So I have been holding out hope that I would have something positive to post about, as I know it has been a long time since I posted and Mike's family likes me to post & keep them up to date on what is happening, however, our luck has been siding on the bad side lately... however, Mike's mom talked to Mike today to tell him some not good news about a couple family members :( and mentioned that I needed to update our blog... so here it goes... this will be long as it is hitting on the highlights since last fall to now...
The end of 2011 and beginning of 2012 has been testing our resolve at being able to weather the bad and hold out for the good to come... it is coming, right???
It began with us deciding that we would do a bit of fixing up around the house in time for winter. We decided to replace our front door as it was a huge waste of heat/cooling with it being badly warped over the years and not sealing properly. Then we decided that the next big energy loss from our house was the old windows. Not only were they old and we could tell that the seal between panes was broken on a few as they would fog between the panes, many of them were near impossible to open and close and their frames were cracking. So we decided to make the decision to spend a big chunk of change on replacing those.
The door was a nightmare getting. We were told it would be 3 weeks from ordering to finished installing... it took about 2 months to get it IN and another week to get it installed and that was only because they pushed us ahead in the line because of the problems. It also came in slightly damaged... thankfully, only cosmetically damaged and we made the decision to accept their offer of a discount and materials to repair/repaint the damaged area. That was after they found that the door was actually IN, just lost in the back after they told us it still hadn't arrived and we had decided to cancel the door order because it had been so long past our contracted date. So over the weekend of cancelling it, they found it misplaced in the back and we took the discount and arranged for the installation.... ugggg... the first date we were scheduled for installation, the guy showed up but said he couldn't install it because it was raining and the sealant wouldn't seal properly in the rain.... so they rescheduled us another day. We ended up with a difference installer which I was glad with as the impression the first guy left us with was one of someone who would likely do a halfass job and call it done. The installation guy, we got, however, was awesome! and did a BEAUTIFUL job! on both installing the door/hardware but also on the inside trim. We had our own trim which we had painted ahead of time. He cut it and installed it as that was part of the installation price even though we hadn't ordered the inside trim with the door. He was by far the best part of the whole ordeal to get our new door, aside from that we love the look of our new door.
The windows weren't nearly a nightmare to get. They were a couple weeks later than their contracted date due to the backlog of their installers. After the door, we decided what the hay, we'd stick with it as they were at least there and we knew an installation date and it wasn't that far away. The installers came to install them on the assigned date but it was raining and they found after putting in one, it wasn't going to be a good idea to do the rest in the rain. They already had later that week scheduled as a backup installation day for us so told us they would return that day to finish and to seal the first window properly without the rain. They came back as scheduled and did a fantastic job installing the windows. Such a huge difference in experience from our experience with the door.
By the way, we had our door done by Home Depot and our windows done by Lowe's. We DEFINITELY know who we would go back to if we need anything custom ordered/installation based done again. We had problems with Home Depot in Canada once on a custom order/installation quote but gave them the benefit of the doubt trying the US branch with the door... it would take a HUGE incentive/price difference for us to be willing to go through that again. Lowe's was much better all around and way fewer headaches/screaming to self over the process.
So after spending a big chunk of change to have those done, what happens... our furnace decides it is going to break down!!! Out of the blue it went from working to having its controller board breaking, forcing us to look at either replacing the part for 1/2 the cost of getting a new furnace or buying a new furnace... we ended up deciding to go with buying a new furnace as ours was already nearing 15 years old and we had no guarantee that after fixing the controller board, something else just expensive would die. That thankfully went nice and quickly, headache free other than writing the check. They rigged our furnace to keep us warm over the weekend and were there first thing the next week and replaced it in a couple of hours. We have used Dell Air Conditioning and Heating since moving here and have been happy with them everytime... only thing I do have to complain about is that I am still waiting for our manual and warranty paperwork after calling twice and it now being late February and we had it done early November... guess it is time for more frequent calls until I get it!
Just after that time with the house troubles, we learned that my grandmother was having more and more problems and then eventually, early December passed away. A very sad time!
My parents and brother came to spend Christmas with us just after that. It was both a very good and also somewhat frustrating visit. It was really good to see my mom and we talked a fair bit and did some shopping together like we used to. We went to the South Carolina beach (Hilton Head Island) one weekend and then to Savannah and Tybee Island beach the next weekend. However, my brother and dad read a lot and that was frustrating to have them continually face in their Kindle or iPad rather than visiting with us. It was also disappointing that both my brother and mother had problems with the cats bothering their allergies so instead of visiting at our house, visiting we did was either in the car or in hotel rooms. So it was a good visit with them and I am glad they came, but also was disappointing that it wasn't all that we had hoped it would be.
They left the beginning of January and the day that they left, we got a phone call from Mike's mom letting us know that his uncle Cliff had passed away that morning. It was a complete shock to us as last we had heard, he was doing well from treatment he was having for throat cancer. They hadn't wanted to worry us as there was nothing we could do from here and they didn't want to damper our holidays with my family. It sounded as though he had had a very tough couple of last weeks and it was a blessing that he finally would be at peace again when the time came.
We can understand where they were coming from and appreciate their motives. It just left the news to be a huge shock for us. It hit us very hard and deep as uncle Cliff has a very warm spot in our hearts, as does his wife, Aunt. Outwardly emotional is how it left us. Emotionally, it hit me much harder than my grandmother's passing the month before, I think because it was so unexpected. With my grandmother's passing, I had known for the last couple of years that it could happen at anytime and had been preparing myself for it that when it came, I was already through a lot of the grieving process. However, with Cliff's passing, it left us mourning deeply all at once.
Mike is a strong internalizing guy and I am not one to openly cry often, but it brought us to our knees at times when we let ourselves give into thinking about him. We grieve for his loss, for the loss that Aunt must be feeling, for the loss to the family as a whole. It was tough and still brings tears to my eyes just talking/thinking about him. He was such a quiet man yet his presence and the way he would look at you spoke volumes. The flower arrangements that my family sent us still are sitting atop our bookshelves wilted. I know I should throw them out, yet I haven't brought myself to do so yet. They aren't hurting anyone up there and when I look at them, they remind me of all the love we have in our family for one another so I hold onto them.
Skip this paragraph if TMI (too much info) bothers you: Throughout all of this, Mike and I also were wondering if we had finally managed to be lucky enough to conceive or not... We have tried on & off for the last 8 years... off & on since it has always lead to such a roller coaster of emotions the hoping and wishing followed by disappointment time after time... My cycle had finally be very regular for a full year and all tests were showing that we were capable of it. We had been actively trying and holding out hope it would happen one of these months. I was late and then later and then very late... yet, pregnancy tests were still negative. However, that isn't always a given, especially with someone who has had hormone problems in the past as I have. My tests have often showed a bit wachy for falling outside of normal ranges so all we could do was wait a bit longer & keep testing for the time being. Well, around 15 weeks, mother nature gave us the sign that nope, this wasn't our time either. To put it mildly, an extremely disappointing day yet also a day to hopefully put us back on a normal cycle so we could continue to try. Don't know if it was all the stress or what exactly was happening with my body but it took a 15 week break and now seems to be back on track which just starts the roller coaster going yet again.
We finally make it to February... can we hope our luck will change this month?! It starts out alright and we start talking about taking a little time for ourselves and doing something for Valentine's Day... I had checked a quick figure of our taxes and we should get a little back but at least not owe... then shit hit the fan yet again.
First I got hit with the stomach flu on a Monday and got hit hard, harder than I can remember in years or possibly forever. I couldn't even keep water down without being sick. It was horrible and the longer it went on, the weaker and worse I felt. I even broke down to the point of asking Mike if he could take the afternoon off and spend it at home with me in case I needed him. I no longer trusted myself to be home alone. I could barely get out of bed at times and felt very weak on my feet. Thankfully, Mike was able to come home and spend the afternoon there to help me when I needed him. He wore a surgical face mask :) He did feel a little queasy a few times during the week but kept the mask on when he was home and thankfully, avoided getting sick. By Thursday, I was back to feeling almost normal which was great because... This time, it was one of our 'kids' (aka cats) who scared the living $%#@ out of us.
I got up late one morning and noticed that Smirk was acting off and making sounds that worried me. I called Mike and told him that I thought we needed to take him to the vet. He was out for lunch with the guys from work so said he'd come home after lunch. In that time, Smirk got acting VERY not himself and had me very, VERY worried. Something was definitely wrong with him. I called the vet and they said they could see him as soon as the vets were back from lunch at 2pm. Mike got home and got him into the carrier as when I had tried earlier, he let out a very frightening to me sound and I didn't want to hurt him and wasn't sure how else to try to pick him out so waited for Mike to get home. We took him in and quickly learned that he had a very enlarged bladder and it appeared to be a urinary tract blockage which can be fatal for a cat within a few short hours. It doesn't take long for the urine to back up into their kidneys and cause all sorts of systematic failure. He needed to be put out and a catheter inserted to drain him and then have him on fluids to flush his bladder. They did a lot of blood work and we learned that we had caught it fast enough that he didn't appear to have any permanent damage. He just needed to clear out the blockage and then work on keeping him from rebuilding the crystals that caused the blockage. He stayed overnight at the vet and we were told that we could pick him up at the end of the next day, Friday. When we got the bill, I (kick me here!!) was happily surprised that it was just over $400. We took him home. We needed to watch him and if he didn't pee that night, were to bring him in first thing Saturday morning.
Well, we never made it to Saturday morning to take him back. Instead, within a few hours of being home, he was acting worse than he had the first time and we knew he had reblocked and was in bad shape quickly. We drove about a half hour over to the emergency animal hospital... the longest drive EVER and worse, it began raining part way there. We drove a little quick but were careful since the roads weren't in great condition and didn't want to make things worse.
He had reblocked. They needed to put him out again and put in a catheter again. They were very careful not to say it outright but we definitely got the feeling that they were surprised that our regular vet had let him go home and not transferred him to them when they closed as he needed constant monitoring as it is very common for reblockage that close to an original blockage. We got the quote for what it was going to cost... low end $800, high end $1200... and without hesitation, agreed. How could we possibly not fix him up when aside from a very treatable blockage, he is a picture of great health and such a loving companion?! We knew that it was going to mean our tax return and a lot of rebudgeting and scrimping for awhile, but this was our 'kid'.
Not that many years ago, I wouldn't have understood that thinking because I hadn't known the unconditional love that pets give to you but now I do, and my life is so much richer for it... well, after this episode, richer in love, not in pocketbook. ;)
Smirk got 24 hour care at the emergency hospital and they did a wonderful job with him. They took xrays to get a better look at how severe his condition was, did the necessary blood work to make sure he was doing well but also tried to keep the costs as low as possible as they knew we had just spent $400 at our regular vet for this same problem. They flushed his bladder and urethra as best they could to remove the crystals and blood clots, and kept him until he wasn't passing crystals anymore. They saved one of the larger crystals in a vial for us and Mike being a guy, wasn't too keen on the size of it and knowing how Smirk had to pass that.
Smirk has to be on a prescription diet for the next month which is very acidic to dissolve any remaining crystals and then will have to be on a different diet forever to avoid rebuilding them. With speaking to the emergency hospital vet and doing more reading on our own, we have made the decision to switch all of our cats over to wet canned food from now on. There are so many medical problems that having them on dry cat food causes since it keeps them in a constant state of dehydration. There is still some conflicting research on wet vs dry for their teeth health but for overall health, wet keeps them healthier and avoids a lot of the health problems that vets see. It is more expensive but after a weekend of $1400 at the vet & emergency hospital, more money on their food for less money on vet visits sounds great to us!
We got a few cans of Smirk's food from the emergency hospital when we picked him up and then a couple cans of another kind from our vet when we went for a follow up visit. However, Smirk would reluctantly eat the Hill's Prescription Diet s/d canned food from the emergency hospital (which in our reading, we learned is believed to be the best for his condition as it is most acidic) and wouldn't go NEAR the Royal Canin canned food from our regular vet. So we found an online place that we could order the Hill's Prescription from and put in an order. They sent our vet an approval form to fill out and fax back but when I checked with our vet, they said they didn't have it & started talking about another food they had ordered for us... which was from before his emergency visit & which we never asked them to order... boggle! So we decided that we had enough cans to make it to the weekend and then we would drive back over to the emergency hospital (only open evenings & all weekend) and ask for a paper prescription that we could fax into the online food company on Monday and also bought some more cans from them. Whew... soooo much easier!
We soooo wish that they were an all the time hospital and not just after hours/weekends as we were much more impressed with their care given to Smirk... not to mention, we were astounded to find out that that Thursday night Smirk spent at our vets overnight wasn't supervised... he would have had his catheter but what if something had happened?! it scares us to think about it... and our vet was voted top vet in the area last year... However, we do now know that we can ask to transfer our pet to the emergency hospital if they ever need to stay overnight again... it would have avoided him having to being put out twice and having a catheter put in twice.. would have saved him a lot of pain and us a lot of worry and some money.
So now we are in the phase of getting them all used to new wet food and thus, a new feeding schedule as we can't use the automatic feeders anymore, as well as, trying in vain sometimes to keep Pickle, Cosmo and Ash out of Smirk's food! We are trying different tricks with different cats since they aren't all so agreeable to the change... but it's getting easier each day as they learn the new food and new schedule.
So things are finally beginning to settle down again... we have learned to check their bladders to make sure it isn't building up due to blockage & checking to make sure he is peeing, they have begun accepting Smirk again (when he came home from the hospital, even his brother wouldn't have anything to do with him & hissed at him whereas they were inseparable before all this), his prescription food has arrived, Smirk seems to be back to himself...
and we are back to holding our breath waiting to see if our luck will finally change or what March will bring our way....
I guess one good/bad news thing was that last week I had another epidural injection so that my back pain is in control again. They tried a slightly different procedure this time going directly into my spine instead of up through my sacral into the spine. I had pushed off getting it back in the winter right before my family visited as it can sometimes leave me a bit sore for awhile so my back was acting up for most of January but is good again now as the injections tend to last about 6 months. The new method of directly into the spine has seemed to help the same for the lower back and left me less sore from the procedure but still the occasional foot/toe twinge is happening.
I am hoping that my next blog post can bring at least something good
for news... all this bad news has had me avoiding updating my blog...
it's been bad enough living through it, let alone writing about it... it
exhausts me thinking about it...
It's been a lot right after one another but we're holding in there and doing alright. It's been a lot of ups and downs but we're getting better at weathering them in stride... as long as they stop soon, we can recover. We had built up pretty decent savings to be able to weather them so we have our fingers crossed that we can go back to rebuilding those again and stop the out flooding.
Love to all our family & friends. Remember to hug the ones you love. You learn through the downs who are the true rocks in your life.
Vegas baby! VEGAS!
1 month ago
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