and try to take the pics. I can't thank her enough for doing that for me.

August 11, 2010

Today was not a good day. I did not go to the bathroom. All I did was bleed all day when I tried. I was so uncomfortable and glad no one wanted to come visit.
My sister, Debby, came yesterday. I felt pretty good later in the day yesterday so I enjoyed her company.
Even though I was uncomfortable all day I went out to get groceries at 8 pm tonight after it cooled down a bit. It's been so humid here again. And tomorrow it's supposed to rain. I got through Walmart okay and was home by 9 pm. Just once when I was walking around in Walmart I had an urge and thought I was going to shit my pants but I knew it was only blood and I did bleed a bit. But I wear pads all the time. It was scary though. I am always so glad to get back home. I really needed groceries and am glad that is done.
There is a family reunion on Saturday and I'm hoping I can make it up there for an hour. I figure I won't eat anything Friday, or very little and then not eat much Saturday morning so I won't have an urge to go to the bathroom. It's only 5 minutes from my place so I can get home fast if I have to. I worry that I won't be able to hold it but I'm going to try like hell. It will probably be the last time I see some of those relatives. But I never know how long I will be living. No one does even without cancer. Might have a heart attack first.. Who the hell knows. I'm just trying to get through one day at a time here.
Time for bed. I am up too late. I usually am in bed by ten. It is now almost eleven. Take care you all.
Oh. I started up a different Youtube site and have loaded lots of my family videos and slide shows on there. I want the family to be able to go there anytime to watch them. I still have some old stuff to upload, like our 1988 picnic at Glimmerglass. it's the only video of our family that we have. I and my boyfriend, Don, had rented a video camcorder that weekend so I took videos all day. The cameras sure were big back then. This video has only been on a VHS tape all these years till a few years back i finally learned how to get it off and onto a DVD and then onto my computer. It's so long that it is in parts though. My nieces and nephews like watching it because they were small at that time. I'll try to get as much stuff on there as possible before I can't do it any more. it gives me something to do....Ha!

August 3, 2010

Things are the same. But I'm bleeding more and more it seems. I don't like that but I'm not giving up my Ibuprofen. That can cause me to bleed more. As long as I eat lots then maybe I won't get Anemic again. That's when I feel real weak. But I've been feeling strong lately and when I feel good I like doing things in between going to the bathroom. I've been cleaning my car a little at a time. The sun has really faded the paint in the past two years because I haven't felt well enough to wax it. So I've decided to wax it this year but a little at a time. I've been using the scratch remover and cleaner first. Got the roof and trunk hood done as well as the front hood. I bought some flat black paint to do the trim around the windows which has faded all away on one side. Also for the windshield wiper area. I've sent for some color coded paint that matches my car and am going to sand down some of the rust spots myself and paint them if I feel up to it. Not sure if I can bend over like that to scrap the rust. I might ask my brother to help me. When I spray it I will have to go somewhere else anyway. can't do it in the parking lot.
My hand aches sometimes and is still stiff but I can use it and I can turn my car key now. When I push myself up with that hand too much during the day it huts on the palm area and on top of my hand it hurts and swells up. I really think those bones on top of my hand might have been damaged. When I fell my hand bent under. Not up.
I think those 6 radiation treatments damaged some areas of my butt. I really have a lot of itching sometimes and the skin feels funny around that area. I sure am glad I didn't go through with all 25 treatments. my sister had a hell of a time with her skin in that area getting hard and red and itchy. I use some ointment and it helps a lot. I never use toilet paper any more because it's too rough. I've been buying wipes for a year now. Unscented ones. otherwise I'd be allergic to the damn perfume. I can't stand any perfume in anything.
It's real humid here and will be very hot and humid tomorrow. They are finally coming to replace the springs on two of my windows tomorrow. I can't use one living room window and I can't use the top part of my bedroom one because the springs are broke. Those windows are not even two years old. I'll be glad to get the bedroom one fixed so I can take pictures out of it again.
I haven't heard from anyone in the family since Debby took me to get my muffler on my car. Guess everyone is busy. My daughter, Nina, has been taking the kids kayaking on weekends and will be up in Lake George this weekend. the kids love camping and kayaking. I put their pictures on my other blog. Grandchildren from NY.
That's all I have to say for now. Take care everyone.