Monday Musings

It's Monday...again!  Why is it that Friday is so far from Monday but Monday is so close to Friday?  It just doesn't seem fair.

HOUSE MUSINGS

It was a busy weekend, once again!  The bathroom is painted awaiting a new floor and finishing touches.  The basement is done and looks great!  Hubster really outdid himself!  We just need a new rug and are going to tile the area in front of the fireplace with slate...it's concrete right now and just sticks out like a sore thumb.  The bedroom trim needs painted as does the half bath off of the bedroom.  I cleaned up the back yard.  Stupid moles have really wreaked havoc and killed most of our grass.  Not cool!

Today I need to call someone about chimney repair (a flue issue), someone about landscaping to roll the yard, clear the brush behind the fence line and do some tree trimming out front.  I also have to call to have the garage door fixed...Hubster says he's not doing it because it's a huge spring and if you screw it up it can literally kill you.  So we'll leave that to the professionals! 

After all this work (and money) going into the house, I really hope we get orders back here after Hubster's school.  Yes, I'm emotionally attached to my house, but it is a great area.  It's not a huge city, but has the conveniences we need, low crime rates, good schools, etc.  It's also probably about as close to our home states as we're going to get.

SURGERY MUSINGS

Only 4 days til I am banded!  Wow...time really has flown by.   As you know,  I've had a couple slip ups but this weekend I was really good.  I am down a total of 6 pounds in 6 days.  I know I could do better if I was excercising but other than the normal of walking the dog and the home renovations, I haven't upped the ante in that department.

Post surgery, I plan on going back to Wii-fit.  No, it's not super strenuous but it does actually make this fat chick sweat and when I'm consistent with it, I do also lose weight.  It's also warming up so evening walks will also become routine.  I've been hearing quite a bit about Zumba...any of you do it?  Any thoughts?

MORE ON KAZAK

It's been a long weekend.  We've gone from soaking his food in water overnight to make it easier for him to eat and to also ensure fluid intake to also grinding it in the food processor and feeding him a slow-feed bowl.  Still doing the elevated feedings and additional 20 minutes of elevation.  He continues to regurgitate and has lost another pound since Thursday.  TMI warning- his stools are also giving off warning signs.  He hasn't had much of any solid waste and what he has done is loose and bile colored.  His spirits are still good but we have made the decision that we are going to have to euthanize.  At this time we are planning to make an appointment for Thursday  unless his spirits take a turn for the worse before then.  We do not want him to see him suffer.  We'd like to take him to one more 4-H Kennel Club meeting so that the instructor we've been working with closely can say good-bye as well.  She works very closely with GSD's and has been a wealth of information and has gotten close to Kaz as well.

Our breeder has been outstanding and has offered us a refund or a new puppy.  While we know another puppy will never be able to replace Kazak and our feelings for him, we also don't feel our family would feel complete without another four furry feet around.  Of the puppies she currently has available,  two seem to have the qualities we are looking for - "mellow, easy-going, very friendly & happy, cuddly temperaments - very sweet natured, and extremely loving of their family" and male - we're going to need all the smile and cuddles we can get.

REMINDERS

Next Sunday is the March of Dimes' March for Babies!  Our team, Jayden's Strides for Life, has not yet met our fundraising goal.  I am walking on behalf of Baby Jayden and Baby Cole.  Please consider supporting our team as we make strides to make sure all babies get a healthy start.  Every little bit makes a difference!

Baby Jayden's family has been approved compassionate reassignment to Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio where Jayden will have access to Brooks Army Medical Center.  This is a good thing for their family as it will reduce the traveling they will have to do for Jayden to get the care he needs both before and after his liver transplant.  Again, the family is estimated to have nearly $40,000 in transplant related expenses that will not be covered by insurance.  You can help this family by donating to the Childrens Organ Transplant Association and specifying Jayden Olmstead as the beneficiary.  His PELD score continues to increase and they are still waiting for a suitable donor liver.  Again, every little bit helps.  If you cannot donate but would like to help, please pass on his story and his COTA link and remember them in your prayers.  That is the best gift you could give.

Lastly, Baby Cole's family was very touched during their time and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and are hosting their Second Annual Blasingame Family Lemonade Stand to benefit Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for pediatric cancer research.  Their goal is to raise $500 this year for a great cause.  You can make a donation to their lemonade stand HERE

Thanks everyone!!! Together we can make a difference!

Some Updates

Update 1 - I can't remember what day of the pre-op diet I am on.  I am still a big, fat cheater.  I got a call from my surgeon's office the same day I was dealing with Kazak's ordeal regarding my surgery.  It was a message and of course, they were closed before I could call back.  I figured they hadn't got the results of my sleep study yet and so they were postponing surgery again and after the day I had had, there was no way I was going to keep starving myself, so we ate out at a local Mexican place that night.
     The next morning, I just didn't eat anything...just in case.  I had like 3 calls into the office before they returned my call.  It was basically a bunch of questions and as of now, surgery is still on.   By the time I received the call, it was time to meet Hubster for some errands.  Still had not  ate or drank anything other than a couple glasses of water.  We finally get home around 5 and Hubster decides he's grilling steak...so yeah, that's what I ate, too.  No it wasn't fat free meat, and I probably ate about 6oz....but it is protein, right?
     Today, I haven't even gotten in my minimums.  I've had my 3oz of fat free turkey at lunch and went to nap before work and forgot about the 6oz of light yogurt.  I thought I was working a 12 hour shift tonight, so I took my 3oz of fat free turkey, my light yogurt, sugar free jello, two diet green teas, and some sugar snap peas.  Well, I didn't get a chance to eat as I was fighting with a stupid enteral feeding pump all night at work amongst other duties.  Luckily, it turns out they didn't need me for 3rd shift, so at 10:30 I finally had my 3oz of fat free turkey and light yogurt with a diet green tea.
     I'm back on the horse and plan on staying there til next Friday.  Much admiration to all of you who made it without cheating! *bows down to your awesomeness*

Update 2 - The night we took Kazak in, they gave him some fluids and an injection to help with the vomiting.  The vet felt he was stable to send home and keep our appt with our regular vet for the x-rays.  Hubster dropped Kaz off to the vet his way to work.  I hadn't heard anything by noon, so I called.  They had taken chest and abdominal x-rays and were in the middle of a barium swallow study.  They called me back about a half hour later with what they had found.  The original x-rays showed suspicious soft tissue near his heart, which is why they did the barium testing.  The barium testing showed that he has a condition called megaesophagus.
    Basically when he swallows, the muscles that allow peristalsis to occur and move his food from his mouth to his stomach have become flaccid and therefore the food is pooling there.  This causes him to cough or regurgitate it...not true vomiting.  This regurgitation puts him a substantially increased risk for aspiration pneumonia.  The treatment is too feed him "gruel" consistency food, in small portions more frequently,  in as much of an upright position as possible and to keep him in that position for 20 minutes after eating so that gravity can assist in getting the food to his tummy.  Obviously time consuming.  This has seemed to help the last two days as he's not regurgitating as frequently.  However, he had a 3 pound weight loss since the beginning of the month at a time when he is still growing and should be steadily gaining.  We have to weigh him weekly.  Luckily our vet is right up the road and the scale is in the waiting room. 
     I was able to review the x-rays with our vet and talk in depth with her.  We believe he has a case of persistent right aortic arch, in which a part of the fetal heart that was supposed to disappear didn't and as he's grown has caused increasing restriction on his esophagus.  That restriction made it harder for the food to pass and led to the esophagus stretching out.  Usually this is caught very early in pups, often when they are weaning to solid food.  It appears Kaz's case was really mild and just got worse as he got bigger.  When it is detected in the very young pups, it can be surgically corrected.  We could opt to do the surgery at Kansas State's School of Vet. Med but at his age and with the damage that is done, his condition would not likely improve.  To make matters worse, where the dilation of his esophagus is, when the food sits there it not only puts the pressure on his heart, but his lungs too.  He tires easier and often pants after eating due to it.
     We know it's only a matter of time before we have to say good-bye, but we are making the most of the time we have with him.  We've decided to continue treating for the megaesophagus and delay euthanasia until his quality of life begins to suffer.

Lastly, today was the neighborhood wide yard sale.  It rained and was very cold...it took me hours to warm up after coming in from the garage!  It wasn't a huge hit as the weather sucked, but we made a little pocket change...help offset the cost of Kaz's medical bills!  LOL

Thank you all for the good thoughts you sent our way in regards to Kaz.  It was a very emotional day and my heart is still heavy, but for the sake of the kids, trying to enjoy our time with him.  Here's a pic I took when we came home from the vet on Thursday.

Need some good thoughts

Kazak, our 8 month old german shepherd pup is really sick!  Our vet didn't want to get him in until morning, but he's been wretching and vomiting non-stop since I fed him an hour ago.  I called our friend's vet and they will see him at 6pm.  I'm glad because there's no way I'd get any sleep at the sleep study worrying about whether he's going to make it through the night.

Please think good thoughts that he's going to be okay and that it's not "twisted gut" or an obstruction.  He's the last baby of the family.  Munchkin shows him in 4-H (which was supposed to be tonight) and Monster likes playing "cops and robbers" with him.  We'd be devastated if we lost him.  I feel like a dork crying over this, but he's like one of the kids! 

So if you could send some good thoughts his way, I'd greatly appreciate it! 

Big Fat Cheater!

Yesterday was Day 1 of my 10 day pre-op diet and I am a big, fat cheater!  It is my own fault.  I made cherry delight the night before...just happens to be the best cherry delight ever made!  I ate a piece yesterday morning when I got one for Monster.  Other than that, I was good!  But, I still cheated!  My calorie intake yesterday was probably right about 1100....675 of diet food and I'm going to guesstimate 400 for the cherry delight.

Even with the cheat, I'm down 2 pounds this morning.  I have been a good girl today and thus far have only a protein shake.  I'm getting ready to eat lunch which will be 3oz of fat free ham and 6oz of light yogurt.  Dinner will be the same or another protein shake.  That should make today's calorie intake approximately 670.  Can a person truly survive on that amount for 10 days?

Whooped!

That is me, in one word...I am whooped.  I am sooooo freaking tired!  The hubster and I busted our butts trying to get the house ready for market.  I know I promised pictures, but we didn't get quite as far as we wanted to.  Although I'm amazed at the differences we can see already. 

The new floor is down in the downstairs family room, but we need the little pieces that go in between rooms.  We also need to rearrange all the furniture and start staging.  As for the master bedroom, we got both coats of paint on the walls, took away the monstrosity of a headboard and did some rearranging.  I still need to clean the closet out but am waiting for spring to actually spring.  The trim also needs painted and then some staging.

So once it's complete, I promise, I will post pics.  Speaking of pics, I was going to do my "BEFORE" pics today, but to be honest, I'm in my crummy clothes from working around the house and look straight up craptastic!

Tomorrow begins my pre-op diet, so I will get a pre-op weight and pics then.  I can't say I'm stoked to be starting it because I know it's going to bite big burritos, but it does mean that I'm that much closer to being banded.  So here';s to being a good girl and not cheating....we know what happened last time I tried cheating!  LOL

Have a great week, all!