New Phone Number

I thought it would be easy but it wasn’t. For the sake of a cheap dinner out a month and weaning the girl from her TV habit, we decided to drop cable TV and switch phone and internet carriers. I didn’t really have any issues with our carrier (although lots of people complain about Charter) but when our introductory offer expired and we were paying $35 more a month I agreed to drop cable  and join Netflix.

The initial arrangements seemed easy but Thursday when I called to find out where our new modem was ATT said they hadn’t sent it because Charter hadn’t released our old phone number – Charter claimed ATT hadn’t asked for it. A good 2 hours on the phone and long story short, our cable and internet has been turned off and ATT wouldn’t be able to get us up and running with the same phone number until the 29th. I need my internet! So we agreed to get a new number which we are told will work Friday but when I asked when we would get the modem they couldn’t get one to us until the 29th! So we went out tonight and bought our own modem – now the question is will it work?? Another question…when the girl is sassy, what can I do since there is no TV to take away, or blame it on!

I have e-mailed a a bunch of people our new number, if I missed you, my apologies, send me an e-mail and I will send it to you.

Furman and Sandburg

While my parents were here last month, we took a day trip to Hendersonville, NC. We picked Isabelle up at school and had a picnic at Furman University. Furman has a beautiful campus – the university is about the same size as Mount Allison. At lunch, we were joined by ducks, swans and turtles and what mum believes was Furman’s own loch ness monster. We have a fuzzy video of something flipping around the middle of the lake but we are still not sure what it was. After Furman we drove north and stopped at Carl Sandburg NHS. The Sandburgs lived at Connemara from 1945 until his death in 1967. Mrs. Sandburg raised goats so the farm is a little like Ross Farm. Their daughter planted a garden which the NPS continues to plant from her plan. The tulip trees were in bloom as well as several other flowering shrubs. I think the timing for our visit was perfect, the weather was sunny but not too warm and were pretty much had the place to ourselves.Also, there were several kids at the goat farm, these two were a few weeks old but there was another who was only a few days old. They were all very friendly and quite used to having people around.From Connemara, we went into Hendersonville, poked around the shops, had ice cream at Marble Slab Creamery and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. Hendersonville has lots of galleries, antique shops as well as a neat book store, toy store and another Mast General Store. There is always something neat to see.

A Few Pictures of Savannah

Isabelle and I recently went to Savannah, Georgia for a long weekend with my parents while Paul was away on a business trip. Maggie had a holiday at a nearby by boarding kennel (she had a wonderful time by all accounts).

Savannah was great! We stayed in the historic district which was designed in 1733 with 24 squares of which 22 remain intact. The historic district was very walkable and we sure put on the miles, even Isabelle was a trooper with all the walking.

Here are a few details from around the historic district.

Back to Normal?

After the trauma of last week, Maggie is recovering well although her weight was lower today than last week – but she didn’t really get her appetite back until the weekend. Today, the vet renewed some prescriptions, added glucosamine to her regimen, gave her a 3 year rabies shot and checked her thyroid function so she is good to go for another year on that front.

We had a fairly busy weekend – Isabelle went to Parents’ Night Out at the Y on Friday night so we went of for Mexican with a couple of Paul’s co-workers. Parents’ Night Out is great – we drop her off at 6 and can pick her up as late as 10. On Friday there were about 60 kids – fewer than usual with the flu fears. They play outside and in the gym, eat pizza, do crafts and generally wear themselves out. The Y has it 2 Fridays a month and it is free with our membership – definitely cheaper than a sitter!

Saturday Isabelle had soccer in the morning – she did much better than last week and seemed to have more fun – most of the time.

Sunday, we went to an event at the school Isabelle will go to next year. She will be attending the Ecole Francaise Bilingue which is run by Michelin and meets the requirements of both the South Carolinian and French education systems. As the name suggests, her days will be divided half and half in French and English. We learned on Sunday that there will be 6 or 7 students in her class.

We arrived around 10 to watch the youngest students sing Frere Jacques in 7 languages. The performances continued with skits, scenes from Ionesco and Moliere and some dance and music performances. I kept thinking of my two high school French teachers hoping what I learned 20 years ago will magically come back in the next few months so I can help Isabelle!

At noon, there was a potluck lunch – I took quiche, like many others, I am going to have to find new recipes! There were also salads and couscous, bread and cheese, cold meats etc – need I say, everything was homemade. Also homemade were the sweets, which were sold to raise money for the PTA – there was creme caramel, tartes, cookies, cakes – again, I am going to have to step up my game!

After lunch was playtime. Each child was given a card with a list of activities. Once all the activities were completed, they could claim a prize. Some of the activities were new to me – there was one where the child was blindfolded and has to follow instructions to cut a hanging candy off a string and another where they had to walk backwards through a path using a mirror to guide them. Isabelle had  lots of fun meeting some of her future classmates and teachers. I am not sure who is looking forward to starting school more.

How Do You Know When to Say When?

Today was a better day. Maggie slept soundly until 5 when she needed to go out. After several times in and out she settled down until Isabelle got up. The rest of the day was fairly quiet – she slept either in or out (I had to mow) most of the day. When Isabelle had swimming I had a girl from the neighbourhood stay with Maggie until Paul got home. Her appetite is better although she is not drinking a lot of water. A world of difference from Sunday.

But now we have an eleven year old dog (plus or minus since we don’t know for certain how old she is) with bad knees and hips, possibly with Cushings Disease and an unexplained GI bleed. And then there is her nose which cracks and gets infected every summer. She also finds the heat uncomfortable and has separation anxiety which seems to be increasing with age. How do we measure quality of life for one who cannot speak words?

Cushings Disease is treatable which can improve the quality of life but that may not be the best choice if the knees and hips are too bad. It is also pretty expensive to diagnose and treat.

For the last three days the answer, though difficult, has leaned towards saying when. There were times when I thought we might not even need to make the decision.

Today I know I must reevaluate but what do I consider? When am I being selfish? When am I being selfish for Isabelle?

Now that most days are in the high 70s and 80s (high 20s and 30s) I can’t leave Maggie in the car at all so that means no errands or activities during the day. She has learned how to break out of her crate and is usually distressed when we leave her at home. Tonight Isabelle asked to go swimming tomorrow – I had to say no because I can’t leave Maggie home alone and I can’t take her with us.

At the beginning of June, Maggie is booked into a kennel while we go away for a few nights – she has been there for a day before but not overnight – how will she fare when we are away and what toll will it take on her health? What about the drive home and back this summer? Is it fair to drag her all that way?

Yesterday, while Maggie was at the vet, I did errands – got the oil changed, took Isabelle out for lunch, bought a new bathing suit, got a present for a birthday party for Isabelle, had my hair cut and shopped for a swim cover-up for Isabelle (why are they all white???). Not once did I have to hurry Isabelle up because Maggie was waiting for us either in the car or at home. I didn’t have to check for messes in the house (there haven’t been any but I always worry). I knew Maggie was safe and well cared for where she was and it took the pressure off. It was a great afternoon – the trip to Columbia was good too, Maggie was at a kennel for the day.

Saying this makes me feel very selfish after all we chose to get a dog knowing this day would come. Despite all her peculiarities, Maggie has been the most wonderful dog – especially with Isabelle. For now we will take things day by day assessing her pain and quality of life as well as working toward having her stay home alone for a couple hours at a time without me having to worry too much about her safety this will enable me to get Isabelle to gymnastics, swim practice or just run to the grocery store.

The Trials and Tribulations of Maggie – Part II

It has been a rough week here – last Thursday when I got Maggie out of the car she couldn’t put any weight on her back right leg – the same one she had surgery on a few years ago. It was very sudden – I couldn’t think of what might have caused it. We hadn’t had any big walks, she hadn’t fallen, she hadn’t even gone off to the field next door recently.

When we went to the vet, she found Maggie’s hips and knees were both painful but didn’t think she had blown the knee again. She prescribed an anti-inflammatory and a pain killer and since said she would recheck in a week. She suggested limiting stairs and avoiding areas where Maggie might slip – i.e. hardwood floors.

Friday and Saturday Maggie seemed more comfortable, although a little perturbed by being carried up and down stairs. By Saturday night things started to go downhill, she was up several times in the night (thank you Paul) and by Sunday morning she had diarrhea. She spent most of Sunday in the backyard.

Since Paul has a busy week this week we decided that I would sleep downstairs with Maggie. She was in and out all night and otherwise restless and uncomfortable. She hadn’t eaten and wasn’t drinking much water. I know by midnight the diarrhea was bloody and may have been before that and it worsened the rest of the night.

Monday morning I took Maggie to the vet who was expecting me. I asked to them to weigh her – she had lost 4 pounds since Thursday. Within a half hour the vet called to give me a run down on her plan of action, besides putting Maggie on an IV with meds to address the pain and GI issues, she wanted to run the usual blood work and if this showed nothing she would do an x-ray of her belly. She also wanted to see a significant drop in her heart rate which was 160. Those of you who have pets should now see several dollar signs!

The blood work showed nothing too unusual except for one elevated liver enzyme. The x-ray showed that her liver is enlarged. The vet thinks these two abnormalities may be symptoms of Cushings Disease; however, that does not account for the GI bleed nor could the vet pinpoint what caused it except that it could have been a reaction to one of the new meds.

Our vet does not keep animals overnight – so if Maggie was too sick to come home, we would have to take her to the Animal Emergency Clinic for the night and return her to our vet in the morning. Luckily, our vet felt with her heart rate down to 120, she was OK to go home.

So we took her home, well doped up, with few instruction except to keep her quiet and watch for any vomiting or panting. When I brought her in the house, she walked the twenty feet from the front door to the great room, collapsed and fell asleep. When Paul and Isabelle came in the door ten minutes later she raised her head for a moment and then went back to sleep.

That was pretty much the story of the night – she didn’t eat, she didn’t drink, she didn’t want to go out, she didn't move until Paul carried her upstairs at 10. At 3 Paul woke me to tell me she had turned over – she slept through until almost 8 when I carried her downstairs. She still had no interest in food although she a had little PB. After taking Isabelle to school, I took Maggie back to the vet for a day of observation.

Today, the vet wanted to see if Maggie would eat and drink enough to take out the IV catheter and also see if there were still GI issues. Maggie had a little canned food and water and was generally more alert than yesterday (not necessarily saying a lot there) and was sent home this afternoon with another appointment on Monday.

Although more alert than yesterday, Maggie has slept most of the evening. She ate a little dinner with gusto (canned food) but the water intake is not great.

We will see what tonight and tomorrow bring…

Water Levels

There is a severe drought here in the Upstate which has been alleviated a bit the month with some steady rain. Last summer some lakes in the area were almost 20 feet below normal but now they are 7 or 8 feet low.

The other week we went to Paris Mountain State Park so Paul could try some kayaks and we did the walk around the lake. It was interesting to see the difference from when Isabelle and I were there in the fall.

October 2008
April 2009