p.s.

Apparently the Godfather of all pool noodles hails from Costco. They're fabulous - you can float without the assistance of 5 noodles per extremity!! Our friends Jamie and Pete made this extravagant find and my big baby (who's almost as cute as Owen ;-)) LOVES them!

Supper Club

Supper club is a super fun excuse to get together with good friends, share recipes and sip cocktails. This month, we made good use of this "too hot to live" weather and made supper club into a whole afternoon...by the pool! And a special friend came along who stole the show! :-) Owen is so sweet and happy - we had a blast playing with him! As did Buster! Up next: Supper Club goes to North Myrtle Beach! Can't wait!!

It's been a while...

SO, after a "little" hiatus, from blogging, guess I'll give it a shot again! :-) As I read my last post, I had one of those "If I knew then what I know now" type feelings. MK had another episode of back pain a few months later, and this time the pain was accompanied by the inability to walk on her hind legs. We let her out in the backyard one Saturday morning in April and instead of pouncing down the stairs and chasing birds/squirrels/rabbits/leaves per the usual, she lost her footing and fell to the bricks from the top of the stairs, Everytime she would try to stand up, she would topple over. Stricken with panic, I dialed her vet and Dr.Coates talked me through a few neurologic tests over the phone, immediately deciding it was an emergency. Blake and I rushed her to North Elm, but within 5 minutes of being there, Dr. Coates sent us on our way to admit our baby girl to Carolina Veterinary Specialists "doggie ICU" in Winston. She was almost certain that MK needed surgery to repair a ruptured disc. The neurosurgeon had the weekend off, so the emergency vet assessed her and notified us that she would be doing hourly neuro assessments and if there were any change in Mollie's condition, she would call Dr. Skeen in. Monday came and Dr. Skeen called and explained to us that he was quite certain it was a ruptured disc, so certain, in fact, that he was going to administer the anesthesia before her MRI (just to be 100% sure), then take her promptly to surgery. We expected to hear from him in a few hours, so you can imagine our surprise when 45 minutes later, he was calling again. Her MRI was clean. Next step: lumbar puncture to obtain spinal fluid to be tested for a rare disease, GME (Granulomatous Meningoencephalomyelitis), which is an autoimmune disorder that affects the brain and spine. By that afternoon, we had our diagnosis. Dr. Skeen explained to us that the treatment for this would be chemotherapy and that the mean lifetime expectanacy after diagnosis is 2 years. He did however assure us that this number is skewed because the treatment either works well or not at all. Needless to say, Blake and I were totally numb for the next few days, driving back and forth to visit Mollie, who had already begun her first round of chemo. It was gutwrenching to have to leave her there every night, alternating between not wanting to stop kissing and snuggling and making her walk around, searching for the tiniest improvement. The only comfort was that the staff doted over her almost as much as we do! They would carry her around just so she wouldn't be stuck in ICU all day! They fed her wet food, put bows in her hair, and NEVER denied me the chance to speak with her nurse and give me updates - no matter what time of day or how often I called. A few days later, miss Mollie-Kate was on her way back home. And boy has she been the queen of our home since then! We have celebrated every day, every morning, every walk -even when she's stubborn, every nap, every snuggle, EVERYTHING with her!! And she is doing amazing - she goes for her chemo every 3 weeks (no side effects, thank God!) and she absolutely eats up the "celebrity" attention she recieves from everyone at the vet!! No little dog on this Earth could be loved any more!

xrays, missing home & a winter wonderland...

Wednesday night brought a sense of relief...NO WORK for the next 6 days! Blake and I went out for dinner and good beer at Natty Greene's with his work friends. All was perfect in my little world...I was sleeping in on Thursday morning and then preparing for my parents arrival on Friday!!! When we came home, Mollie-Kate greeted us as usual...prancing, licking and begging to be held. But when I picked her up, she cried out like I've only heard maybe twice in her 5 years! Gracious me, I must have been too rough! Sorry little girl! Then it happened again, and it was a longer cry...a "that hurts me bad!" cry. So, I prepared her for her first head-to-toe assessment. I pressed, rubbed & stretched every part of her little body. And all I could determine was that her bottom half wasn't as happy as the top half. We went to bed, and I resolved that my baby girl had had her first cramp :-)

The next morning she and I did as planned, slept until 10:00 a.m. We did our usual morning tango...I stretched, she stretched, I rolled out of bed, she rolled to Blake's side. So I walked around to get her, picked her up easy...no cries! We went on about our morning business...basically, just moving the party into the living room where we proceeded to catch up on the young & the restless. After lunch, it was showertime!, so I picked MK up off the couch and put her on the ground and.....another cry! A bad one! Again I tried to assess her, but she just wimpered and ran from me! She was crying without me even touching her now! I called her daddy and then the vet...I was really trying to hold it together, but I started bawling on the phone with the receptionist. She was so sweet and patient and told me to bring her right in!

I didn't even have to explain who I was when I got to the vet...my eyes were swollen from crying and MK was still shaking, scared of what was hurting her! The vet tech came around the desk and tickled MK's ears and rubbed my back! I felt like a 5-year-old, but I couldn't help it...I thought the worst and couldn't get the sound of her cries out of my head! A few minutes later, Dr. Mitchell and I were looking over x-rays of my hefty 8.8lb little girl! Apparently, L4-L5's disc is an angry little thing! It's mineralized and it's neighbors aren't looking all that perky either! So, we went home with our doggie Ibuprofen and strict orders: no jumping or climbing stairs for one week!

Needless to say, Mollie-Kate has been treated like a princess since, and she's been taking her medicine like the sweet little girl she is...as for me, I'm just hoping not to hear that terrible cry again anytime soon!

To add insult to injury, my parents called Thursday night to say they wouldn't be able to make it up for their planned weekend visit. They were afraid of getting stuck in Greensboro with the snow and ice we were expecting...too many responsibilities in MO-town to be that far from home. In my mind, I agreed. But, my heart was hurt and I cried some more. I'd been looking forward to hugging them since we left Mt. Olive just after Christmas. I had been spoiled in December, seeing them 3 weekends in a row!

And then, last night the snow came! It was beautiful, but I was mad at it! I had plans to enjoy dinner with my parents, stay up late talking with Mom, laugh at Blake and Dad as they made a mad dash to Country Bar-B-Que Saturday morning for the famous porkchop biscuit, play with Oliver until he's so tired, he's can't even hold his eyes open (that's when he gives the best hugs!).

The snow is amazing though...I love how it never really gets dark when snow is on the ground. The moon reflects off of the snow and creates a really beautiful glow! So, looking at the bright side, what a wonderful excuse for a lazy day...and now a lazy evening.......

p.s.

TAR HEELS!

just a little tuesday update :-)

so far it's been a sweet week at work, hopefully i'm not jinxing myself seeing as i still have one more to go tomorrow!

i'm praying the weather holds out for the remainder of the week/weekend...my parents are scheduled to come into town to celebrate blake's birthday! i look forward to that every year....both of our families get together!

speaking of praying, please pray for a dear nursing friend, Nancy, who will be traveling to Haiti with her husband and a team of caregivers to offer their assistance to a people so in need. she leaves on friday and will have such a task ahead! she has been to Haiti before on mission trips, most recently in October. she shared with me today that at least one child and the nun caring for him were killed in a collapsed building. pray for nancy's emotional strength and safe return!