Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

 

The troubles:

 

-  My parents have gotten really into hiking and they frequently do 14ers. My dad hiked to Everest base camp last year, and will be climbing Mount Rainier next month. Well, R had a sleepover with them on Sunday and after seeing pictures of their hike she absolutely begged N and I to take her on a hike today. We chose a simple path in a canyon not 10 minutes from our house, and maybe half a mile up she goes "I want to go home and watch My Little Pony. I am SO tired of this." I was doubled over laughing at her hilarious little 'tude. Hank was struggling to so we headed back down. I'm hoping we can do a more sucessful hike in the future!

 

- Speaking of Hank struggling, that is my biggest trouble right now. A few weeks ago at the dog park someone pointed out to me that Hank was limping. It was very slight, and I hadn't even noticed it. Well it hasn't gotten better and although it hasn't gotten worse we decided to take him to the vet. He had to get an x-ray (my good boy didn't even need to be sedated!) and it showed that there's a problem with his shoulder joint. The doctor said it's either an injury that hasn't healed yet, or it's a condition called Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD) that occurs when bigger dogs grow too fast and their cartilidge develops abnormally.

Right now our plan of action is to rule out an injury, and help him overall, by giving him an anti-inflammatory medication and a joint supplement. If he doesn't get better than it's certainly OCD and he's going to need surgery or else he could end up permanent lame. Today's exam, x-ray, and medications cost $500 and that could be just the tip of the iceberg if he needs more work done. I knew we were taking a chance getting a breed known for having health problems and a short lifespan, but you never think something will happen to your pup until it actually happens. I'm hoping he feels better and can avoid surgery for both his sake and my bank accounts sake.

- I'd especially like to save money because remember how I took R to the doctor a few weeks ago? We talked to her doctor for maybe 5 minutes and then she had a chest x-ray to determine that she had viral (as opposed to the more serious bacterial) pneumonia. Well would you like to know how much in medical bills we've received for that? Oh just another cool $500. N makes good money and yet we live paycheck to paycheck for this reason. So frusturating!

Ok enough with the negative! Here are some non-troubles:

 

- R had a sleepover with my parents Sunday night and my mom gave N and I her credit card to be used on whatever date dinner we wanted! How nice is that?! We went to this delicious pizza placed called Mellow Mushroom and I may have ordered two appetizers, a pizza, and a dessert to go and totally regretted even looking at that much food. I didn't eat much of it, but you know, it's nice to get a sampling sometimes, hahaha. It's so nice having time with just N and I. We both always miss R like crazy but she's just so much work.

 

- My hair has been cherry red for a few weeks now, and I have been getting SO many compliments on it! I don't mean for that to come across as arrogant- trust me, they're not complimenting anything else on me!- but I've never gotten so many compliments on my hair in my life! I actually thought my hot pink hair looked a lot cooler but I got a lot less compliments and a lot more weird looks. I wasn't planning on keeping it red after this dye job fades but maybe I will!

 

Remember the photoshoot fiasco? Here's our $50 picture:

 

 

 And when you zoom in on her face:

 

 

 A single tear rolling down her rosy cheek. A truly poetic moment in the dramatic and unspeakably difficult life of a 3 year old. This is another one for the senior yearbook. ;) Oh R!