Great Dane???

I don't know what's up with this post, but I can't get the type to behave. Pic. #1 is Blackie. The 2nd one is a Great Dane, Black Lab Mix. The third is a full blood Great Dane, and the last is Blackie, with Jacob and Isaac outside on the sled. SO....we're pretty sure we have a Great Dane Black Lab mix! But we love him! I always wanted a big dog.....

Odds and Ends

I've got a couple of pictures to share today. I'm feeling better....I think that mechanical ventilation (I should say VOLUNTARY medchanical ventilation) is a wonderous thing. I'm having to work up to 30 minutes at a time because it is such a workout for me. Just breathing! I really can't believe how bad I was....and how I didn't know it. There's a lesson in there somewhere; like the frog on the stovetop...start in cold water, just keep turning it up a teeny bit at a time, and the poor little bugger will never get out.

I think the enemy is like that. He comes to kill, steal and destroy. But I DON'T think he always comes at us guns blazing...he sneaks and connives and weasels...little bit by little bit...just like my health has been getting worse little bit by little bit.

We MUST pay attention! To our physical bodies, our spirits, minds and emotions. Be on guard!

Anywho.....enough words.

Jacob in our hotel room in Ann Arbor. He was SUCH a good boy!

We got home to this....why I LOVE winter.
The only bummer is that I have to take the pictures from inside, and miss the fun. (But I do stay warm!!)


I think we were missed. Notice the paw...Blackie will lay down next to Jacob and put one paw around his shoulder just like a person!

Up close and personal. It's like they were born in the same litter!

Just a couple of pups. Nothing like a boy and his dog.

Talk About Winter Wonderland!

If you've heard the term "lake effect snow" but never seen it, here you go: MY house happens to be at the very end of a tiny "banana belt" of a snow band that always gets THE most snow.

The left side of the picture is the opposite side of my road. Um, yes, there IS a road under there. Somewhere. We often go unplowed for a day or two.

Jacob LOVES to play in the snow! Daddy gets to go out and play too, and this is Blackie's first time in the snow. They are playing "keep-away" with snowballs! Blackie's trying to catch them.


The side yard: the mulberry tree and the chicken coop. You can bet the chickens are tucked snugly in their straw!

Jacob looks like he's winning!

My favorite: the red, rosy cheeks of just coming in from the cold. Four year old Jacob, my handsome little man.

Just FYI, we're up to about 18 inches in less than 24 hours, and it's not supposed to stop til at least 11:00 tomorrow morning. Yee-ha!

Reality Smackdown

Nothing like getting hit upside the head with reality!

Wednesday I had another AWESOME day. I went to an old (as in known-forever, not age) friend's house for the day. I felt so good I was able to drop Jacob off at Shawn's, drive about 50 minutes to Linda's house, stay there til almost 5, and drive home! She made the most awesome lunch...AND dinner for me to take home. Plus she is making a bunch of meals for me to put in the freezer! THANK YOU LINDA! You ROCK!

Linda has such a beautiful house...so clean and NOT dusty and bright and nice decorations that aren't make of plastic or stuffed animals. She has two tiny little dogs that do not shed or even bark very much. I like the whole house, but the bathroom is AWESOME. It's painted bright teal, with white trim, and the back splash is like teal and chartreuse rectangles of glass, with white grout. It's so nice and bright and just simply lovely.

Linda was such a wonderful hostess...I just got to rest and relax and enjoy adult company. And it was so QUIET. Oh, the quiet. Peace. Quiet. {Sigh}.

Cut to pulling in my driveway:

My driveway is gravel, so of course dust is flying everywhere. Moose and Molly are barking hysterically, Moose running toward the van jumping on it, and Molly getting her chain all wrapped up on everything possible. I'm already abhorring the intrusion of this hideous barking on my peace-lulled brain. So I'm screaming at Moose through the window to get down. Thankfully, he does.

I'm wearing light khaki pants and and a nice pink shirt. Very bright and cheery.

And. Here. Comes. Blackie. It was like a bad movie in slow motion. I can see he's been in the pond, but he's muddier than I've ever seen him. Have you ever really looked at pond mud? It's black. And it stinks. Bad. It's frog crap for crying out loud!

So here's Blackie, wet, muddy, running at me like a bat out of h#!!, and I can see it happening, super slow-mo, and I yell "Noooooooooooo" and he jumps up against me. (You KNEW it was going to happen!)

I leave everything in the car and go into the house to get changed, and throw my clothes in the washer right away. I can already smell the nasty pond mud smell on me. Eeewww!!! I get changed, mumbling under my breath how I should just get back in the van and run away, back to the quiet, clean environment from whence I came.

I get my walking stick since I'm going out into the yard to find my son. I hear Doug on the tractor, so I know Jacob's not far behind. (Blackie, by the way, is howling away in his cage.) I go out the door, head toward the tractor sounds, and stop dead in my tracks as I come around the garage.

Doug is on the tractor, backing into the pond and pulling the bottom mud out and down the yard. He's apparently making the pond BIGGER. (If you will recall, he made the pond for the ducks which we no longer have. One DROWNED (how the heck does a duck drown??) and the others either ran away or got eaten. Even so, we clearly need a larger pond.)

I see Jacob, HIP DEEP walking back and forth through the muck piles that Doug has scraped out of the pond. Jacob sees me and starts running toward me. I was like, Ohhhh NO you don't! So I put my arm out and caught his head in my hand. He runs back to the mud, laughing like a little wild man, chasing and catching frogs.

I saw Doug, and just shook my head. Jacob comes up to me with a HUGE frog he just caught. I was like, um, no thanks. So he put it in his "bug cage" and wants to come in. I don't even let him up the steps into the mudroom before we get his clothes off. Shoes: black. Socks: black. Jeans: black. Smell? Repulsive! Then there's the muddy frog cage he won't release from his tight little grasp.

I get his naked butt into the tub, and let him put the frog on the hamper in the bathroom (Hey, he wanted it in the TUB with him!!) Got Jacob hosed down in the shower, then made him soak in the tub...for 3 hours. Just kidding. It was more like 15 minutes.

Doug came in rather sheepishly, apologizing over and over. I was like, hey. He's a boy. He's catching frogs. He will remember this day forever. What boy wouldn't want to grow up in a place like this where he can run and play and jump in the mud and catch frogs? Yeah. Too bad Mommy has to live there too!!!

The juxtaposition was almost more than I could bear. I couldn't have written a more perfect set-up for my return from the pristine day of visiting to the return to the middle of the sticks.
Well, at least I know my son is having a happy childhood. In the end, that's really the most important thing. Right???

What a Mess!

So we went to the vet the other day to have Molly and Blackie checked out. Molly had some HORRIBLE reaction to the tick medicine we gave her. She had to have her back shaved, and it's still growing back. She's had a full course of antibiotics, and been on 3 different spray medicines, and it's not gone yet. So we took her back, and they gave us MORE antibiotics and yet another spray. Molly is my BABY. We have had her for nine years. She was my first "child." This picture breaks. my. heart.

Then you have Blackie, still recovering from being steamrolled by Doug's truck. Total accident, of course, but we felt horrible. He's doing REALLY well..I mean, it's getting harder and harder to keep him "down." He's so much bigger than this picture already! My goodness! But he's still not walking 100% on the leg that had hip surgery.

The one time we went to the vet I had to use my cane. The next time I had my eye patch on, and of course I always have the trach.

So this time, we also have Jacob, in a cast. I'm thinking, what the h#ll must these people be thinking? What a mess!!! Here we all come traipsing into the office: Molly's still half shaved, Blackie's still limping, Jacob had just woken up so he was being ridiculously whiny, I had double vision but I didn't have my eye patch so I'm winking at the whole world, I was like, Gosh, I hope they don't call family services or nominate me for parent of the year award or anything. Good grief.

We honestly are normal, happy-go-lucky (usually), animal-loving, dote-on-our-child-and-love-him-with-all-our-hearts people!! I told the vet at least none on this happened on my watch!

We must have looked a sight! I swear, my middle name is neither "grace" nor "accident-waiting-to-happen!"

Random Letters

Dear Whoever Made the Flea and Tick Stuff my Molly-dog is Allergic To:

I thought you were supposed to make stuff that killed fleas and ticks, not my DOG! No, Molly isn't really dead, but she had a huge patch shaved off her back and and had this horrible reaction from YOUR product. Maybe you need to re-think your formula, or pound chart or something. AND this was a free sample from the vet! Shame on you.

Sincerely,

Doggie-mom of Patch (aka Molly)

Dear Blackie,

My darling pup. That HUGE, black and red metal thing that goes vroom vroom and drives aroud the yard sometimes is NOT a huge toy for you to play with. You will lose...as you did. Mommy is just glad you are healing so quickly.

Dear PA who First Looked at Jacob's Arm,

You are WONDERFUL with children. My son ALWAYS cries at the doctor, but not with you! Talking about your animals was perfect...he is an animal junkie!

My only concern (s) are 1. you left finger marks in Jacob's cast. My OCD brain is having a difficult time with this. I almost made the bone doc put a new one on yesterday. Somehow, I refrained. 2. Please don't even MENTION surgery if you are not 100% sure it is more than 90% likely. I freaked for no reason.

Many Thanks,

Jacob's Thankful Yet Frightfully OCD Mom

Dear Whoever Makes It Illegal for the Person Who Calls to Tell Me WHY You Need to See My Son at the Hospital ASAP:

You suck. You need to make it illegal for chickies who CAN'T say anything but "how far away is your son? The doctor needs to see you." to even call me in the first place! If someone is going to ask me how far away my son is from the hospital, you damn well better be able to give me more information than that!

So: make it llegal for them to call, or legal for them to tell me everything I need to know to not have a heart attack.

Much Obliged,

Formerly Terrified Mom

Weekend from the Pit.

K. So if there's one thing I hate, that makes me nervous, makes me worry, makes me sweat (literally) makes it hard to sleep, breathe, or remain sane, it's when the power goes out. My husband is McGuyver, it is true. He can hook up the generator to almost anything and make it run. I can do a breathing treatment, use my suction machine...he keeps all the food from spoiling....(Not all at once, of course). But even HE can't control the weather.

I swear, we've had storms for DAYS and the power never even flickered. Then, last night we have this crazy, tree-bending wind, sky-blackening clouds, scare-the-pants-right-off-you storm that lasts all of 15 minutes, and we lose power for three days. AAhhhhhhhhhh! It's such a pain. Suction machine, nebulizer, oxygen. Power, power, power.

I'm so tired. I do NOT sleep well when there's no oxygen concentrator and oxygen machine running....fan....etc. Oh well.

Blackie got to come home today, so that was some good news. He's doing pretty good. It's a little sad. He's normally so active and spastic and now he has to just lay...for SIX WEEKS!!!

Well, that's it for now....hopefully tomorrow I'll be comfortable in my own home (thankfully Doug's work has a wonderful conference room with lots of work space and a huge tv. They even have a shower upstairs! So I'm clean anyway!)

Here's to tomorrow being a better day!

My Poor Blackie....

My little Blackie pup will be having surgery this morning...we had a horrible accident here at the farm late yesterday afternoon. He ran right in front of the truck as Doug was pulling a trailer around to park it. He took him straight to the vet.

I was out with Joanna (she took me to the chiropractor and ran a few errands...bless her heart!!) and when I got home it seemed like Doug was here, but he wasn't, neither was Blackie. So I called him and he told me what happened; Jacob and I flew back into the car and drove the 4 miles to the vet. (Good thing Joanna was in front of me because I would have driven way too fast and gotten a ticket!)

When we got there, the doc was just reading the x-rays....2 broken hips, fractured pelvis, fractured leg. I tried so hard not to bawl. He was just sitting on the table so sweetly looking up at us with his huge dark brown eyes...I didn't sleep well at all last night....just kept thinking about my poor puppy.

He's having surgery today to fix one hip, and the doc said the rest will heal on it's own...he will have to be on "kennel rest" (puppy bed rest) so that he doesn't move a lot so the fractures can heal. I pray it goes quickly!! The doc said, though, that after all is said and done he will NOT have pain....because I was like, I'm not putting this dog through all this if he's going to live in pain. That's just not right.

Jacob is beside himself, asking when Blackie's coming home....IF he's coming home....when we can see him...it's horrible.

So, for you non animal people, just skip the rest of this post....but for the rest of you...please pray for my pup...that he heals quickly...and pray for Doug...he feels HORRIBLE. He is absolutely torn up. I'll keep you posted.

More Randomness

Well, my rib is staying put. Thank GOD for that! I have to wear this weight belt until I get the rib belts I ordered, which are on the way. Ug. Shipping takes forever when you REALLY need something. I don't have the luxury, however, of "shopping around" to find what I need. So I make do with what can be found around here in the meantime. I tell ya, since I cut the straps off it's a lot more comfortable! And now I can wear it UNDER my clothes....if I wear a big shirt.

I get to spend the day with my BFF Joanna watching Beth Moore's Believing God DVD's. I was able to get them on e-bay for almost 1/2 the cost of new. YAY! It's gonna be a GREAT day!! It's just not the same study without the DVD's. I saw them 5 years ago when I did the study, but I am thrilled to have them to keep, because they are really good.

A couple of shout-outs: My new friend Jen (a fellow myasthenic mom) who had the courage to show some of her symptoms in this post. Great job, Jen! Thank you for taking the time to do this!

Thanks also to my new friend Courtney, another myasthenic mom I've connected to through blogging. She made my button on the sidebar, and is working on some other stuff for me! How cool is that! Just the letters "html" make me queasy....so this is a real gift to me!

My puppy is getting huge. Went to the vet yesterday for Blackie's check up, and his weight has DOUBLED in 3.5 weeks. We got him at 9.8 pounds, and he is now 18.2 pounds! He was WAY smaller than Molly when we got him; he could almost walk under her. NOW he is as TALL as she is! (Not as....rotund, but as tall!)

Jacob is wonderful, as usual....growing so much, and getting so "mature." He calls me "Mom" 90% of the time now. He's not even 4 yet! I thought "Mommy" lasted a long time! Ug. Heartbreaking. He is hilarious and brilliant and beautiful and sensitive and crazy. And I wouldn't change one thing about him. Especially now that he is potty-trained!!! {breaking out into the Hallelujah chorus}

So overall, it's been going pretty smoothly the last couple of days. Whoo-Hoo!!!!!!

Here's to YOU having an awesome day!

Thankful

There are some things that just warm my heart. Illness aside. Problems aside. When I look at things like this, there is no trouble, there is no fear. There is no worry or anxiety or pain. It's just joy.

A Boy and His Dog

My Jacob reading Daddy's magazines like a little man. How did I get so blessed as to have this amazing child??

After a long, fun day outside in the sunshine, playing hard, Jacob fell asleep on the couch. His new puppy was just as tired as he was! It's kid of hard to see Blackie because he blends into the couch!

My heart both leaps and breaks at pictures like this. My little baby is SO not a baby anymore! Something about a sleeping child just gives me peace. He's getting so big. Part of me wishes he could stay small forever...

Awww....what a cute puppy! And such an amazing, sunny, beautiful spring day!

God's handiwork. Nature attests to His glory, every day. How could this happen by chance?

There are times when I'm down. Just plain down. Depressed. But God never lets me stay there too long. This last bout was longer than most. When my health is bad day after day, week after week, month after month...you get the picture. But I really try to keep a good attitude. Many times I am NOT successful!

But then there are days like this. Like yesterday, when I could spend FOUR HOURS outside. With my son. And his dog. Enjoying the miracle of God's creation. I am truly blessed.