Sunday, March 29, 2015

Pink Poodle

The other week Lucas went up to the University of Florida for his DCM screening. Some of the tests they were going to do, they did not do. Their findings were that he has a leaky heart valve. They did not find evidence of DCM because of the way the left ventricle contracts. No arrhythmia. They won't rule out DCM though because of the breed. They said the medicine he's on now is also good for treating the leaky heart valve. He is still supposed to do a cardio workup every 6 months. Next time I will either be bringing him back up there for his checkup or to a cardiologist. The last time I had it done at my vets office. They set up appointments for specialists to come in to do the tests, then send the findings out to a specialists to read. I'm not trusting them anymore. For some things I can still do that, but for others, like Lucas' heart, it's not worth saving the extra money. I have been told by both the UF vets and my own, that the leaky heart valve is better to have than DCM. I'll take that as a good thing.

I gave Holly and Lucas a couple new toys this week. I should say just Holly, as she steals them all in the end. The rescue guy came by with his 2 dogs this week and they shared Holly's pink poodle. Holly had already taken the nose and part of the ears off.







Little pest Gomez. When he gets on a roll, he just won't leave you alone.





This is 3 years old but I wanted to share for the upcoming Easter holiday.





Well I hope everyone has a great week!

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Semi-Spring Cleaning

I have to admit. I've never done a Spring cleaning in my life. When I'm in the mood to do different cleaning, I just do it. Right now, over the (probably) next 6 months, I've decided to go through drawer by drawer and clean out what I don't use. As much as I have a problem of letting some stuff go, like stuff I really like, if I haven't used it by now, it's going in a garage sale bin. I have 4 bins so far. Not all are full. I've kind of separated them by household items, holiday stuff, clothes, etc. Today I will probably go through a small cabinet where I store holiday stuff. Just kind of thinning out the crap we have, plus I could really use some extra money to go towards either my dental bills or vet bills. No easier way for extra money than a garage sale. My goal is to have one in October. I think it'll be too hot until then. I told my hubby he needs to go through his garage stuff and put at least 1 item a week in the bins. So far he's put 1 thing in. I'm rolling my eyes, you just can't see it.

Next week we are taking Lucas up to the University of Florida. The Doberman DCM screening clinic upped the age for Dobermans, so the doctor called me last week and asked if I'd like to include Lucas. He was already diagnosed with DCM last year so they will be doing the second part of the screening which will include the gene test and the holter monitor. I didn't even ask (or want to) about the holter monitor. If it's a 24 hour thing, I'm just wondering how I'm getting it back up there to the college as it's a 4 hour one-way trip. I wonder if they'd let me UPS it back. Not going to worry about it until we get up there. My hubby is taking the day off so he can help me drive. Last time I almost made it the whole way, until I was about 2 hours from home. Next week is there last week of testing. He said they might extend it one week but wasn't sure.

Well I'm off to start checking shelves for the garage sale stash. Then hopefully a relaxing day after that. Hope everyone enjoys their Sunday!

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Results

Finally received the results back from Lucas' trans-tracheal wash. It came back normal. No signs of infection and no cancer cells. Yay! But we still need to keep an eye on him in case something comes back. They assume most of the whitish color is probably scarring from heartworms head had before he came into the rescue. I'm okay with that. He's kicking butt on a lot of things through his life and I always expect him to. We also had blood work done and a urinalysis. The blood work came back good but the urine came back with a lot of white blood cells and bacteria. So here we go with number whatever UTI. I had a culture & sensitivity test done on Wednesday so we can figure out which antibiotic to put him on. If I don't do it, I seem to waste my money on the wrong antibiotic.

My one owner of my job is still in the hospital. He's still on the breathing tube. I've been told by others he has not gotten worse. Whether or not he's getting better, I have no idea. I actually stopped by the hospital yesterday on my way home. He's awake but can't communicate. He was awake when I got there. I talked to him for about 30 seconds and I asked him if he was okay or if he wanted me to leave him alone. I figured he can't talk, he feels like shit, helpless, who knows, so I asked. He shook his head yes for me to leave, which was absolutely a relief because I had no idea what else to say. So hopefully next week he'll start showing some signs of improvement. I have no idea how long one can stay on a breathing tube and be awake. I would want none of that if it was me.

Someone share this link on Facebook last week. I just have to share. It's the story of ""the dog no one owned but everyone loved". It's a heartwarming story.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Rare Sighting, Bandanas, and Oz

Another week gone. I had a cold and it finally started going away Tuesday. Feeling much better now. No matter what I take, it never seems to help what symptoms I  want it to help.

Went down to my parents yesterday. The last few times I went down I haven't been taking my dogs. This is a good thing for their cat Kitty Star. That means she gets to come out. Even though I've yet to have her warm up to me...after 4 years.






I had ordered some doggy bandanas for 2 rescues here in Florida. They come from a fellow blogger who has an Etsy Store. It's Cindy's Thread Craft. I would highly recommend you check out her items. She does beautiful work and has many options you can do. Both the rescues received their bandanas and they love them. They'll be using them at their adoption events. Here's a photo of one modeling the bandana when he received it.





I really need to get some red, sparkly shoes. This is the second kitty I've had the "house fall on".





Saved the worse for last. Friday, my first phone call at work was a hospital telling me that one of my owners was in the hospital and that I needed to find someone to bring his mom there because he was on life support.  Long story short, he needs to have his gall bladder removed but they can't do it yet as his heart is not strong enough. They inserted a drain in his gall bladder Friday to drain out the infection. They don't know how long that will take. They have a breathing tube in him because his lungs are not getting the air they need. Yesterday someone updated me and said the drain is still in and he also had a mild heart attack. He's hanging in there. I really didn't know what happened when they told me he was on life support. So many things went through my head. He was in a car accident. He overdosed on something. I didn't find out until his mom went to the hospital. Both my owners are addicts. This one has not done anything in a long time, but he did enough damage to his body where his health has always been shit. The other one is still a on again, off again crackhead (to put it nicely). I honestly couldn't believe it was him in the hospital. If you pray, please say one for him too. He's going to need it.