Here and There

So it's been awhile since I've made any blog or facebook updates on life. I figured it was time. Maddy is doing well. We've heard a whole lotta nothing back from the crappy vet, but since then we've found a new one! We've started taking Maddy to the Akron Medina Veterinary Hospital. They are great and we had a much less expensive appointment with them that actually gave us some results! They diagnosed Maddy with a bacterial infection and started her on antibiotics. Yes, its true... there were no ear mites. But the crappy vet still should have noticed all these scabs and lesions all over her body that were multiplying like mad crazy. So since she's been on the antibiotic, there's been major improvement. We got her coat shaved all the way down so we could see her poor irritated skin (which is what lead us to make another vet appointment) and the scabs are starting to go away. Unfortunately, as each of these scabs go away, she's left with hairless patches of pink skin. Poor girl. They're all over her legs, feet, butt and back. It's quite pathetic looking. But, she's in such a better mood and back to her usual Maddy self. So as soon as her skin looks a little less disgusting, we can say that she's all better! They say it could take a month or so.

As for me and my New Year/New Self... I'm on a diet! I have yet to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight, until now! In fact, I'm doing so good that I'm passing it up and losing even more! I've been tracking everything I eat on sparkpeople.com and it has seriously changed my life. It has opened my eyes to the horrible things I used to put in my body and it's shed light on things that are still tasty, yet good for you! The first day I started tracking what I ate, I actually consumed 3000 calories that day! Yuck! (Granted, this included a date night with Andrew and lots of fried food, so I wasn't necessarily that gross every day) Since then, I've got it down to between 1200 - 1500 calories a day. In the past 3.5 weeks, I've lost 8 pounds! It's amazing! And I don't even have to make my lazy butt exercise! And after the initial yearing for fried horribleness, I actually don't even desire to eat that stuff anymore. Well... ok, sometimes I do. But for the most part, I'm enjoying how much better my body feels when I fill it with healthy eats. Loving it! My goal is 10 more pounds by spring so that I can look stunning by the time it's bridesmaid season. =) Plus, whenever our next little bundle of joy is on the way, maybe these healthy habits will keep him/her a little smaller than our 10 pound Nathan. =)

What. A. Week...

And it's still going! So I've told the story of Maddy and the vet a million times already, but it definitely deserves a blog post for those who I don't talk to on a regular basis. Here comes the play by play!!!

Last wednesday/thursday, Maddy had a bloody nose. Not an intense amount, but a decent size drip. Everytime she would go outside, it'd start up again, so I attributed it to the cold weather drying her out. Saturday morning, she started losing her appetite. By saturday afternoon, she stopped eating all together and by saturday night, she had diarrhea. This continued through all of sunday. By the end of the day sunday, I noticed her paws were bloody and she was chewing on them constantly and they were starting to bleed. She wasn't herself. Hardly getting up or moving at all. In fact, her paws were so irritated that she hobbled as she walked. Poor girl. =(

Monday morning I decided she needed to go to the vet. She still wasn't eating and I was worried about dehydration. She just kept looking more and more miserable. So I called the vet and they told me they didn't have any appointments availalble, so take her to the ER. (Strike one) I was ticked because taking her to the ER meant $100 office visit rather than a $30 office visit.

Into the ER we go with Katie in tow cause she was here visiting. So sorry it put a damper on our fun, but boy was it great to have my best friend by my side while I took "man's best friend" to the doctor. So I tell the ER doctor all her symptoms. They insist that the itching and biting at her paws is because she's developed a food allergy. My first problem with this is that they made this assumption without even doing any kind of exam on her yet. They decided that this was the problem and didn't work to investigate it further. In fact, through our whole experience, they never once asked me what I feed Maddy or suggested something new to try.

At this point I also informed them that she's been having itching in her ears for at least a month now and that it looks exactly the same as when our cat had ear mites. The ER doctor responds (without even lifting up the flap of her ears to check) that this is because of the food allergy and that ear mites aren't as common in dogs as cats. Ok, I say... doctor's know best, right?

So I leave her there and wait for a call to hear how the blood work and x-rays went. The purpose of these tests were to see why she wasn't eating and why she was having diarrhea. Well, after four hours, I decide to call and check in on her myself. I call the ER and they inform me to call my vet that works at the Bath Veterinary Clinic. They say that she's the one overseeing the case and that they're forwarding all information to her. So I call her. And she knows hardly anything. She hasn't seen Maddy at all. She's just reading the info they gave her via fax. Helpful, eh? She tells me that the tests all came back clear and that they don't know what's wrong with her, but they'll keep her there and keep her hydrated till morning.

So I get a call tuesday morning. Again, from the vet that hasn't seen Maddy at all. She tells me that Maddy's doing better! "Great," I think! Then she goes on to say that Maddy still isn't eating. She isn't pooping at all. And the inflamation on her feet is getting worse. But they think I should take her home. Wait a minute... where's the great? From what I'm hearing, you're telling me she's getting worse.

I decide to just let it go and get off the phone. I decided I'll just go to the ER to pick Maddy up and insist on talking to a doctor on site that is actually interacting with Maddy. So I go and request to see a doctor and they insist that the only doctor I can talk to is the one I've already been conversing with on the phone. So they put me on the phone with her again! I was fuming. Seriously, intensely mad. So I got straight up...

I told her that I spent nearly $700 on all these tests because I was worried about my dog and now they're sending me home with a dog that I'm even more worried about because she hadn't eaten in 3 days and her itching was getting worse! The doctor talked herself in circles and then offered for me to spend another $1000 on an internal medicine specialist. Right. Fat chance. So I took all her records and test results with me and headed home with a sick dog.

The gave me medicine for her that they didn't tell me how to administer. They told me to put her back on her regular diet. (Remind you, they don't know what this regular diet is, and they suggest that she has a food allergy... but I should keep it the same????) They didn't tell me to follow up or anything. Just "take her home."

By tuesday afternoon, Maddy decided to eat a little bit. Thank God! She still looked miserable though. By tuesday evening, I noticed she now had a scabby bloody spot on the tip of her ear. Wierd. She couldn't have chewed the tip of her ear, so these scabs have to be popping up for a different reason. Andrew hops on google and investigates scabby ears in canines. What causes this? EAR MITES!!!! For real? I told the doctor that's what we thought she had, but they didn't even bother to look. Ok, unedjucated readers... you make the call... Here is a picture of a dog's ear with ear mites...


Here's a picture of Maddy's ear last night... (Granted, it looked a lot dirtier in person, but you get the idea. My camera isn't that great.)


Doesn't take a genius to see that these are the same. And it turns out that if ear mites go untreated, they can start laying eggs under the skin that cause scabby sores and extreme itching. Weird. Sounds like Maddy. =P

So last night, I made a trip to petsmart. Andrew and I proceeded to give Maddy a bath in an insecticide and treated her ears with ear mite cleaner. Already this morning, the itching has gone down a bit and her mood is right back to the hyper Maddy we know and love. She's started eating again and she's getting much better all around.

Thank you Dr. Thorp, Bath Veterinary Clinic, and Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital for charging us $700 for blood work and x-rays instead of just lifting up my dog's ear to check on the mites I told you I thought were there. Coulda saved us a lot of trouble, money and heartache. Google did a better job on making my dog healthier and more comfortable than you did.

P.S. As for the bloody nose... mites can travel down to the nose and cause nosebleeds. Hmm... coincidence?

From Surviving to Thriving...

2010 was one of the roughest, yet most blessed years of my life. It's amazing how some of the greatest and most rewarding things can also be so stressful. From having a beautiful baby boy amidst a 6 month long kitchen remodel, to spending 5 days in the hospital when he had RSV... I'd say this year has been a whirlwind. Most of the time I was just surviving from one day to the next. From one adventure to another.

But, I wouldn't trade a minute of my time with these two men for anything.


And who can argue with having a kitchen like this?


And despite all the sickness Nathan experienced the month of December. It doesn't stop his smiles.


All I can say is that I'm ready to go from surviving, to thriving. And with that, most importantly, is taking full advantage of the wonderful friends and family I have surrounding me. This year, my resolution is to be more intentional in my relationships. To deepen my relationships rather than just maintain them.

Most of all, I just want to be a better me. =)

Praying for a healthier year...

December has truly been the hardest month of my life. Poor little Nathan just can't catch a break. From our hospital stay the first week of the month, to his bout with the flu this past week of the month, I'm learning that being a mom can be painful. It is so hard to watch my little guy be so sad and be so sick and not be able to do anything about it. Granted, this flu bug he caught isn't the end of the world, but it's just bringing all the memories of our hospital stay back to the surface of my heart. I just want the little guy to be healthy. I feel like every bug that comes around seems to find its way into my little boy. =(

I can say that I'm thankful for the blessings that have made this month bearable...

1) Friends and family constantly offering anything they could to help us during our lowest of times.

2) Nathan's first Christmas was AMAZING! He had so much fun playing with the paper and pushing boxes around. His favorite gifts of course were all under $5. Racquet balls, maracas, and a plush football.

3) The flexibility of a part time schedule and managers that are more than understanding of the extenuating circumstances that have caused me to be so MIA this month.

4) The sermon series at church. Pastor Jeff has been preaching about God being "With Us" and what that really means. Boy has it helped to just close my eyes sometime and visualize God literally being at my side and holding me and little Nathan through these tough moments.

All I want for the new year is a fresh start with a healthy Nathan. The first 11 months of 2010 weren't so bad. Let's let go of December and go back to that...

Embarking on an Adventure!

So I've decided that with my new schedule, I need to be sure to devote some of my free time to God. I've never been good at setting aside intentional time to read and study the Bible, so I figured it's time to start. I would call it a New Year's resolution, but those never work out... so I'll call it a New Amy resolution. One more way to intentionally become the better me I'm striving to be. =)

This devotional book is a study of 52 different women from the Bible. The idea is to read about one woman a week. There are five daily readings or exercises each week... allowing you two days of wiggle room to keep on track. It says it's intention is to "help you approach the story of salvation with fresh eyes." It teaches you about the woman's story and the background of her life and times.

I'm quite excited about it. If anyone out there wants to join me and hold each other accountable to keeping on track, let me know! I know it sounds like quite a commitment, but I think it could be really rewarding. =)

LOVING IT!!!

Life is so darn good right now. I honestly can say that I've never been happier. I've always wanted to be a stay at home mom and this working part time thing is the perfect transitional step. Nathan and I have been having a blast together on all my days off and we're starting to get into routines and naps that I can generally plan on.

Nathan's been learning lots of new things lately. One of them is learning to crawl...


Another is learning to pull himself up! He loves staring out the window and looking to see what's going on outside. =)


I've been learning my fair share of new things too! Well, I shouldn't say learning. More like tweaking. Our house has never been cleaner and I've started trying new recipes! Last night, I made Andrew a spicy southwestern mac n cheese! Since mac n cheese is his favorite meal, you don't have to guess that he was quite impressed. =)

I've spent so many years wishing for things and time that I didn't have. Now there's nothing to wish for! I get to spend most of my days home with Nathan, learning to be a good mommy and a better wife. And three days a week, I get to take a little break and get my grown-up time at work. It's perfect. It's really really perfect. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity. ESPECIALLY during the Christmas season!

What a Week...

...and it's not over yet. Wow. It's amazing the strength God gives you during the times you'd think you'd just fall apart. But I think that strength is starting to run out. For those that I haven't talked to directly, here is the short version of a long story.

Nathan started getting sick with a cough and cold Sunday and it progressed into a fever on Monday. Ironically enough, Monday was his last day at daycare and they had to call me an hour before I usually get there to come pick him up. I took him to the doctor Tuesday morning and they did a chest xray, etc. but sent us home saying "he should come out of it soon. Come back Friday for a follow up." Well, he didn't get better. He kept getting worse. After a couple calls to the doctor and them saying I couldn't bring him in sooner as I was requesting, we ended up in the ER on Wednesday night. From there, he was admitted to the PICU (Pediatric ICU) at Akron Children's Hospital. Overnight Wednesday night, he experienced respiratory failure. THANK GOD that we followed our instinct and had him there where the doctors could use all the necessary equipment to keep the little guy's breathing going. He was diagnosed with RSV, a respiratory infection, and because he took it so hard, they're wondering if he has an underlying problem of asthma.

After that, Nathan spent the next three days in PICU, slowly being weened off the oxygen machines. Saturday afternoon, they took him completely off the oxygen. He then got moved off the PICU floor and onto a regular floor. They were hoping he'd come home today, assuming he could stay completely off the oxygen. Unfortunately, during the night Saturday night he needed a little more help, so they put him back on it. Looks like it's going to be at least one more night at the hospital. This truly brings more meaning to the saying "One day at a time." There's really no telling when this nightmare will truly be over.

People keep commenting about how calm and cool and collected I've been through all of this. And it's true. I've really held it together. The tears I've shed have been far and few between. Like I said at the beginning, it's amazing the strength that God can give you. I wouldn't be handling this so well if it weren't for Him. I've been trying to focus on the silver lining. I've been trying to take note of all the ways God held Nathan through this past week and made everything work out so perfectly amidst a horrible scenario. But honestly... I'm feeling my strength fading. Everyday, it gets harder not to just break down. I have a feeling when this is all said and done... when we get home and can have Nathan sitting on the living room floor helping us finally decorate our naked Christmas Tree... that's when I'll break down. Until then, send up prayers that God would give Andrew and I the perseverance to be strong for our precious baby boy.