Good News!

After going back and forth all weekend as to whether or not to do the surgery, we opted for it. Over the weekend,  I spoke with our current vets, our much loved vet that took care of us in Oklahoma City and our Pet Communicator, Pam Case.  With confidence, we were told to go this morning with positivity and certainty and do the surgery.  So, that's what we did!

 Phoebe had her surgery this morning and the surgeon called to let me know that it was just a fatty tumor and he didn't see evidence of any disease!  The only thing he saw was that one lobe of her liver was enlarged, so he took a biopsy of that and sent it off to pathology.  He expects the enlargement to be due to the steroids she takes.

 She may get to come home this afternoon!  Depending on how she does coming off the anesthesia will determine whether she spends the night there or comes home.  Seeing that she's overweight (you think!) ;)  it sometimes takes longer to metabolize the anesthetic.

 We are absolutely thrilled with this news.  Thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers,  and positive energy you sent our way!

 We'll be in recovery mode for a little while but we are looking forward to getting our hot little ham feeling better.

Miss Bossy Boots likes to direct the action around here!  She doesn't miss a trick.
Thank you again for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!  We appreciate it so much!

Prayers for Phoebe

We've been kind of preoccupied around here this week with an unexpected bump in the road for our precious Phoebe.  I wrote earlier last year about her trials and tribulations with going from being a Cushing's patient to being an addison's patient, and the numerous trips to the Vet with everything from skin issues, an eye abrasion and addison's crisis. 

 We've gone down and back up again with her weight, and her skin issues which were doing better for a while seem to be returning.  We go once every 25 days for a shot that keeps her "up", and every other day or so, she gets some steroids.  Whatever it takes to keep our girl going!  Very recently, there have been a few changes that just haven't been right.

 Wednesday, during her exam, our vet felt a mass in Phoebe's abdomen.  He took x-rays, ultrasound, and attempted a fine needle biopsy.  She had a very difficult time coming off the sedative and ended up back at the vet yesterday to get rehydrated with fluids.  Last night when she came home, she was looking and acting much better, but she's not quite herself.

 This morning, we went and met with the surgeon. A Board Certified Veterinary General Surgeon - If it sounds expensive, yep, you got that right...  Right now, he's thinking it's an adrenal tumor. Could be cancer, could be benign.  It may be able to be removed, but we really don't know. There's really no way to tell until he goes in and sees what's really happening.

 As you can imagine, we are beside ourselves with worry and anxiety.  Do we do the surgery, do we not?  If it's the worst case scenario, I don't want to put her through a surgery and cause unnecessary suffering, I'd rather enjoy our time with her while she's here.  If it's just a benign mass, and we leave it, I feel like we are giving up hope on our precious girl.  It's been agonizing trying to make decisions on what is best for her.

We've been praying about it, crying over it for the last three days and asking God to guide us on what to do.

 Phoebe is almost nine.  She is the bossy boots in this family.  She tells us what to do and when to do it - she rules this roost.  Of course, the selfish side of me wants her to be with us for many years to come! I love this girl - so much - I almost can't stand it.  The shih-tzu on the right - yeah - he's okay too... ;)

 So, we're going ahead with the surgery to see what is happening and try to get our girl feeling better.  I hope and pray this is the right decision.

If you are so inclined, any prayers, positive thoughts, energy, *anything* positive for our girl would be greatly appreciated. We decided to do the surgery on Monday so she wouldn't have to stay at the vet all weekend recovering alone.  She'll have her surgery and spend hopefully only one night surrounded by vet tech's and a vet at the 24 hour emergency clinic, then hopefully come home to us where we can baby her.

Sweet Phoebs

Phoebe is our sweet but bossy female Yorkie. She rules the roost around here and tells us what to do and when to do it.  If we don't do as she wants, she will not so gently and very loudly remind you until you see things her way.  ;)

Over the years, we have battled with weight issues, skin issues, and allergy issues.  She had an issue with her adrenal glands that not only made her hungry *all the time* (which made her overweight too) but her skin was itchy and she would have terrible skin rashes that I had the worst time trying to  keep under control.

 Even with bathing her a couple times a week, her skin would sometimes get so bad it almost looked like someone was putting cigarette butts out on her.  It was heartbreaking and frustrating that I couldn't keep her feeling good.  Occasionally we would resort to steroids and antibiotics but I didn't want to keep doing that either - first it's not good for her and second, it's expensive.  Finally we tried a drug that would suppress her adrenals and hopefully help with her skin and her appetite.  It worked for a while and then suddenly it sent her into an adrenal crisis.

I went into panic mode when I could see that she really wasn't feeling well. She spent the night at the doggie hospital and was able to come home once she stabilized.  Adrenal crisis is just that - a crisis.  She could have suffered a heart attack, respiratory arrest - a number of things had we not caught it in time. But we did and our vet assured us that now, she would be easier to "maintain".
 So, every 25 days for the rest of her life, she will get an injection to keep her "up".  Her skin is 98% better and her appetite is no where near as ravenous.
Things were cruising along nicely for about 3 weeks when the other night when we were getting ready to go to sleep, her eyes looked "funny" to me.  All I could think of was the look drug addicts get when they are way past high and ready to pass out.  Her eyes were half closed and half rolling back into her head.  I rationalized that maybe she was just overtired and trying to go to sleep and I was bugging her.  But then, about 10 minutes later, she got sick.

Again, panic set in.  I jumped out of bed and rushed her to the emergency vet.  
Once we got there she was alert and acting fine (of course!) but would still do that crazy thing with her eyes.

Turns out, she has a corneal abrasion which can be quite painful.  We got medicated eye drops and she is now on the mend and quickly getting back into her supervisory mode.  Thank goodness!

Long time no post...Easter and Miscellaneous Goings on

So, I sat down several times trying to write a post but ended up each time just deleting my text. I was having a problem "finding" the pictures I wanted to post and I didn't want to post without them. Turns out all I needed to do was to reboot my computer and the pictures magically appeared!
it has been a crazy month around here but a good month.
Hope everyone had a nice Easter! It was a quiet day for us and it was very nice. I had originally invited Doug's family for dinner but they couldn't make it. So instead, Doug and I decided to just cook a small dinner here at home. For lunch we went to Wholefoods in Midtown. After lunch we went over to Woodward Park and the Tulsa Garden Center. The spring flowers were starting to bloom and there were a bunch of families taking pictures and having picnics. The weather was beautiful but really windy. Par for the course here in Tulsa.


Great place to take pictures - I need to go there with my camera more often!

Here is our self portrait of the day! Sitting in front of the conservatory where there is a pretty fountain and walled gardens.

Inside the conservatory there were some beautiful flowers - orchids, hibiscus and all sorts of plants. Here is a hibiscus with a bloom that was bigger than my head!

The day before Easter my sweet husband drove me to Frisco, Texas so we could go to Ikea. As I've mentioned in an earlier post I am working with a professional organizer to get my craft room into shape. Boy, what a task that has been but it is going to be soooooo worth it when it is all done. Stay tuned for before and after pictures! Coming soon, I promise.

At the end of March, we went to Tulsa's largest roll of duct tape: the BOK center to see the Black Eyed Peas. We had seen them with U2 in Norman in October but they were here with Ludicris and LMFAO. Yeah - that just about says it all! It was funny to watch the shocked looks on the parent's faces when the two warm-up bands were performing. There was some pretty colorful language used and I have to admit, I learned a few new phrases that night! We saw a bunch of parents ushering their kids out to the concession stands until it was "safe" to come back for the Black Eyed Peas.

Clinton and Mindy Baird:

Doug and Me:

It was fun and the BOK center is a great venue for concerts.

In a nutshell, the other stuff going on around here:
1. Working on cleaning the garage (so I can finally park my car inside!)
2. I *am* going to finish my craft room soon and I will post pictures.
3. Upcoming class with Cheryl Mezzetti at A Memory to Scrap - can't wait! We are creating a travel journal which will be perfect for our upcoming trip to Italy!
4. We had Phoebe's blood work done which showed us that her hormones were a little out of whack (which we already knew) and we had a melatonin injection done this past week. Hopefully that will get her feeling better real soon.
5. I've been doing open houses trying to ramp up my Real Estate Career. I just love real estate and looking at houses. Fun!
6. At the end of the month I'm going to St. Louis to attend the Mary Englebreit conference and tour her studio! I can't wait for that either!
7. I've signed up for Silver Bella and Inspiration Unlimited which both take place in the fall. I'm contemplating a couple other creative conferences - I just love the inspiration I get from being around other creative and talented people..

Well - I think that is enough for now.

Yay Saturday!

The week went by pretty fast, actually it was a blur. With Niles getting sick and neither of us sleeping much, Friday was here and gone before I knew it. I guess going through the days totally exhausted makes you kind of oblivious to the here and now. Hopefully, we will all get rested up this weekend and get back on track.

The weather was gorgeous this week and I love it. I love having the windows open and being able to wear cute shoes without my feet freezing! The funny thing is, they freeze anyway. Even though we had temperatures up to 90 degrees and the house was warm with the windows open, I *still* had the space heater on my feet...Last night when Doug and I were sitting on the patio at McGills having some dinner, the weather was perfect but I was glad I brought my sweater. He just shook his head at me. I can't help it.

Early in the afternoon yesterday when I got home from work I saw that the heat has made my cute little rosebush absolutely POP! Just Thursday it had two little roses on it and last night it looked like this:

Unfortunately, its getting too hot for the pansies and it is time for them to go. I feel so guilty pulling out perfectly good plants. But the front is starting to look unsightly and overgrown. So, this weekend, out they go.

Waiting to be planted in their place are these:

and these:

Finally, I leave you with this: Have you ever wondered what a canned ham with legs would look like? Actually, I've never given it much thought but everyday I see this I think of new foods she reminds me of. To get the full effect you need to see her running down the street.

I just love her!

Ooops!

Somehow I published today's blog without typing in anything. Let me try this again.

We went to Savastano's tonight for pizza. Call me crazy but I like my pizza cut into wedges ~ not into squares! At Savastano's they absolutely *will not* cut the pizza into wedges. They claim because it is supposed to be Chicago style pizza and the owners are from Chicago that they are not allowed to cut the thin crust pizza into wedges. What ever happened to "the customer is always right"? We asked for the pizza to be brought out uncut so we could cut it ourselves - into wedges. It may sound crazy but I think it tastes so much better cut into wedges. I don't like pizza without crust on the end. So, out it came and we cut it ourselves. Ummmmm.. delicious! and I was so much happier.

I will eat there again because the pizza is good. Next time though, I'm going to bring my own pizza cutter. Our waitress brought out the biggest clunker pizza cutter I've ever seen. The wheel was completely wobbly and I thought it was going to fall off the handle and go rolling across the floor. (I must be tired because I'm laughing to myself thinking about that wobbly wheel while I'm typing this -hee hee hee!)

Okay, so now that we've talked about food...

This is Phoebe. Also known as Phoebe Buffet, Phoebe who stayed too long at the Buffet, Curly, Girls, Feebs, Nerky, Narnickiny...the list goes on and on. She has never met a meal she hasn't liked. Let's just say she has a slight, ahem, weight challenge. We tell her it looks good on her though. :) I'm not sure if you can see from this picture but she has stumpy little legs and a nice, round belly. She sort of wobbles when she walks - kind of like a weeble. When she runs she looks like a little millipede.
Anyway. Curly and I have just started walking in the evening. We both need to stretch our legs a little. Since we are just starting out, she can't go very far without running out of steam so we are starting slow. The problem is, when she gets tired ~ after oh, about 100 feet or so, ~ she tries to walk directly under my feet so I'll pick her up. But I'm smarter than that. Tonight I tried to run just slightly ahead of her and made her run to catch me. I'm sure we were quite a sight. She just needs to lose a few .oz's and hopefully by helping her get a little extra exercise she can lose a little weight (and maybe I will too...).
I can't really put her on a diet or limit her food intake because she is already very food possessive and she gets even worse when I even think about limiting her intake. Plus with four dogs, honestly, it is so much easier to just free feed. So, as an alternative we are walking. Hopefully the exercise will do us both good and will wear her out so she will just sleep at night instead of guarding the food bowl all night long. Maybe we will both benefit.