Life is Good...

Things have been going well lately! I took Gracie to the vet today to get her stitches out adn they said everything looked good. We have four more weeks of her having to stay in the cage all the time and then she can venture out some. We are all looking forward to that!

Kevin has been super busy with patients the past couple weeks. We started praying for God to give him one or two more and He has totally blessed him with way more than that! I am so excited for him and I know he is enjoying getting that experience. We are counting down the days (four weeks) till he can adjust using the technique he plans to build his career on! We found out last week there is a mission trip with the organization he is getting certified with to Dominican Republic. He will get TONS of experience down there adjusting people. He and I are so excited about that! And in 1 year from this month HE GRADUATES!!!! Again, who is counting!?!?! So things are good. Nothing new for me really. Just excited to see Kevin doing what he is called to do! And I have found that I LOVE to bake! Every tuesday I bake something new for our small group. That gives me an excuse and a place to take the goodies so I don't eat them all! It is so fun! Like I said...Life is Good!

The Night-time Guessing Game

Well we are day four post-op and doing well. She is still very low key. This afternoon was the first time she expressed any interest to get out of the cage other than to potty. Kevin let her sit next to him for about five minutes but then back to the cage with a new bone it was. She cried for a little while but is settled again now. However nights have become interesting. She is sleeping in our room so we can hear her if she needs anything. Thursday night Kevin was up with her for about an hour trying to figure out why she was crying. She had gotten her medicine and gone outside. He kept guessing and finally figured out she was thirsty. So once she had water she went to sleep. I slept through that one since i had to be at work friday. So last night he went to bed and I played the guessing game. I first tried water...she turned her nose up. Tried to take her out but she refused to get out of the cage. Finally I realized she was panting a little. So I cranked up the AC and within 20 minutes she was asleep. Meanwhile the rest of us were a little chilly. But whatever makes her comfy. So we will see how tonight goes. She is so good to tell us when she needs something though. We are thankful for that. More later...we have company coming!

Gracie's Home!!!

I picked Gracie up at around 11 this morning. She was very excited to see me and leave that vet. She is definitely in some pain...she is about 10% of what she normally is. That is tough to see because she is usually so excited to play and romp around. Even when Kevin came home this evening she just looked at him from the cage. Usually she goes crazy in the cage, if she is in there, when he walks in. So for now, we are thankful she is calm because she wants to be in her cage and laying down...and that is what is required at this point. I was really upset about her new hair-do though. I'm a nurse so I know how surgeries go and the need for the sterile field, but really...is it that necessary to shave the entire leg and half of her back to do a 7 inch incision? Plus the two one inch squares on her front legs...IVs I suppose. Anyhow my mom made me laugh by saying "It's ok, now she has the NICU do". In our NICU we do sometimes have to start IVs in the baby's head (awful sounding I know), so we have to shave a little bit of their head to get it. So our kids have some crazy first hair cuts. And now I can say my pup would fit right in. Still sad! Anyway, things are good. Hopefully she will have a good night tonight with little pain.
Stay tuned...

Gracie's Surgery

Well Gracie finally had her surgery yesterday. I talked to the Tech at about 330 and she said everything went well. Gracie was waking up at that point. I'm so happy things went well. Now we just have to get her through the recovery part for the next 6 months. That will be interesting. She does not feel pain normally so we will have to keep a rather hyper dog confined to her cage for 6 weeks. But I am just so glad it went well. She is a sweet dog and won my heart years ago when my brother and Allison adopted her. And in the past 5 months she has won Kevin's heart. He loves her.
I will pick her up sometime today. The Doctor has to check her out this morning and give her the ok to leave. I am anxious to get her home. I am definitely the type that has to see to believe...I have to see her to see she is ok. Perhaps because I see so much bad at work my mind tends to prepare for the worst. So, anyway, I wanted to let you know all is well at this point! Thank goodness!
Other than that nothing else is going on here. It has been a quiet couple weeks which we are so thankful for. The beginning of this month was nuts so I am glad things are a little quieter. Kevin made it through some tough Mid-terms and has somewhat of a break until finals. And I got the promotion I was going for!!! Things are good...

Hectic February

So far this month has proved to be the most challenging for us but we have made it through and it seems things will soon regain order. We finally have a new date set for Gracie's surgery, assuming her labwork is ok the second time around. We are on the books for February 26th. This will actually work out a lot better because I am off the day of her surgery and the day after. I can drop her off and get her with no problems. We will recheck her labs next friday to make sure things are ok again. She has not seemed to be in any pain so we stopped giving her the medication they gave us. The main issue is she is bored. Unfortunately there is not much we can do about that. Occasionally we will pull out the laser pointer and let her chase the red dot for a short time till she gets too hyper. Then she spends the next little bit looking around the apartment for it. Cheap entertainment for us though.
We have also come close to finding a new home for Dixie. Unfortunately she is regressing in her behavior and messing up in the house more and more. It came down to the final decision and I broke. Kevin and I are going to give her a little longer to try to help her shape up some. More attention, more walks, more whatever...try to see if she will respond to that. I hate the thought of giving her up!
And yesterday we celebrated V-day! It was nice...I was lucky enough to be off work and Kevin was able to skip out of his last class a few minutes early. So we enjoyed a nice evening together. It was a nice break in the week...he is gearing up for mid-terms and I had three very long days at work (one being I didn't leave till 9 at night) that left me exhausted. So the night out did us some good to catch our breath and just be together.
Other stuff is going on but this has gotten long enough. Things are moving along and we are taking it all in stride! Until next time...

Change of Plans

Sorry for getting this posted so late. It has been an interesting week. Gracie went to the Vet on Wednesday morning for what we thought was her surgery. Unfortunately her pre-op lab work came back funny. It suggested possible Kidney problems. We are fairly sure the medicine she was taking for pain caused the kidneys to look like they are not functioning. But the Vet wanted to play it safe and send her home. We will try again in three weeks. Kevin and I were bummed she has to go another three weeks with a bad leg but the Vet reassured us she can't do any more damage to it or the other legs in that time period. Clearly they do not know Gracie. So we are still struggling to keep her quiet. In the meantime we bought Gracie a really nice pillow/bed for her Crate since we thought she would be in it for so many weeks. We got it tuesday night. Well Miss Dixie thinks it is the greatest thing in the world and loves to pull all her toys in there and settle in for as long as she can get away with it. Gracie doesn't seem to mind but she will not get in there if Dixie is in there. So of course we have to climb in and drag her out so Gracie can get in.
We will keep you posted...hopefully the kidneys are fine and she can get her surgery mid February!

Tomorrow is the day

Well Gracie's surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning sometime. We have to have her there at 8:15. It makes us sad that she will be in a ton of pain but it has to get fixed. Gracie does not feel much pain usually but I think she will feel this. She actually starts whining now and then and we will give her a pain pill and she stops within 30 minutes or so. I think she is feeling something now even. Anyway we are hoping and praying everything goes ok. Kevin is the lucky one to drop her off...I told him I wouldn't make it if I had to. She would end up coming back with me. Ha! I'll try to post tomorrow or thursday to say how it goes.