sims 3 on xbox - can't save

i seem to have locked my sims game into an endless loop. One of my sims family members died right when i needed to run out IRL. So i hit quit and save. I get to the save menu and it tells me "You cannot save the game while a Sim in your household is dying." So i thought i'd just cancel out and wait for the event to end, then try again. Unfortunately, when you cancel out of the save, the games asks if "Are you sure you want to quit? Any unsaved progress will be lost." Here you can accept or "cancel". "Accept" i'm sure means it will quit without saving. SO of course i want to "cancel" right? Nope. it takes me back to the save screen, where i can't save because my sim is dying. so i cancel out of the save screen. which then prompts me that if i quit without saving i'll lose all my progress. so i cancel, and back to the save screen....endless loop.

I really don't want to lose the last 2-3 hours of game play, but it seems that is the only way i'm going to get out of this loop. Anyone have any ideas?