Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Dolce's 1st Christmas

Are you guys sick of seeing pictures of my dogs yet?? :-)








Mommy's big helper! Helping me wrap presents (sorry if you have dog treat bits in your boxes when you get them! :D)


Friday, December 19, 2008

Hubie

Hubie is our 4 year old Newfoundland and he's been sick going on 4 months. Constant coughing, hacking/vomiting and congestion. I thought it was just a very persistent case of kennel cough. We've run several tests and had him on multiple rounds of medication with no relief whatsoever and finally the vet mentioned taking him to a cardiologist.

So after some research, one of my coworkers/friends helped me discover that Dilated Cardiomyopathy is a common hereditary heart disease in this breed. It's basically congestive heart failure. His heart is weak and enlarged and he's retaining fluid causing those symptoms above.

This isn't a solid diagnosis. We have to take him to Boise to see a cardiologist for extensive testing in order to diagnose him so that he can be treated. But all the symptoms fit and now it all makes sense.

Isn't this insane???? Just when I thought things couldn't get any crazier.

I'm feeling pretty emotional about it because he's still healthy enough right now to live a normal life. He still plays and eats well and is still the all too loveable Hubie. So I don't feel right at all about the idea of putting him down (as a few have suggested) but can you imagine the cost of all this testing and then medication for his lifetime? He's a HUGE dog. That's a lot more medication than an average sized dog. And a lot more money.

I was telling FIL about it last night and he said "hey, that's what I have." and I was like I know. Seriously? What are the odds.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

My Puppy-Cat

HA! Dolce thinks he's a cat! I was putting up the Christmas tree and couldn't find my camera to capture this funny moment, so I had to use my phone :-)



All taken with my phone since my camera was mia. Better pictures to come soon.



Helping me Trim the Tree! :)



Things have been so insane lately, I just haven't had time for any updates.
So maybe later :)

Saturday, December 6, 2008

BOOMER SOONERS!!!!!!!

HERE WE COME!!!! Wooooooooooohooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Personal Prayer Request

Many of you know about my father-in-law's health condition and for the rest this is an update.

Mike's dad needs a heart transplant and right now is pretty high on the priority list. His heart is very weak and won't pump hard enough on its own to keep him alive, so currently he is on a 24/7 IV pump that goes straight to his heart to keep it pumping.

We've known this since March of this year but he's had a heck of a time dealing with an east coast hospital so earlier this month transferred his care to the Salt Lake City VA hospital. We thought he would be released to come to our house for Thanksgiving but he was in such bad condition that they wouldn't discharge him. So while Mike was home we went to visit him over the weekend and brought him Thanksgiving dinner and pie :).

Today he was supposed to be discharged and was hoping to drive down and stay here for a week until all the paperwork was approved through D.C. to be put on the official waiting list. Once again there were additional complications and his release has been postponed for at least several more days.

He was so incredibly upset and it just broke my heart hearing the disappointment and sadness in his voice. I cleared things at work and am taking tomorrow off to go spend the day with him and just baked another pie to take to him.

I'm asking for prayer for a couple of things. He is in such low spirits having been stuck in a new, unfamiliar hospital over the holidays and nowhere near family. He has to be at least a tad bit scared and nervous on top of being lonely and depressed. Without a stream of visitors to cheer him up, he's had nothing but time on his hands to contemplate every worst case scenario. If you would please pray that his spirits are lifted as we all know this also affects his physical health.

Secondly, it is so hard to pray for a heart to come quickly because we know what that entails and realize the sacrifice another family will experience in order to make our lives better. But...please pray that he will receive a match soon because time is working against us. It would be such a huge blessing to his sons to be able to spend a few more years with their father. Selfishly, I'd like for him to be around to meet our future children so that they will get to know their grandpa.

I appreciate all of your prayers in advance. Thank you.

My cutie pies

Dolce missed his daddy!! So did mommy!!!!!!!!




Dolce sitting with grandpa :) (my dad)


All 3 of the little rascals when I was dogsitting. Check out that sad little face on the boston terrier!! lol She missed her mommy.