What's this? An update??

Oh man, where to start.....

First off, most of you know about Quagmire. He was my baby boy Yorkie for 6 years. Well, he's been sick on and off for 3 of them but at the end of February he got really sick again and stayed sick all the way up to May 1st. He was VERY sick. He needed a LOT of care. So much care that I didn't even leave the house other than vet visits and a quick run to Walgreens here and there. Well, his last vet appointment was the morning of May 1st and we had a long talk with his vet and the inevitable hit us smack in the face. May 1st, 2012 we decided the best thing for him was to let them put him to sleep. When I look back through my life I know this was in the top 5 horribly difficult decisions and things that I had to do. I mean shit, it's been almost 2 months and I'm crying  just typing this.
I miss him so much.

On May 4th Gary got me a kitten. He made the pain of losing Quagmire soooooooooooooooooooo much easier than I thought it would be. We named him Walter so meet Walter!!!
He's the most precious, precocious, hyper little guy you can imagine. He's also a little piggie. Gary and I are used to smaller cats. Monster weighs in at about 7 lbs and he's lean as can be. Walter was 1lb 7oz when we got him (6 weeks old) and yesterday I put him back on the postal scale and he's sitting in at 3lbs 7oz... TWO pounds in 6 weeks. That's a lot for a cat. He's gonna be a big boy. I love him so much.

So where have I been since then? I've been SO busy. My sister (Amanda, my youngest sister) was deployed to Afghanistan mid-March. My nephew, Timmy, stayed in Hawaii to finish the school year and then came here. He got here May 21st and will be headed to Texas on July 1st. Also, Gary was TDY in Florida. He had left on May 19th and was there for 2 weeks. I never thought a 14 yr old boy would need SO much attention (and not in a bad way). When it's just Gary and me meals are sporadic. We eat when we're hungry. Well, when you're in charge of a child you pretty much have to keep a schedule. It was weird to get used to that but nice though because hopefully after 6 weeks we can keep it up. It's been a blessing having him here and I'm going to miss him when we put him on the plane. Hopefully, he'll be back to visit again soon. :)
So we've spent the month doing fun things like movie nights at home, we went out to the movies once, we went to the zoo and aquarium and just a bunch of other things to make his visit fun.


I've been so busy and preoccupied that I took a little break from swap-bot. Other than postcard swaps I've only done about 5 all month, but now that things are starting to slow down I'm running 5 swaps and joined a bunch of other ones. The 5 that I'm hosting can only be found in the I LOVE Kawaii group on swap-bot. If you're interested in joining the swap and meet our reasonable requirements to join the group please request an invite to the group! Here is a list of what I'm hosting. :)

Kawaii Sticker Flake Bags - June/July
~ILK 35 x 3 Kawaii Sticker Flake Swap~
Love That Deco Tape #2
High Dollar Large Kawaii Swap #6
20 Letter Sets Swap #1 

They should be a lot of fun!

Anyway, I should be updating the blog more often, especially because we have a lot of new things coming up in our lives. Stay tuned!!!

~ Rachel

p.s. I HATE THE NEW BLOGGER SYSTEM! THAT IS ALL!

Another Quagmire Update

Thursday started off normal and the whole day was rather uneventful and boring. Gary got home from work around 4pm. I was sitting in the computer room when I heard him open the door. He came through to me about 5 minutes later and tells me that he doesn't know where Quagmire is because Quags usually comes running when Gary gets home. Anyway, I freak for a second. Maybe I had left him outside but I check the living room by the front door where Quagmire is usually sleeping and I see him there TRYING to stand up but failing miserably. 3 days later that sight haunts me. The little guy just wanted to come see his Daddy and couldn't.
Anyway, we figured he had just had another seizure and was getting over it. We didn't take him to the vet but I did call them to set up an appointment for this coming Monday. I explained that it was financial and of course they told me that wouldn't matter and if we needed to come in to just come in. We decided to wait it out because in the end there isn't anything they can do immediately for a seizure.

So, now it's 10:20 pm. I'm sound asleep and I wake up to Gary calling me telling me to come to him. Of course I'm in some sort of crazy daze because I had taken a sleeping pill and was out COLD. I stumble into the kitchen and see him there sitting with Quagmire. Quags is trembling pretty bad and trying to walk but can't do it. I'm FREAKING out at this point. In my sleepy head all I could think was that this was the big one and Gary had called me out to say goodbye. Quagmire recovered from this one pretty quickly after I got up. It had started at 10pm though so this one was much longer and more intense than the one 6 hours prior. I took him in the bedroom and was laying on the floor with my pillow next to his with every intention of sleeping on the floor with him but that got him all excited and he was pretty set on getting up in bed with us. He was even TRYING to jump into our bed but his legs are too short so it's just a cute little hop he does. Anyway, he sleeps with us and I'm up at 6:45 in the am to call his vet and make him an appointment. They had me bring him in right away so I do and once I'm there with him I go through everything that had happened the day before.

So, here we are on Saturday. He's a little lethargic, panting, thirsty (all symptoms of his new medication) and this is what the doctor is saying.

She said we COULD pay for an MRI for him. They don't do it but there is a vet downtown who will. The cost is $2500. She says it's not even something she recommends per say (because of the price) but that it is an option.
She started him on Phenobarbital and Bromide for seizures. He's on an aggressive dose because he had 2 in one day. He'll be on the Pheno for about 4 months. We'll test his blood then to make sure his Bromide level is high enough to stop seizures then they'll take him off the Pheno. It's a good med but the liver damage risk is much higher on Pheno than on Bromide and he already has a bad liver.

They're also going to test him for Cushings. Here's a link if you're interested in reading about THAT. He's got most of the symptoms except that he's a little young for when dogs usually get it.

I'll post more later when we get test results back. :)

Quagmire update!

Hi people,

I haven't updated about Quagmire in quite some time and since he just had another round of blood work a few days ago I thought I'd take a moment and update people.
His valley fever (1 to 32) is right where it was 3 months ago. They'd like to see it around 1 to 2 or 3 to 4 so we have a little ways to go. He really needs a dental cleaning but they can't do anything about it until his valley fever drops. They are estimating he should be ok for that in November so keep praying.
His pancreatic levels are a little high but they said that is normal for dogs who have previously had pancreatitis.
His liver enzymes are elevated mostly due to the fluconazole that he's on for his valley fever. I'm picking up a liver-protecting pill for him in a little while.
His thyroid is PERFECT! We FINALLY got the right medicine at the right level. That's only taken .... 9 months!
His triglycerides are a little high. He needs to stay on the low-fat/high fiber that he's on right now. And bland, very very bland.
Um... A few other things are a little elevated but it all points back to his valley fever. Man that valley fever is a pain in the butt.

His weight is down almost a pound. I was looking at his records on Wednesday and his highest was 20.8 about 9 months ago and now he's down 16.2 so over 4 pounds and that's a LOT for a little guy. We'll be happy with about 2 more pounds. But with his diet and his thyroid under control now that should be going down just fine.

I think that's it. He's looking good!

Love you guys and thanks for all the prayer for my little dude.

My week in a nutshell

It started off slow but has picked up in the last 2 days.
I took Quagmire for grooming on Wednesday. I had noticed that the gunk in his eyes (normal for yorkies) was a different color than usual so I asked the groomer to look at it and if it looked infected to please have the vet look at it. Well what do you know... it's infected.. with a bacteria AND a fungal infection. I swear this dog is going to be the death of me... So, he got a nice shot in his butt and sent home with a few pills. That was yesterday. Early this morning the vet calls me back, apparently the medicine that he's already on for his valley fever will help clear up the eye infection that he has already .. the fungal part that is, so I returned the meds a little while ago and got a refund. I'm not going to complain about that!

Today (It's only Thursday!?!?). I was up at 6am to take Gary to work. Then I have to take the car to Mazda. When it was getting repaired 2 weeks ago they took the time to get grease all over the hood liner and the visor and I wasn't about to try and wipe it out so they said they would detail clean it for me. So, 2.5 hours later they call to tell me it's ready. Sandra, who had picked me up so I wouldn't have to wait there, dropped me back off. You would THINK after 2.5 hours that they would have detailed the ENTIRE car since after all they left the grease in there but nope, they just got the spots out. UGH.. did I mention that they would NOT give me a loaner car which meant I had to sit there or put someone else out of their way? Not a good experience with them and I'm going to remember that when I'm car shopping in a few months.

Tomorrow, I have NOTHING to do. That's because Gary ordered like.. probably one of everything at newegg and he's been stalking the newegg website and the ups website and knows where these parts are at any given moment. Well, they're supposed to all get delivered tomorrow and newegg requires signatures so yup, here I am stuck at home waiting for the UPS guy.. who I hate but that's a different story.

Saturday is going to be a busy day from start to finish.
I'm starting the day with an early afternoon baby shower. It's for my friend of 6 years who also happens to be my hair dresser (which reminds me, I need to get rid of these roots Friday night). I'm hoping to not have to stay too long because then I have to run home and change because I'm headed to Melia's house for her BIRTHDAY BASH!!! Cake and ice cream and presents OH MY!
We're going to go to dinner, eat some cake, open some presents and then I need to head home to the husband who's going to be neglected all day but he won't care because he'll be playing with new computer parts.. which is ANOTHER reason I'm hoping they get here tomorrow or he's going to be heartbroken that he has to wait until Monday (actually Tuesday because no one will be here Monday to sign for things).. yeah UPS better be here tomorrow. I won't be happy if I sit around all day and no one shows up.

Sunday, DAY OF QUIET - FINALLY (not that I am complaining that my week is so busy with fun things :) )

Quagmire's Weekend

Quagmire gave us a little scare over the weekend. By "little" I mean HUGE.
Saturday started off pretty normal. I made breakfast for Gary and I and saved 1/2 an egg for Quagmire to eat with his breakfast. Around 1:30 he had his lunch. I was going in around 5pm to feed him his dinner and noticed he had gotten sick in the living room. It was just all his dry food lunch. Gary went to check on him (love on him and make sure he was OK) and I was cleaning the carpet and all I remember is Gary calling out Quagmire's name pretty frantically. So I look over and I see Quagmire trying to walk but his front legs wouldn't move and then his back legs gave out so *I* of course start to panic and then I don't remember HOW he got to me .. maybe Gary carried him but he was next to me leaning on the wall shaking ... so Gary is running around getting his shoes on and getting the leash out and I'm running around throwing clothes on and calling the vet just to remember they close at 3 on Saturdays and Sundays.
So, we pile in the car and head out to the ER vet. About 3 miles down the road Quagmire seemed to have snapped out of this "seizure" of sorts and was just panting (hot car) and looking pretty tired. We decided, having dealt with the ER Vet before, we'd honestly rather wait to take him to his own vet in the morning since he seemed to have come around and was doing OK (pupils not dilated and responding etc...).
When we got home Quagmire drank a bunch of water and got sick again... all I can think is it's the pancreatitis all over again.
After that we did tablespoons of water at a time and 2 tablespoons of some rice and corn, all of which he handled just fine.
After a crappy night of sleeping and waking up all the time to check on him, we woke up early today to be at the vet by 8am. Quagmire was as hyper as could be. His nose was MUCH cooler than it was the day before. He really just wanted us to get up and give him his breakfast like we do every morning. We skipped it and headed to the vet. He had NO fever, his heart sounded fine and his pupils were fine. They had just done his blood work 2 weeks ago so they didn't want to do any more quite yet. They don't really KNOW what's going on. It's possible that his valley fever (while getting better) has settled in his nervous system or that he's developing epilepsy or something. Really, we just need to keep an eye on him. If it happens again they'll want to do some sort of an MRI on him or something. They changed up his valley fever meds to a higher dose of fluconazole which enters the nervous system (his other medication didn't).
He left the vet a happy puppy and they only charged me HALF of what they said they were going to charge me so I left a very relieved mom. We've been monitoring his water intake all day to make sure he doesn't gorge himself and get sick.
Tomorrow I have to run errands all day and I'm really nervous about leaving him home alone but I think he's doing fine now. I just won't leave an endless supply of water out for him. Just enough to keep him from dehydrating.

So yeah, that was our weekend scare with Quagmire, my little problem child.

Meh

It was a pretty good weekend. As stated before we played WoW most of it. Sunday he took me out for a sushi lunch and then stopped by Ford to test drive a Fusion. I fell in love with this car. We have to go to Mazda this month to get the oil changed in his car so I'll look at the Mazda 6s but most likely when the pieces fall where they should I'll be picking out a Ford Fusion.
We went and saw "Death at a Funeral" last night. Most of it was down right hilarious. Meh, we had a good time.... even though I was falling asleep on the drive home. (We went to a LATE show).

Gary put in for leave this week. No particular reason, just to have some time off - I like to think it's for me. :D I want to take advantage of a quiet weeknight off to go see that new Steve Carell movie "Date Night".. THAT one is going to be funnnnnnny.

I also have a lot of cooking to do this week. I like when Gary is home because then he can help me and we have fun when we cook together. I'll be posting some recipes here and Donna likes to have pictures on her posts so hopefully my camera doesn't make my food look disgusting.

This has been another boring post from my boring life.
Now to go finish making turkey meatballs for Quagmire and get started on Gary's dinner... nothing fancy - just some shrimp and pasta with a nice salad.

Well at least Gary made out...

I just got back from World Market (I love that place). I didn't really find what I was looking for (for me) but Gary is making out like a bandit.



Also stopped by the vet for more meds for Quagmire. $75 for 2 antibiotics. I'm in the wrong business. This dog is quickly turning into my million-dollar baby. Did I mention that one of the pills are gigantic and it's hard enough getting him to take tiny pills? UGH!

RAWR!!!

I got him to eat a bowl of baby rice and baby turkey... I should have stuck his pills in there... but NOOOOOO I decide to shove his pills down his throat and squirt water right behind them. It worked on one. On the other he kept spitting it back out so I shoved it back down, held his mouth closed, blew in his face and rubbed his throat. I waited until he swallowed and let him down.. he gets on the floor and sneezes and the pill goes flying across the living room. I GIVE UP! No barf for 12 hours though.

I also bribed Gary today. I told him I would make him curry chicken for dinner if he went to the commissary with me. BIG MISTAKE. He spent 45 minutes in the commissary harassing the crap out of me. Every 5 minutes it was "OoOOooo [random grocery item]"... I was ready to smack him. Then he texts me from the pepperoni aisle? I'm tempted to leave him home next time but it's much more fun to watch him suffer. :D

p.s. Very happy I found Oxo at the commissary today. I was out and now I don't have to have my MIL order me some from Ireland.

p.p.s WTF!!!

Can't always get what you want..?

So "Quagmire" ordered flowers for our vet on April 7th for delivery on April 9th. It was a gorgeous bouquet of 6 giant sunflowers and greenery. Well, we showed up yesterday at the vet to have them check out why he's feeling bad again and I looked around and didn't see any sunflowers. I saw a HUGE, ostentatious bouquet of flowers with tulips and hibiscus and some baby roses and well I guess they were ok but I wouldn't have ever picked them out. So anyway, we're sitting in the exam room and the vet and tech walk in and just start gushing over the flowers we sent and I said "Oh you got them! Good, I didn't see them" and they said that the HUGE bouquet out front were the ones that got delivered.
I just got off the phone with ProFlowers. Apparently there was a glitch in the system and they just sent out "flowers" to whomever had ordered to make sure they got something on delivery day. I guess that's a nice thing but I really wish they would have called me rather than send this ugly bouquet.
Oh well, the vet LOVED them and ProFlowers refunded me half my money.. (half? ugh.. but it's better than a credit).

Quagmire Update.

He threw up a few times last night. I gave him a pepcid this morning and it seems to be working however he's a little sluggish, his tummy is making funny noises and he's burping a lot. We're hoping that it's because he just missed his Pepcid yesterday. (There were 2 pills in his food bowl and he ate one and we're not sure which one it was). So yeah, I'm a little worried. I might bump his appointment up from next Friday to earlier in the week.
Let ya know later what's up.

Doin' much better than last weekend!

SOMEONE is totally chillin' out on the couch today while Gary and I are in the other room raiding ICC10 (it's a WoW thing)... but yeah he looks comfy and feeling SO MUCH better. (I'm updating between bosses ... )

I'm allowed to change my mind

I've decided to NOT import all of my old posts.
1. There are too many and ...
2. after reading them I don't feel like editing the content (man I used to swear like a sailor) and I was also pretty crabby so yeah.. no thank you.

Today's agenda is to take the recipe in the previous post (just the meatball part). Substitute turkey for hamburger and leave out the spices and make meatballs to keep in the fridge for Quagmire's meals. He's still on a bland diet but he is hungry ALL THE TIME and the Hills I have him on is expensive for one and apparently not supposed to be used for an extended period of time. So yeah, his spoiled butt is getting turkey meatballs. Plus meatballs will be easier to tuck pills in to.

Speaking of pills, I need to go choke down all of my diabetes meds... like a small handful of them... blah

Black is the new red... I swear

Last week before Quagmire drama I decided to color my hair red again. It didn't go so well. The roots took it GREAT and the rest of my hair stayed black. I guess it's a sign because I'm headed back into the shower to dye it back. Hopefully it won't fall out from all this coloring. So yeah, stained forehead and fingers. I can't wait!

p.s. Quags just ate food FROM A BOWL!!!!

Patiently waiting for...

- my husband to come home.
- my dog to start eating.
- food to get in my belly.
- my percoset to kick in.
- my husband to come home.... (did I mention that one?)

Life is good...

Nevermind that 3 days ago I was crying my eyes out but I sincerely thought we were going to lose the puppers. I picked him up about an hour ago and noticed he smelled like heaven and they said that they gave him a courtesy bath and I said ... "I know what he smelled like.. so basically you're saying you couldn't handle the odor" and we all got a chuckle and we hit the road.
I washed all of his blankets this afternoon and had already lined the couch. You should see this couch. It's huge. It could sleep 7 people and somehow this 15lb dog takes over the ENTIRE thing. I gave him a little water and he hopped his chunky butt right up on the couch and he hasn't moved for an hour. I think he's pretty stinking happy right now. Could also be that I told him he could sleep with me tonight and that Gary would be on the couch. Not sure how that's going to go over with Gary but oh wells...
Now I get to spend the next few weeks making homemade dog food for this dog. Rice, chicken, hamburger, turkey, cottage cheese, chicken noodle soup... these are all foods the vet said to be feeding him. Sounds gross to me but I imagine for a dog he's gonna be pretty happy.. oh and eggs.. he's allowed to have scrambled eggs.. he LOVES scrambled eggs.

I about had a heart attack but someone paid for Quagmire's visit today. Every last penny. We still owe $1350 and have some blood work to pay for next week but that is about $550 we don't have to worry about (right this second because I WILL be paying it back). Our friends and family have been amazing and we love you all so much. Thank you!

So yes, life on a couch with a sweet smelling puppy is good...

HOW could I forget?

As almost everyone in the world knows, my dog Quagmire has been pretty sick for the past week. We got great news from the vet this morning and I'm going there around 4pm to pick his chunky butt up to take home. At some points over the last few days I really didn't think he was going to make it so even though the call came in at the ungodly hour of 7:30 am it was the best phone call I think I've ever received!
Thank you for all of the prayers and donations for his astronomical vet bills. Gary and I really really really appreciate it!