SNEEZES

My cold feels a lot better today. Not 100% but definitely better. I was miserable this past week. On Friday I think I broke every record I ever had of total sneezes in one day. I do not exaggerate when I say I sneezed BIG SNEEZES at least 50 times that day. My head was running all over the place and I did not feel like doing anything. 

Bubbles, still in her cone of shame, was tolerating mediocre life well. She is used to heavy play throughout the day and she sure hasn't been getting it. Between husband and me both being sick at different times and her own very limited activity due to the cone... well... life has been dull for her.

GP (husband).  I like the initials. I think it adds mystery to his existence ;-) Anyway - GP woke up sick again today after being up all night. Oh no! Not again! My heart is heavy for him because he works so hard and he does so much. The pool is open and ready, thanks to his dedicated efforts to keep life flowing as smoothly as possible. Bubbles will be overjoyed to be jumping in that pool after a year of not understanding why no pool all of a sudden.

The last couple of days I've been giving Bubbles a break with the cone. All day without it, but then at night I put it on her. She is such a good girl. She jumps right up and offers her head for me to slip it over. She was truly heaven sent.

Bubbles, thoughts?

Gracie told me she has a lot of furrriends on here and that I should embrace the love and ... sorry guys... but she said I need to be a bit sassy to carry on in her absence. No can do, Gracie. I'm a lover not a fighter.

See Gracie's memory table in back?

I sleep now

No Tears

 Have you ever buried your feelings so deep that you find yourself just going through the motions without showing emotion?  Well, if you have, then you know what I'm talking about.  Life, people, friends, family and goals just aren't measuring up to your expectations and things seem a little hopeless. But. No tears.

Our household has been lacking sleep lately due to a certain 15-year old cockapoo ....  yea, Gracie!  Up and down and in and out of the house all day and all night long.  Diarrhea  and vomiting.  Cleaning floors at 3AM.  Torn between feeling sorry for my girl Gracie and feeling sorry for myself. At this stage of her life,  I begin to think the worst.  Still.  No tears.

An emergency vet visit left my girl afraid, shaking and vomiting, waiting for almost an hour on the cold hospital floor for the vet to come back.  I watched her from the stool I sat on from above, cold, uncomfortable, emotionless and bitter to the fact that she was so sick.   My poor girl. But I stayed strong, cause there were still no tears.

But I knew of the possibilities and I trembled inside to think that this might be it for my Gracie.  And so I prayed.

Get down on the floor with her.

And so I did.

I kept praying.  Between being cold, sick and anxious, she was shaking badly.

Cover her with your coat.

 And so I did.  And I kissed her head and massaged her ears.

In that moment, as I let go of my strong matter-of-fact realistic, bitter demeanor and allowed myself to feel the hurt,  tears began streaming down my face.

"It's okay, girl.  Mommy's here..."

I felt better.  I'd released days of worry and exhaustion and confusion and now I was okay.  And so was Gracie.  Her blood test and x-ray showed nothing serious.  Probably a gastrointestinal flare-up from stress of the holidays.


Dear Diary,

Mom The NAG snagged this picture of me while I was resting and she shared it on Instagram and one of her friends offered condolences.  BOL!!!!!   I tell ya, I can still jump onto the highest chair in the living room and I can still poop and play and run and bark at the mailman.  #NotDeadYet

Gracie

 

Let's Call It a Week...

Saturday evening.  In my haste to get to the church on time to see the Easter play, I slit my pointer finger on a dogfood can lid while I was opening Gracie's food.  After cleaning up the bloody sink and dumping peroxide over my finger, I bandaged it and out the door I went.  It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been my right hand.  The one I always use.  And it wouldn't have been so bad if I had use of my pinky (which I now had in a splint, helping the arthritis feel better).  Another reason I  put a splint on my pinky is because of over zealous hand shakers who have no idea that their firm, strong handshake  sends me through the roof in pain.  Ouch!!  

Anyhoo.  Gary is in Florida visiting with his uncle, so I am  running the office by myself.  

Gary has demands.  Do this. Do that. Don't forget to...  blah...blahh... blah...  

He insists I do a hearing aid delivery on Monday.  The very best and newest in technology (and very expensive I might add) is about to be delivered to one of our customers (with a very strong handshake by the way) and I am learning as I go along.  

Gary calls from Florida.   Make sure you turn the computers on ahead of time in the office.  

Yes, Gary.  I know Gary.   

The 1/2 hour between 9:30 and 10:00 is laden with stress for me.  Always running late, I grab the garbage to take to the outside trash holder.  It's windy.  I'm holding the phone in one hand as Gary rattles on through speaker phone.  With the other hand I open the top of the garbage holder, then pick up the bag and go to throw it inside.  Suddenly the wind slams the lid down on the side of my head/face, almost knocking me to the ground and I drop the phone and begin to sob.   

Inside, Gracie begs for her walk around the house.  

In the office, I dig out all of the hearing aid paraphernalia and connect to the computer to program.  I'm overwhelmed.  With one finger bandaged and another in a splint, I have 3 good fingers on my right hand to work with.  There are little doo dads and thingamajigs that need put on and taken off...  My close up vision isn't so good anymore.  Trying to do something about that... but that's a post for another day.  (one of those LOL posts)

Gary tries to help via speaker phone.  His picturesque description of how he's basking in the sun at the pool is not helping my mood.  I guess I'm mad.  

Three hours and tons of mistakes later, the hearing aids are ready to go.  I call the customer, hoping he decides to wait until Gary is back.  Nope. He wants to come up right now, even though he is sick with he's not sure what....  He sounds horrible.  Ugh.

When his delivery is complete and he leaves, I notice a tickle in my throat.  Could it be?  Naaahhh..  it's that power of suggestion.  You don't pick up a bug that fast.

Later that night, I'm sick.  I can't sleep.  My throat hurts.  I feel bad!!

Gary was sick last week.  I'm guessing he gifted me with his germs before he left.  Gee...  I sure hope he's getting a nice tan.

Dear Diary,


I wish Mom could get with it and stop taking me for the short walks.  Dad takes me for the long walks.  Why can't she take me for the long walks?  What is her problem??  Where is my dad?  I want my daddy!!! Gracie.

Emergency Visit to The Animal Hospital

Hi Everyone.

It's 3:30 AM and I just got back from an emergency visit to the animal hospital.  Gracie has bladder stones and a blockage.  

Please pray for her, that she does okay with the procedures that she will have to go through and for  possible surgery.

I have a choice to make. The vet is going to try to push the stone that is causing the blockage back up through the urethra and into the bladder, however he feels that he should then do surgery to remove the stones so this doesn't happen again weeks from now.  OR if it is a certain kind of stone, a special diet might work... but this is not as effective.    

Surgery?  Or not?  I want what's best for Gracie. 

I miss my girl already.  

I Don't Feel Well

Dear Diary,  

It wasn't the urgency in my eyes or the pacing back and forth by the door the minute I came back in from outside that made Mom decide I needed to see the doc.

It was more the squatting and peeing every five seconds that got her all worried.  Sometimes I'd squat for minutes without moving.  Like here (see me squatting below.) 

 I had to listen real close for familiar words.

Doctor.  Vet.  Buick. Go. 

I was a little embarrassed about going to the vet's looking like the scruff-muffin that I was.  I'd been spending a lot of time outside in the grass. After I pee, I dig a little and try to cover it up.  Mom say's I'm a mess. 

 She keeps bringing the b word up. But all I can think of is the P word. I don't feel well.  I just want to pee.  

I was excited to go to the animal hospital.

Mom said I was so good and that she wishes she would have taken a picture of me while they were examining me because It was the cutest thing she'd ever seen.

 She's the sick pup... not me.  What kind of a sick-o would try to get a 'cute' picture of their fur baby while it's feeling like crap....

The nice lady doctor took me outside to pee.  While I was peeing someone put something underneath me so that my pee wouldn't hit the ground.  She said she was collecting my pee.  Geesh.  And I thought MOM was weird!!

I was a good girl.  I didn't bite or snap or even resist when the doc massaged my belly.   

Plus - good news.  I'm still only 25 lb. Ha!  Mom keeps telling me I'm getting to be a heavy weight.  I guess I showed her.  Haven't gained an ounce in the last year.  

Can't say that about HER!

I got a toy for being good.  It looks like a pillow, but it squeaks like a mouse. 

Then I had to watch the house.  What's it take for a girl to get a sick day around here?

Mom says I have a U.T.I. (whatever that is) and she wraps a pill in turkey tricks me into taking a pill every 12 hours. 

Uh oh.  Gotta go...    Gracie.

It's Not Time Yet

Hubby's sick, so I made Chicken noodle soup.  The best I ever made thanks to the Rainbow cookware that I picked up at a yard sale this summer.  This cookware is hard to find, and the last time I checked on Ebay the lids were going for over $30 and they weren't even new.  This cookware was new in the box and I got it all for $20.  

Cooking on high is a no-no with this cookware.  You start cooking on medium heat, and turn it to low when steam begins to escape...  then the lid seals and the food cooks leaving all of the flavor & vitamins inside.  

The flavor is out of this world good!!

A few days ago Hubby gave me this cute

 card in honor of us  

 not being able to go on 

a real vacation last year....   

And today I got something in the mail.  

Oh, I do wish I could tell you what it is.  

But it's not time yet.  

Dear Diary,

I'm just about finished my peanut butter chew bone from The Three Dog Bakery.  Mom says I'm not supposed to eat chew bones - I'm supposed to chew on them.  

What planet is she from?  

Chew - eat... what's the difference?

Now that Mom's feeling better, Dad's sick. The flu? A cold?  I'm not sure.  They're tossing a lot of words like that around. I had to keep checking on him today to make sure he was okay.  

 A dogs work is never done.  Gracie.

He Is My Hero

 My 2 weeks of bed rest are over.  Tomorrow it's back to work for me.  I'm not real excited about returning to work... but I'll have to admit I'm very excited about returning to life!!

I'm not going to get into the details of my bed rest.  Ugh!  No one should have to listen to such stuff...  

But this wonderful man endured, and he is my hero!!

I love you Gary!   

Thank you for being here for me.

And my Gracie.  I saw so many emotions through her eyes in the last couple of weeks.  There was fear, confusion, sadness, and finally joy.  Dogs are without a doubt 'man's best friend'.

And who wouldn't feel better just seeing this smiling face.  This picture was taken last week when she was here...

 She snuggled up beside me on the recliner today and said, "Grammy, can I play Barbie Dream Castle with you when you get better?"  She melts my heart.

And then there was you, my blogger buds.  You have comforted me, prayed for me, gave me good advice, and made me Laugh out Loud.  I am blessed and thankful to know you!  

Okay, So What is Gracie's emotion here?  

Dad's Good For Me

I asked God, "What can I do?  He's sick, broken, 

and he feels so hopeless.  I want to help"

"Draw close to Me," God whispered.  "I will do the rest."

Dear Diary,

My Dad is sick.  He doesn't go anywhere... he just lays around the house trying to feel better and keeping me close by.  Mom says I'm good for Dad.  I say Dad's good for me.  

It Was Ugly and So Was I

I'm not sure what it is about this time of year,

 but it seems I always come down with something.  

Last year...

Swine flu. 

Never confirmed, but 95% sure.  

I'd never been so sick.  

It was ugly and so was I.

  I didn't go to work for a whole week.  

Ha! How convenient that I took 

this week as a vacation week! 

 I thought I'd cheated the fates.  

I thought I was home-free.  

No sick 4 me this year!!!

NOT!

 It's my back.  Oh, my aching back.

  Not just...  "ouch, my back hurts",

 more like 

"oh my gosh, I may never walk again!" 

But Gracie's taking care of me, so I'll be fine.