RIP -Two Losses in a Week

So, last week was a sad week even if I didn't say anything on here. The world lost two wonderful souls this week and they will be forever missed. The first I had in my life for more than 15 years and he was much loved, our family dog then my mom and dad's dog Bubba. The second was a wife and mother of three who succumbed to stage IV breast cancer after more than a year of fighting.

Bubba sleeping next to his cat buddy, Medaja.

Bubba was adopted by our family the summer before I turned 15. He was a puppy then but in horrible shape. Bubba was so small and malnourished that he could stand up on all four in the palm of my sister's hand. He was covered in fleas and my mom had to give him about 3 flea baths before they were finally gone. Then he almost died from illness before my dad saved him. He had a stomach bug and refused to eat anything and the vet told us the only way he had a chance was if we made him eat. My dad stayed up with him all night forcing him to eat rice and boiled hamburger. After that he was a normal puppy and a much loved part of our family. He went on family trips with us and camping with us. Initially he was my dog and even slept with me most nights, then when I went up to college he became my mom's dog (you know how dog's are a family's but become more attached to one person in the family). He had a good long life with the Robinson family and he was the only dog that we ever kept after getting. He went to doggy heaven two days before Thanksgiving.

I met my friend Melinda while I was working at the player's club booth at the Flamingo. Shortly after I began working there she changed positions in the department to become the department coordinator. I started working in close quarters with her when I was first pregnant with Nora. We'd talk and everything while she was working and I was doing mountains of departmental paperwork. Eventually she decided she wanted to move up the management ladder and took a job as an assistant slot floor manager. I'd see her and her husband occasionally after that. When we lost Nora, Melinda was the one that gave me the address to a website for parents of children with heart defects and she knew what we were going through because one of her children was born with a heart defect.

Melinda was always a fun-loving and mostly happy spirit. She could always bring humor to any situation. She did a lateral transfer to another property shortly before I was let go from the Flamingo and was diagnosed with breast cancer. Melinda fought the cancer and was given a clean bill of health. A year later her doctors discovered she wasn't in remission like they thought and she'd progressed to stage IV. It had spread to other parts of her body and the outlook was grim. But Melinda was never one to let something like that keep her from fighting. She had to have a gamma knife procedure done as well as 15 once weekly treatments of chemo and radiation. She appeared strong and in good spirits when she finished the last round of chemo and radiation the beginning of October this year. Slowly, though, she lost her strength and eventually ended up in hospice. She fought for as long as she could to stay with her three kids and husband of 18 years and made it days longer than anyone had hoped for. Melinda grew her angel wings on the day before Thanksgiving. She will be forever missed by everyone who knew her.