[Myrddin]

Your household has been through the medical wringer. The joys of getting old. We're both retired now, so we have more control of our time. We just added a Jack Russell Terrier puppy to the "pack". She is a real joy and shares characteristics with my Jack Russell/Rat Terrier cross that was with us from Nov 2008 until Dec 2023. Probably our last puppy given that I'm 69 and my wife is 67.

My sister is 67 now. She has been seeing a cardiologist. My mom had congestive heart failure and a-fib. My sister is concerned that she will follow the same path. Her call was to inquire what type of aortic aneurysm I have. My two are abdominal aortic aneurysms. The major one is in the supraceliac position and inoperable. Her doctor says that thoracic aortic aneurysms tend to be genetic. I can't do anything about mine beyond being careful and not aggravating it with high carb foods.

None of us gets out of this engagement alive. Just be thankful for each day and careful not to hasten the exit.

[mass55th]

Yikes, your poor sister...and you!! Aneurysms are nothing to sneeze about. My second oldest sister (born 1942) had four aneurysms in her head. One was on the right side of her head. It was so big it made her eye turn towards here nose. It was her eye doctor who noticed it. He thought she'd had a stroke. Sent her to a neurologist. He catheterized her, found the four, operated and tied off the inner carotid on that side of head, and it stopped the flow to three of the four. She only had a small one left in the back of her head, and they were going to keep an eye on that with cat scans. She stopped smoking cold turkey the day she had the catheterization. Five years later she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Died on her birthday in 2011.

Everyone smoked in my family but me (the baby), and I'm the last one left. Both parents died of lung cancer. My only brother, a Vietnam vet died of a massive heart attack at 51. He had also stopped smoking after a mild heart attack at 48. My oldest sister lived til 74, the longest up until that time. That was only because she'd been institutionalized most of her adult life because she was an alcoholic who suffered from alcohol-induced dementia. NY State cut out all smoking for residents. She died of a stroke.

About your Jack Russell pup. I love those dogs. I was first introduced to the breed watching the Wishbone Mysteries, I think were on PBS in the afternoon. I also knew that in medieval times, they used them as rat catchers. When my brother passed, I got reacquainted with cousins on my father's side of the family. My cousin Sonny and his wife had a Jack Russell. Her name was Lucy. She was a character. Both Lucy and my cousin have been gone for a while now.

Time marches on whether you like it or not. I tell young kids to make sure they know that the older they get, the faster time will fly, so enjoy it while you can.