I'm Back

It has been almost 3 years since I made a post on my blog.  So much has changed during that time. 

Both my beloved Riley and Abbie have crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  We have added another Rat Terrier to our family named Aoife (pronounced "EE fa").  Nash is still with us and is now almost 10 years old.  He is my grumpy little man. 

Hubby and I moved from Central Texas to North Texas and will be celebrating our 31st anniversary soon.

My next adventure will be to get Lasik surgery.  That is scheduled for 10 days from now and I am super excited.  I am happy to be back in the blogging world and look forward to hearing from many of you.

Getting a Tan

This is Abbie.  She was hanging out in the yard "getting a tan" and was not happy that I disturbed her quiet time.  I think she was really just seeing if the other dogs were brave enough to come and take the balls.

Walgreens Pricing

I really like Walgreens because they are so convenient.  Pretty much anywhere in town, there is a Walgreens near.  In fact, we have 3 that are within a 5 mile radius of my house.  Unfortunately, the prices seem to be getting higher lately.  I recently noticed this glaring price issue with benadryl (Abbie needs it daily for her allergies).  At Target, Wal-Mart, and HEB, the cost for name brand of Benadryl is about $10 for 100 tablets.  If you want their store brand, your can get the same quantity for about $4.  I checked the pricing at Walgreens and the name brand is about $17 and the store brand was $12.  That is such a ridiculous price difference between.  Needless to say, I did not buy my benadryl at Walgreens.  I drove out of my way to go find a Target who had it in stock.

Good News

We got a call from the vet yesterday and thankfully Abbie's T-4 test results were normal. The original test showed low because of her seizure medication. Whew.

Vet Bill

Abbie had her annual check up this week and of course her vet bill was expensive. Since she has seizures we always have to check her phenobarbital levels annually so I expect that her vet bill will run $200+. This year by the time we are done it will be almost double. She had an infection in her eyes (most likely from allergies) and then her T4 level came back low. This meant another test and an additional cost. Now we are waiting on the T4 level test to see if there is an issue with her thyroid or if the test is showing low because of the medication she is taking (phenobarbital is known to make the T4 test show low). I love my babies so we do what we have to do. Nash is due up next and I suspect he will need some dental work. Ugh.

Seizures

My oldest dog, Abbie, takes medication twice a day for seizures. This morning I woke up to one of our other dogs, Riley, barking in an unusual bark. When I got to the room where they were, Abbie was having one of her seizures. It was a small one, thankfully, but it was followed by 3 more small ones within about an hour and a half period of time. I feel so badly for her when she has them; she has a look on her face that is heartbreaking. She looks lost and scared. When she has them, we just hold her and talk to her until she comes out of it. Some people say that dogs don't remember the seizures after they have them. I don't know if it is true or not, but I hope it is.

Really Tired

I woke up this morning extremely tired. I slept really hard last night. It was one of those sleeps where you feel like you just put your head down and then the alarm went off. I know I am tired from work. It has been super busy lately and the only way I am keeping my head even remotely above water is because I bring work home and hubby helps me. He makes a great secretary....I mean administrative assistant. Yesterday I spent literally all day in meetings or conference calls so that totally kills your chances of getting anything done. We are also down one team member whose baby arrived early and for some reason the approval to get our temp help is taking significantly longer that it should. We are going on 4 days now without help and we already run a very lean team. Okay, I am done rambling and venting. Now time to go get dressed and drop the dog off at the vet. Hopefully when I pick her up this afternoon she will be without a bandage/cast.

Poor Baby

My little one had her surgery yesterday and has a full length bandage/soft cast from the tip of her toe to her armpit. She is not feeling very good this morning and only wants to be held. She just lays in my arms and whimpers. She can have more meds this afternoon, so we will just have to baby her until then. Doing my morning activities with only one hand was a little harder than I expected, but I will do what I must for my baby.

Final Surgery for Abbie

Today I take Abbie in for her 3rd and final surgery due to her broken leg. Today they will take xrays and as long as everything looks good they will remove the plate and remaining screws. This happened on 6/12/09, so it has been almost 7 months to the day from her first surgery. I never want to go through this again. It has been both expensive and exhausting for her and us.

She saw me pull out the cone last night and didn't look too pleased. She went to lay and watch TV with her daddy and didn't want to be bothered. I know she hates wearing that thing, but it is he only way to keep her from licking at her stitches. I don't know what kind of restrictions to expect this time, but hopefully they won't be too bad.

Love Triangle

My dogs are involved in a love triangle. My lab mix, Riley, it just over 1 year old and is totally in love with the neighbor dog, Rocky. Rocky is a mix breed as well and looks to be about 3 years old. Every time we let Riley outside she runs to the fence and goes nuts trying to get Rocky's attention. Unfortunately, he has zero interest in Riley. He totally ignores her whines and attempts to get his attention. Of course, the more he ignores her the more she tries to get his attention. We have a little knot hole in one of the fence slats and she sticks her nose in there to get a glimpse of him.

Rocky, on the other hand, likes my 6 year old Rat Terrier, Abbie. Anytime he hears her he will go to the fence and try to get her attention, but she could care less about Rocky. In fact, every time she hears him, she runs up to the fence and acts like she wants to tear him apart. Abbie likes the yellow lab puppy, Max, that belongs to the neighbor on the opposite side. Max, does not like Abbie, but is madly in love with Riley - who won't give him the time of day.

Every day this sad little love triangle plays out in my back yard.

Abbie Update

Abbie had her follow up appointment with the vet yesterday. She was able to get her cast and stitches removed, but she still has all of her restrictions. No running, jumping, playing, or walking off leash. Her little scar runs about half the length of her leg, but she doesn't care. She was just happy to be able to lick her leg again. She is using the leg as if nothing happened - I am amazed.

She goes back on August 10th and they will do another x-ray to see if the bone has healed properly. If it has, they will lift some of her restrictions at that time.

Patience

I had a co-worker once tell me that I should never wish for patience because the only way to tell if you have patience is for you to be tested over and over. Well, my Abbie has decided today that my patience needs to be tested. Today, she kept escaping out of her kennel and going to her sisters kennel. Then, when we weren't watching, she decided to chew on her cast (it is a soft cast). She only has 8 more days in the cast; which I am sure seems like a lifetime to her.

We actually can't wait for the cast to come off either, but we don't know what comes next. We believe it may just be a bandage of some sort to cover the surgery site, but we are not sure. I know it is no fun for her to watch her sister run free and play ball. All she can do is sit or lay on a soft bed and do nothing. Even when she goes outside to potty, she is not allowed to roam around the yard. She goes out to do her business and then right back inside. No playing and no sunbathing.

So, I am afraid to ask for patience to make it the next 8 days; so ho about a little strength and tolerance?

Abbie Gets Gold Star

Abbie had her first post-op visit today. It is hard to believe it has only been 2 weeks since she broke her leg and had surgery. It seems so much longer. She is doing great and got a gold star; they didn't even have to change the wrap on her splint. She goes back in 2 more weeks and will get her splint off as long as she continues doing well.

I can't say enough good things about the vet who did her surgery, Dr. Bill Dudley. He has been absolutely fantastic. Abbie ended up with a sore on her side after surgery; we figured it was most likely from some type of monitoring pad. We showed it to him in today's visit and he seemed very concerned. About 4pm he had his vet tech call back and ask more questions because he was concerned she could get such a mark while in their care (it is about 1.5 inches long and the width of a dime). He says they would not have had any kind of pad in that area and wants to get to the bottom of what happened so it would not happen to anyone else. I would highly recommend him and his team to anyone needing orthopedic services for their pet.

The Escape Artist

Abbie had surgery on Sunday and we brought her home on Monday (with a serious chunk taken out of our wallet). She has restrictions for at least 8 weeks - no running, jumping, playing, etc. Have you ever tried to keep a hyper rat terrier still? To keep an eye on her, we are essentially taking shifts, with the hubby taking the bulk of the baby sitting duties. She has been doing okay, but last night she decided to escape from her kennel.

We are using a soft travel kennel to make sure she doesn't snag her leg on the side of the kennel. At night when we are not able to watch her she has to wear the e-collar; which she does pretty well. Last night she apparently decided she didn't want to stay in her kennel and used her good leg to unzip the zipper. I found out she was loose because her sister started barking about 5am. Apparently, Riley was jealous that Abbie was out and she was still in a kennel. She didn't appear to do any damage to her bandage and actually seemed quite happy with herself. I put her back in the kennel and used a zip tie to keep the zipper closed until the hubby was ready to get up. There was no sense in me going back to bed because the alarm was going to go off any minute now.

Three days behind us and only 7 and 1/2 weeks to go. Here is a picture of my little escape artist. As you can see, the pain meds are working well.

A Birthday, A Dentist, A Busted Lip, and A Broken Leg

A birthday, a dentist, a busted lip, and a broken leg. What do all of these things have in common? They are all events that have preoccupied my time for the last 2 weeks.

A birthday: Riley turned 1 year old on June 1st. We made her a Peanut Butter Carrot Cake and she loved every bite of it. It is amazing that the little 6 pound fluff ball that we brought home is now a 50 pound fur machine. She has become a really good dog and gets better every day.

A dentist: On my last routine cleaning, the dentist discovered that what we thought was a stain was actually a cavity and had to do a filling. I don't handle dental work well, but this had to be done so I put on my big girl pants and scheduled the appointment. It really hurt the remainder of that day and part of the next, but it is all better now.

A busted lip & a broken leg: This past Friday (6/12), Riley and Abbie were playing in the yard while I watered plants. All of a sudden I hear a really loud snap, and then one of the dogs yelping. When I turned to look, little Abbie was holding her left leg up and I could see her little foot was dangling. Her leg was broken. I ran over to her to scoop her up and in her panic, she bit me on the lip and gave me a busted lip. As I was heading to the front yard, hubby was coming to the back yard to see what the commotion was and then he saw her little leg. We grabbed the bare essentials and rushed her to the emergency vet. They confirmed her leg was indeed broken. Both bones just above her little wrist were broken all the way through. They were able to put a splint on her and give her pain meds, but they were not able to fix it. On Saturday, we took her to our regular vet who also was not able to fix it and gave us the names of some surgeons that could possibly assist. We were able to get in touch with one of them and he was willing to take a look and see what he could do; he even asked us to come in today (Sunday) even though his office was closed. Based on what I had told him over the phone, he had two of his vet techs come in as well and they actually did the surgery today. She had to have a metal plate and several screws put in her leg and will have a 9-12 month recovery period. She is not going to be happy because she will have to have limited activity for at least the next 8 weeks. She stays in the ICU at the hospital tonight and we should be able to pick her up in the morning.

I know some people will think I am nuts because of the expense of the emergency visit and the surgery; but this is my baby and I would do the same thing over and over again.

Maybe It's the Eyes

My neighbor recently got a yellow lab puppy, Max, and we have let our dogs meet a couple of times. The neighbor really likes Riley, but is scared of Abbie. She just says "there is something about that little one". Riley is 50 pounds now and still doesn't understand she is not a lap dog. Abbie is the drama queen; she can make tears roll down her face when she doesn't get her way. I couldn't understand how she could be scared of my sweet little Abbie, then I took these pictures....

Here is Riley smiling and posing for the camera.

Here is Abbie giving her best pose too.

Okay, well I guess those eyes could scare you a little.

I'm Back

I've have been taking a break from blogging, but now I'm back. I took some time to get things in our new house organized and in place and now I am back and ready to go. Here is a quick update since the last time I wrote.

My Mom's phone call was not an April Fool's joke. In fact, she is set to have 4 litters of puppies in May and June (2 Yorkie litters, 1 blue lacy litter, and 1 coyote litter). My Mom was planning to take the summer off and relax; so much for her relaxing!

We have the house mostly organized and settled in, we just need to finish hanging pictures and get a bed for the guest room.

We spend a lot of time outside. The dogs love their backyard and we play fetch every afternoon. I have almost all of the flowers planted in the front. I still need to plant the Irish Moss (I couldn't resist, it was Irish). The flowers in the flower beds are blooming and look beautiful; although I have no idea what they are. The were planted by the builder. I will post a picture later this week and maybe some of you will know what they are called.

Work is going great. My team is getting great reviews and accolades. We have been able to surpass the expectations of our Regional VP. Now that he can see what we are capable of, he has given me pretty much and open door to take on whatever new functions we want. My territory has already expanded to include all of Texas and part of New York, so we are really doing well. Unfortunately, with the stinky economy, we haven't been able to increase the pay for any of us to show how well we are doing. They have agree to look at the during the second 1/2 of the year.

Oh, and I applied to start Grad school again in the fall. I am waiting to get my official confirmation that I can register for classes.

That pretty much sums up what I have been up to for the last couple of weeks. I look forward to reading all of your blogs to see what you have been doing.

Abbie Ran Away

Today I was bringing some moving boxes from my car in to the house and didn't notice that Abbie had snuck out the front door. It wasn't until about 2 hours later when we were putting the dogs in the kennel to go grocery shopping that we realized Abbie was not there. My first thought was that she got locked in the closet. Sometimes when we are getting dressed she will go in the closet and then she gets stuck in there. That wasn't the case this time and she wasn't hiding under the bed ignoring us either. Both hubby and I instantly went outside and started looking for her. Hubby approached it in a very logical and methodical way; I, on the other hand, panicked. I went to look by the pond where they like to go to run - not there. Then my thoughts kicked in to overdrive and I began to worry that she had run to the street. So I ran, literally, to the front of the property to see if she was on the street - not there. I circled back around toward our apartment to see my husband standing by my car wondering where I had been. He had already found her, taken all of the garbage to my car, and had been waiting for 5-10 minutes.

He had decided to go look behind our apartment in the woods that she is always so fascinated by and sure enough she had been hanging out there and exploring. She was safe and sound back in her kennel, but I never seemed to kick the panicky feeling for the majority of the day.

Photo Phriday

This is Riley's new stick. Apparently the one that we got her from the woods behind our apartment was not big enough! Abbie is trying to figure out how to get the bird seed from the feeder that is about 4 feet up in the tree. Yes, they are crazy, but I love them anyway.

Flying Husky

Riley is now 4 months old and has been having a difficult time learning how to jump. Abbie on the other hand is a phenomenal jumper. She mastered jumping at a very young age and we have found her on top of counters and tables that we never knew she could reach. Today Abbie and Riley were running and playing as normal while I was watching tv. I turned to look at them just in time to see Riley flying through the air and heading straight at me. I had just enough time to put up my arms to catch her. She had actually gotten enough lift on the jump that she was on target to land on top of my head. Twenty pounds of flying husky can make you respond a lot faster than you might think. Of course, she thought I was playing and insisted on trying to jump on me several more times. I'm glad she starts obedience class next week. She is going to be a large hand full and I don't want her to be one of those unruly dogs that everyone cringes when they see her coming.