We must live in Flordia

At least that's the way it feels lately. We have had rain every afternoon for the past 4 days at least. It's quite frustrating when we are trying to get yard work finished up and host an impromptu BBQ, as well. Although I can't complain because it means that we are doing much less watering of the lawn!

Hopefully my veggies will get planted this afternoon. Mike made a raised bed that I will use as my garden. I'm really excited but honestly don't know much about gardening so will learn as I go. I am using the ideas of Square Foot Gardening and am reading the book at the same time as I am planting, so we'll see what happens. I'll keep you updated of course. The fear of one more freeze is gone so hopefully my little salad fixins will work out well. As of right now, I have green peppers, red peppers, cucumbers, snap peas, a couple kinds of tomatoes, spinach, a lettuce mix, some spicy peppers for Mike (not me), and carrots. I think there may be more, but I can't think of them off hand. And if for some reason they don't grow well, at least I tried, right?

Where have we been??

It's been a couple of weeks, I know. But we have been busy, busy, just not a lot of time to write. On top of that, I have been on night shift and that always messes with my time management skills. So on to some updates...

Moose is doing alright, but not great. We took him back last week for lab work and it showed that two labs are coming down in value, which is good, but one is going up. So he is on two more medicines now, one that he takes every 3 days and one that is every day. Needless to say he is getting better and better at taking his meds - we have to wrap him up in a town and force them down, but at least he doesn't try to bite or scratch and is resigned to the fact that he has to take them. Also, he's still not eating on his own so we are force feeding him at least twice a day, if not more. Mike and I are both ready for him to be back to himself. Last night he did actually sit with me and purr which I haven't heard for a long time.

Our sod still looks good - except for where Trucker pees (but I guess you have to deal with that, right?). And Trucker doesn't go like a normal boy dog, lifting his leg. He pees like a girl so there are big concentrated circles of urine-killed grass. We now have to start diluting the urine where he pees just after he pees to try to dilute out the nitrogen waste that causes the burning. We also just built a raised bed garden for my vegetables! Hopefully this weekend I will get them planted and we'll start seeing some veggies coming up for my own salads at home!!

Mike is starting at Metro State next Tuesday on the way towards his teaching license in special education. He has often talked about this and has decided he want to take the plunge. He will continue landscaping in the summer but will also be teaching during the school year. His program will last 2 years. As I start to understand better, I'll share info - but for now I know he has two classes this summer and 3, I think, next fall. We are both very excited.

But the biggest news to share is that we are finally going on a honeymoon!!! We are going to Hawaii at the end of July/first of August for 2 weeks. We will be backpacking on the Kalalau Trail for 4 nights, staying in a house for about 6 nights, then staying at a resort the last two. I am so excited to be able to do nothing but sit around and go to the beach! So we will do some backpacking this summer so Mike knows what he is getting in to and then we will continue making plans!

Nothing else big over here - but I must send you to my sister's blog because there are some ADORABLE pictures of my nephew, Tilden. My mom's blog has some, too. I hate being this far away from my family, but at least through the blogs I can keep up with what's going on with everyone. I'll say I never thought we'd be a blogging family, but here we are!!

The random things you can do online

I was playing and found that you can post things to Blogger from other websites... so here's my Lost nickname (from the TV show). If you watch it at all, you know Sawyer is a bit of a troublemaker and always has a name for whoever he is talking about. Apparently mine would be Sunshine??

I'm just getting in to watching the show, I'm still in season 1 actually, but it's really good! I never understood the craziness around the show but I definitely do now. Every episode makes you want to watch the next one and I hear it only gets better as you get further in to the show. I highly recommend it if you ever want to get enthralled with fantasy (or if you want a reason to go visit Hawaii; the scenery is amazing!!).

I'm always the last to know

Apparently today is Nurses' Day. How did I find this out - and why didn't I already know it? Upon getting the mail today I got the nicest card from my Grandmommy and during the day I got a message from my dad. I would think that Nurses Day would be something important to share at the hospital level, too, right? If I remember correctly we got cheap plastic cups (seriously, they were disposable) and a free fountain drink at the hospital last year. I haven't heard yet what this year will bring but I guess I'll find out when I get to work tonight.

In all seriousness though, thanks Dad and Grandmommy, for remembering a day that I did not. I truly appreciate it. And if you know any nurses, make sure you thank them for what they do (me not included).

Moose update again

I don't have anything too exciting to share, but I know that people have been wondering how Moose is doing since he has been home. In the past 24-36 hours he has been moving up and down the stairs much more than he has since well before he went to the hospital. I have gotten him to eat but he's not a huge fan of the dry kibble so I have had to break down and give him tuna (which he loves) or other wet food I bought at Petco (not such a fan of). He's doing much better and sitting in the window seat, then on to the dining room chair, into the bedroom, back downstairs, upstairs again... all over his normal places. I have yet to see crazy Moose though (that's the Moose that runs around playing with toys and getting big eyes). I'm sure it's on his way - maybe even when Mike finally gets home tomorrow night!

Moose is home!

This morning, I went to pick Moose up from the hospital. I cried plenty when I took him and spent time with him and said goodbye to him on Tuesday and I cried again this morning picking him up. His lab values are starting to normalize and he is eating well - at least that is what the doctor says. He has to go back in 2 weeks for labs to be redrawn but as long as he keeps eating and drinking in the interim, we are doing well. Of course, if his lab values haven't completely normalized by then it's possible we will have to do further investigation in to why they are still high, but for now, I'm just thrilled to be taking him home.

He has already found his favorite spot - curled up in the fleece blanket on the couch downstairs (once I get a good picture, I'll post it of course). We have spent quality time cuddling and I have had to give him his first round of medicine, which he wasn't excited about. I also put out the food that the vet sent home with me and he started eating some of it. He'll probably get annoyed with me following him around with a food bowl for the next few days, but I'm not going to let him go without eating anymore!

Moose's visit to the hospital

Because crazy things can only happen when my husband is out of town for two weeks, Moose is in the hospital. Really though, we noticed that Moose was eating less, maybe losing some weight, and vomiting off and on for the past 10 days or so but he didn't stop eating completely (as far as we can tell) until this past weekend. That's when I started noticing that the bowls of food he and Oliver share were much fuller than they should be. After noticing that two different times, Mike and I decided Moose needed to go to the vet. So after taking Trucker in the morning yesterday to get caught up on his shots so he could go back to doggy day care, I took Moose in yesterday afternoon.

I started at MaxFund Wellness Center, the vet attached to the shelter we adopted Moose from but the doctor quickly assessed him and told me that he needed to go to a full service hospital to be hospitalized (after weighing him and seeing he had lost 5 pounds since November and seeing the yellowing on his skin and in his eyes - a tell tale sign of liver damage). Looking back she said the term hepatic lipidosis while I was there but I was having a hard time taking it all in and all I heard was liver failure.

So off I went to the second hospital to see a doctor who could run blood tests on site and could hospitalize as needed. It was at this hospital that I learned more about hepatic lipidosis and causes thereof. Basically, as a cat stops eating, they begin to metabolize their fat stores (which as we know, Moose has many of). The problem with this is that cats' livers cannot clear the byproducts of this metabolism so it in turn leads to a build up of byproducts (which are usually toxic) in the body leading to liver failure. We don't know why Moose wasn't eating, but for some reason he wasn't and so he moved in to this hepatic lipidosis causing changes in his activity level, vomiting, further anorexia (not being interested in eating) and perpetuating the problem. The only treatment is to get the cat to start eating again but many times, they don't want to eat because of the nausea.

So after over an hour at the hospital and Moose getting an IV, having labs drawn, and being settled in to a kennel to stay the night, I left the hospital and proceeded to immediately start researching everything the doctor told me. Needless to say, I now understand better how my families feel and know where they are coming from when they ask the basic questions such as will my child be OK and when will he/she come home. While it's not the same as a human child, for me it is - it's the closest to a child that I have. The doctor didn't sugar-coat anything - there is a possibility that Moose won't make it out of this and the first overnight stay with fluid rehydration would be needed before we could really get a better idea. The fluid rehydration would help to flush the toxins from the buildup of byproducts out of the system. The last time I talked to the doc last night he said he would call me this morning before 8 AM.

True to his word, I received a call from the doctor (I guess I should be calling him a vet, huh?) at 7:50 this morning while I was sitting with a crying baby trying to calm her. I would really NEVER answer the phone at work - much less in a patient's room - but I completely disregarded this rule today. He said, "There is good news and bad news - the bad news is that Moose is feeling much better. Why is that bad news? Because he pulled out his IV line over night." So now, Moose, being the spunky cat that he is, is starting to try to eat but no longer getting IV fluids like he should be because he pulled out his IV - just like a kid!!

I was updated many times during the day by the hospital, 4 of the 5 times by the doctor himself. At last check in, Moose was still eating, not needing to be force fed (which is often what hepatic lipidosis leads to just to clear up the disease), having no more vomiting, and being overall very vocal and wanting loads of attention. The doctor said if he keeps this up he'll be able to come home tomorrow. Unfortunately I'm at work all day tomorrow so unless they will let me come in after office hours to pick him up, I have to wait until Friday to bring him home.

I am thrilled and relieved beyond words that Moose is doing so much better today. The vet was very honest with me at the prognosis of this and even went so far as to tell me there was another cat earlier this year that did not make it. While it wasn't very good to hear while I was there, especially with my husband out of town and no one to talk to about it, I was very thankful that he wasn't saying that it would be alright when he knew that it may not be. And Moose may be a little more spry in the end due to weight loss, but I guess that isn't a bad thing either.