Misty

This is my sister, Misty.

Misty was born on November 23,1971.
I had just turned 4 years old. Growing up my other sister Christina(2 years younger than me) and I were not always real nice to her. Misty had to get stitches in her lip once when she was about 4 or 5. We all went fishing with our Dad and Chris and I locked Misty in the car. She was trying to climb out the window and busted her lip on the trim(split it wide open)Dad had to leave all of his fishing gear and take her to the hospital.
Geez, did Chris and I ever get it for that one!!
Well, I could tell all kinds of stories about our childhood but the amazing thing is that we grew up to be best friends.

Misty hated the High School she was going to when she was a junior so she came to live with me and go to school where I lived. She met Ken, fell in love and got pregnant at 18. When she was seven months pregnant she found out she was having twins. She had two beautiful baby boys (Jonathon & Joshua) in June ,1990. When the twins were 1 month old she found out she was pregnant again. Adorable, chunky, little Amber was born in April,1991. She really had her hands full!!

Misty and Ken were living together in there own place but I hung out with them alot and helped with the babies as much as I could. I loved being around them and have alot of pictures of the kids.

Our Dad had alot of heart trouble and died at home in August,1993. I had been to my parents house the night before and could see that my Dad was really sick. He was coughing alot and having trouble breathing. I tried to get him to go to the hospital but he refused. Afterwards, my family and I decided that he knew his heart was failing and didn't want to die in the hospital. It was not a common thing for my Dad to give out hugs or kisses but that night before I left he hugged me, said that he loved me and kissed me on the cheek. I had no idea that would be the last time I would see him alive. He died on the living room couch the next evening. It was really hard on all of us. Misty and I talked about it all the time ,trying to help each other through it. There wasn't a day that went by that we didn't talk on the phone. We were both missing him terribly!! This is a picture of both of them.

On March 5,1994 I got a phone call from Ken. He said that he had to bring Misty to the hospital because she was having trouble breathing. They had done an x-ray of her chest and saw a dark patch around her lung. I was flippin out and Bill was trying to calm me down as we were getting ready to go to the hospital. We stopped by my Mom's house on the way to make sure that Mom and Chris knew what was happening. They were getting ready to go to the hospital when we got there.

When we arrived at the hospital Ken was in the waiting room and he said that they were running some tests.After a short time the doctor came out, called us all into a room and told us that she had a hole in her Aorta and they were taking her to surgery to try and fix it. He said that she had a 50/50 chance of surviving the surgery. He told us that if we wanted to see her before surgery we would have to hurry. We started walking down this hallway and saw them at the end rushing by. The doctor yelled for them to hold on and we ran down the hall to see her for a second. With very teary eyes we all told her that we loved her and that it would be O.K. They took her to surgery, after a long time waiting, a nurse came out and said that it was not looking good. They had lost her a couple of times but were able to bring her back.

After a long time the doctor came out and said that she had made it through the surgery and now we would just have to wait and see if she would recover. Once they got her settled into her I.C.U. room we were able to go in and see her. She was hooked up to all kinds of machines and stuff and she looked awful, but she was alive.We had called all of the family to tell them what was going on and there were alot of people in the waiting room.

It was probably around 3 or 4 in the morning and my best friend Sarah and I went in search of some pillows and blankets for the people that were trying to get a little sleep. We went down to the Emergency room and a nurse came up to us she surprised me and asked me,"Are you Kim?" I got this confused look and said,"Yes". She said,"I am the nurse that was with Misty when she came in. I thought you might like to know that she knew what was going on and the risks of the surgery and she was very calm about it. Misty asked me to be sure that someone called Kim." I just started crying again and she said that she didn't mean to upset me.

It was a really long night! Her heart stopped beating several times. Standing outside of her room you could here them in there working to get her heart started again. I found out that if someone is in serious condition in a hospital they will not offer information unless you ask questions. Bill had called his Aunt (a nurse) and found out what to ask them. He went in the room and was in there for a long time. When he came out he asked me to go for a walk with him. Bill, Sarah, and I walked down the hallway and he told me that her kidneys were shutting down. He said that once that happens there is not much hope. I said,"So what you are telling me is that my little sister is dying?" He told me he just wanted me to know how serious it was and he thought that I should go talk to her. I got control of myself and went into her room and tried to say Goodbye. All I could do was keep telling her I loved her and didn't want her to go. I was crying so hard that I was choking and Bill pulled me out of the room.

I walked outside a bit later with some friends and family to smoke we hadn't been out there long and Bill came out to get us. He said that her kidneys were shutting down. I ran all the way to her room, everyone went in and I held her hand and cried while they started unhooking the machines.

We found out later that the doctor had left the hospital and had left instructions to wait one hour and then ask the family to shut off the machines. I am so thankful that Misty didn't make us make that decision.

The biggest struggle in my life is,without a doubt,living without my sister. I miss her very much and think about her all the time. I think alot about how sad it is for the kids that they really never got to know there mother. She was a wonderful, good hearted person and she loved them very much!! I personally have a strong belief that she is watching over them from Heaven!!

I can not stress enough the importance of spending all the time you can with the people that you love and be good to one another. You just never know if you will be here another day to make up for something you have said or done to hurt someone!

I Love You Misty and miss you more than words can say!!