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Lonely? Confused? Scared?
02 February 2006 ~ Thursday

Song of the Day: Hooked on a Feeling as performed here

Interesting week.  A little background:  two weeks ago the beagle started panting throughout the night and acting sickly.  I was about to call the vet and take her in when I decided to take her for a long walk.  This seemed to help immensly and by the afternoon, she was acting better.  On Tuesday night, I got home and Brad told me that Precious had vomited quite a bit.  When I went to check on her (she wasn't her normally happy self when I got home) she had gotten sick again and was acting lethargic.  Her belly looked very swollen.  I called Big Cheese at home and she told me to take her to the emergency vet.  It could be bloat, which can be fatal.  The emergency vet closest to my home is no longer in that location.  I called Big Cheese again (and violated my no drive/no talk rule) and she directed me to a different location. They did an x-ray and exam. It was not bloat, but they could not figure out what was going on.  They gave her some antibiotics and something for her upset stomach.  I had to withold food/water and call my vet.  Our vet examined her yesterday and couldn't find anything wrong, so they took some blood (3 vials) and did a total body blood test.  The results came back today.  Luckily, it's not cancer or a million other life threatening things.  Her white blood cell count was elevated which indicates she has a bacterial infection; one of her pancreatic enzymes was elevated which indicates pancreatitis; her thyroid level was low.  He said the low thyroid isn't necessarily hypothyroidism but simply a reaction to the infection and pancreatitis.  I'm going to pick up some medicine and supplements tonight and keep her on a pretty bland diet for a few days.  We'll retest the thyroid level in a few weeks, but the infection should be cleared in a few days.  I am a little worried about dehydration since her eyes are a little sunken in, but she'll be getting plenty of liquids with her food.  I'll talk to them about it this evening when I pick up the meds.  I'm very thankful they found something so we can fix it.  Essentially, though, we're treating the infection and the pancreas will heal itself.  She's been slowly getting back to normal, so I think she's healing. 

I can only imagine how crazed I'll be when we have kids.  I'm a worrier.  I've tried not to worry, but inevitably something sneaks in.  Oh well, c'est moi.

Unfortunately, the Illness overshadowed something awesome.  Brad made a coffee cake FROM SCRATCH!  It was very delicious and wonderful.  I was very surprised and very proud.  He's such a good man.

-M

Sickly Precious:
07 February 2006 ~ Tuesday

Song of the Day: Bad Day by Daniel Powter

I'm not having a bad day; I'm just a bit grumpy.  I don't think I sleep very well.  I often wake up tired even though I've gotten eight hours of sleep. I usually wake up during the night - several times.  I know I toss and turn and heaven only knows how much I kick B while sleeping.  So, today, we're blaming my mood on poor sleep quality.

Here's what is irritating me today (all SMALL stuff):
1.  The people at my job (excluding the people I like).
2.  SF guy's breath.  This is a new one as he was just
standing over me while talking.  P-u!
3.  My hair.  I like my new cut, but what a pain in the ass!
4.  My taped together glasses. 
5.  The fact that, for the second day in a row, I have a
hole in my sweater.
6.  My job's menial tasks.

Here's what has me happy:
1.  My friend, Sara, in Colorado who is officially a registered nurse.
She and I started out as penpals, but we did meet a couple of
summers ago.  She's the type of person who, when you meet, you can
just tell that nursing is a perfect fit.
2.  My friend, Thomas, in South Carolina.  He just landed THE wedding
of the year as a client!
3.  My husband for at least trying the stew with the tomatoes clearly visible.

So, I have jumped on the bandwagon and signed up for a MySpace account.  PonyM told me about it last summer and CanadaSarah and B also have accounts, so I thought I would see what the hype is all about.  I urge all of you to sign up for an account, click on the link about and add me as a friend.  Help YPEP feel good about herself!  You can supposedly use it for job networking and to meet up with old friends, but mostly it's just a bunch of teenagers bragging about drinking and screwing.  Okay, that's somewhat of an exagerration.  You can meet old friends - if they're signed up.  That's one of the reasons I gave in.  I'd like to find my college friends.

The beagle is doing much better.  We're trying to be proactive so this won't happen again.  I've been walking her everyday - even if it's just for a few minutes (our street has very few lights and it's dark when I get home from work) and I've gone back to feeding the dogs twice a day.  I read that these two things greatly help with pancreatitis.  She's getting wise to the different ways that I give her all the pills.  She's way too smart.

Last night, on our walk, the pug didn't like the fact that I turned around without going into the "park" (which has NO lighting).  On our way home, he kept stalling and refusing to walk. I finally had to play the "dinnertime" card which worked well.  He walked as fast as his short legs would take him.  I finally had to slow down for fear he would have a heart attack.  He loves food.

-M
10 February 2006 ~ Friday

Song of the Day: Fanfare for the Common Man composed by Aaron Copeland

You know, I'm not going to let the fact that this stupid program just crashed and lost my last entry.  Oh, no. It was a good one, too.  Stellar prose.  In fact, it was probably THE best thing I've EVER writting.  Too bad you're not going to get to read it. 

Today is a good day, kids.  For two reasons:  (1) the weather is wonderful - sunny and clear skies and (2) the friggin Winter Olympics begin today.  Who loves the Winter Olympics?  I do!  Hockey, figure skating, ice dancing, luge, bobsled, speed skating, skeleton, snowboarding, downhill skiing and even curling make me so happy.  I find it ironic that I love winter sports but don't really care for winter.  I hate being cold and the gloomy weather puts me in a bad mood more often than not.

It's really interesting how the weather directly affects my mood.  For instance, today is beautiful and I'm in a very good mood.  There are several other factors involved, I'm sure, but the weather is one of the big ones.

I think I overexercised the pug last night.  I have to be careful as pugs are prone to overexertion, but I was determined to not let him dictate the walk.  He likes to stop every five seconds to mark his territory and I wasn't having it last night.  It was windy, dark and cold and I needed to get dinner started.  So, I made him walk.  I tried not to go too fast, but he was clearly mad at me.  He made himself feel better by barking at me while I fixed their dinner.  So, in return, the beagle was fed first.  It's something I learned from the "dog whisperer,"  don't feed the loudmouth first because it only encourages bad behavior.  I will admit when he does his little barking thing, it's very cute.  The beagle has become wise in the ways of the medicine and supplements.  I have to really coat her pills with her food otherwise they end up on the floor.  You'd think I was trying to feed her poison.

We have a hockey game tonight.  I hope they win.  I can't remember the last time they won a game.  Was in New Year's Eve?  Sigh.  It's just hockey.

-M

Here are some pictures of the gorgeous day, taken from my office:
12 February 2006 ~ Sunday

Jester is currently at Dove Lewis Emergency Hospital for the second night in a row.  We're determined to bring him home tomorrow night after this next 24 hours finally end.  I noticed yesterday he was having difficulty going to the bathroom.  I suppose that's an understatement, he couldn't go. I took him to the ER yesterday afternoon - the x-ray showed his bladder was huge.  They admitted him.  Around 7 p.m. they called to give me an update. They had trouble inserting the catheter - something was in his urethra blocking the way.  When they finally got it inserted, his urine was almost a dark green and had things floating in it.  Another x-ray revealed some "stones" in his bladder.  We made the decision to have surgery this evening.  All is well - he resting comfortably.  We went to see him after the hockey game (we were committed to working the game; otherwise, we wouldn't have gone.)  He looks worse than he is - he still has the catheter in as well as an IV for fluids to keep him hydrated.  Of course, the doctor said removing the stones doesn't mean he'll be able to go to the bathroom, but chances are that is the only problem.  Now, we have to focus on prevention - diet, supplements, etc.  It has been an expensive February for us.  NO MORE ILLNESS! No one, or animal, is allowed to get sick (or worse) for the rest of the year.  Right now, we just want our little boogie butt home with us.  I miss him.  Brad misses him.  Precious...well, she kind of likes the attention...

I had wanted to make a long post about how "Keanu Reeves" is my friend on myspace - how appropriate that is for me and how everyone who knows me would find it fitting.  Sorry, Keanu, I love my family more so we'll discuss you later.  (Also, the real Glen Phillips - former lead singer for my favorite band, is one of my myspace friends.) I guess I should note that Hawks finally won a game. Unfortunately, I just can't be happy for them right now.

-M

Here's a picture of the boy in his little "room" tonight  - after the surgery.  I hate this.  The excessive panting was caused by his heavy duty meds.  He was really out of it - didn't even really acknowledge us.
22 February 2006 ~ Wednesday

Song of the Day:  here (you can thank me later)

Both dogs are doing much better.  I've been going on two walks a day lately - a short one with the pug and a longer one with the beagle. The key now is to prevent anything else from happening again.  No more sickness!

Here is something cool and very appropriate for my office.  In fact, a situation VERY SIMILAR happened not so long ago.  Too bad we don't have an HR department.  Sigh.  I should totally buy it and put it on my desk.  Every time I look at it online, it makes me laugh. I wish I had discovered this before Big P died.  We could have really decked out when visiting him.  PonyM did wear a pirate outfit on one of the visits.  So very awesome.  I still think about him every day at work.  B and I went to a Chinese restaurant he had recommended a while back.  It was very good.

HQ has issued requirements regarding our signature line/email font.  It's so boring and, to me, hard to read.  I can understand "outlawing" stationary, but making everyone use Times New Roman - BORING!!  We're supposed to be a creative company.  PonyM has accused me of being a conformist.  I did try out the new standards; I just wasn't that into it.

Kids, I have something important to say:  Amazing Race 9 begins February 28!  Please, try not to raise too much of a ruckus.

-M