My Big 'Ole Lucy Dog

I know I say it all the time, but Lucy really is one of a kind. Anyone that knows her can attest to the fact that she may have the biggest (and most unique) personality of any dog - ever. Even though she continues to put me through new challenges just about every day, I love this dog with all my heart.

Anyway, the point of this blog is to post a couple of new pictures of her. I've spent all week packing up my apartment and I've sold several things on Craigslist. People have been coming by to pick up the things they've bought, and Lucy definitely knows something is up, which makes her very nervous. She always acts like a big old baby whenever she senses change is coming, so while I've been packing she's been hiding under the kitchen table. When the people came to pick up my washer and dryer she was very concerned, which led to more time under the table. So just now as I took a packing break, Lucy apparently decided she needed some up close and personal face time with me, as you can see in the picture. I mean, over the last two years she's become more and more of a cuddler, but never in our "relationship" has she ever actually sat in my lap. Maybe laid her head on it, or a paw here and there - but this was over the top. And she didn't want to get off either! She was so comfy, I had Logan take a picture because it was so absurd. I know, I know, she's a wooly mammoth right now, but she's getting groomed Friday while the movers are here. Actually, Deb Stover (the woman who runs the Giant Schnauzer Rescue Network, and the one responsible for helping me adopt Lucy) is going to be grooming her. Deb spent years and years showing Giants and doing professional grooming, and now she runs a grooming school where Lucy will be the model dog for Deb to teach Giant Schnauzer grooming. Ah, I'm so proud.

For fun, here's the link to the original posting on Deb's Giant Rescue website where I discovered and fell in love with Miss Lucy. She goes by "Lola" on the site. She was just 5 months old

http://www.giantschnauzerrescue.net/DentonThree/Denton3.htm

The other pictures are from Lucy's last trip to the vet. She was so funny. She'd prance all around the room until it sounded like the vet was about to come in. Then she'd run and hide under the bench I was sitting on. I have no idea why she does this because she really likes the vet. My guess is that she's scared they'll take her to the back room like they did when they had to amputate her tail. (See? We have been through a lot together.) Anyway, Lucy actually has another vet appointment for Monday. I think she's either developed incontinence, has a bladder infection, or diabetes. Incontinence is common in Giants, and in the past she's had a few very very small accidents when she was sleeping, but nothing huge. But now, she's peed in her bed twice, in the kitchen twice, and on my big bed twice, all pretty much in the last couple of weeks. From what I've been reading, its really embarrassing for a dog that is housebroken because they do it in their sleep and don't even realize they've had an accident until they wake up. This is definitely true for Lucy. When she wakes up and realizes she's done it, she lowers her head and goes back under the kitchen table. With diabetes, two of the classic symptoms are increased thirst and increased urination. Lucy has always liked drinking a lot of water, but it does seem like she's wanted even more lately which obviously means she has to pee more often. So basically there's something going on, but I won't find out until Monday what it is.

Like I said, even though she's always stirring up trouble, its still ridiculous how much I love this dog. I know she'd give her life to protect me, and apparently I have agreed to go into debt to finance her 'spensive medical needs. ;) Good thing I signed up for the doggie insurance. Its finally going to be worth it this year!

Congratulations Ross and Jessica!!

Well, it finally happened. My little brother got engaged!! To her complete surprise, Ross proposed to Jessica after dinner this past Friday. They went to Maggiano's under the pretense of celebrating Ross's promotion at work. Maggiano's is where they've always gone for their anniversaries (all four of them...) and for any other big events they've celebrated. I know they like the food and all, but I personally think they go for the chocolate cake - and frankly, I can't blame them. Anyway, the past few weeks Ross and I had been working on a scrapbook full of pictures taken of he and Jessica through their 4 years together. On the very last page was a picture of the ring (which is gorgeous, by the way!) with Ross's proposal typed out.

Immediately after dinner, they came to Jessica's parent's house where tons of friends and family were all waiting to celebrate the happy news. Family even drove in from out of state to be there to congratulate them. They are both so excited, and Jessica is already in full planning mode. I think they're wanting a Spring wedding, and she'll be posting more details on her blog at http://www.ineedonetogo.blogspot.com/.

So without further ado... the tons and tons of pictures!!

Just like the new ring holder she got says, "Bling Bling, She Got the Ring!!"

This is the picture of the ring that was on the last page of the scrapbook:

Jessica showing off her favorite pages of the scrapbook:

The girls in the family... plus Ross:

Of course, Logan came to celebrate too:

As Jessica calls it, "her NEW family":

The was the cutest cake I've ever seen. And it tasted amazing too!

And obviously the evening wouldn't be complete without the requisite self portrait of the two of us:

I'm so excited to have "inherited" my first sister!! If any of my two readers (hey Dad and Shelby!) are interested in seeing the rest of the pictures from that night, you can see them at http://picasaweb.google.com/lorinlaprade/RossAndJessicaSEngagementParty?authkey=bl-4HrDIW7s

I couldn't be happier for Ross and Jessica. Congratulations you guys!!

Ahhh, The Beach

Well, after spending the last week in South Padre Island, we're finally back to the real world. Doesn't it always seem like the time leading up to a vacation just crawls by, and when its finally here it just flies by? Logan and I went with Mike and Leanne to their condo on the beach again, and had a great time. We were a little nervous that the hurricaine would be a problem, but we actually had clear, sunny skies the whole week.

Mike and Leanne got engaged the night before we left and surprised us with the news when we met them at the airport. The ring is beautiful - Mike did well. Usually when we go to Padre, we just kinda lounge around at the pool, or inside watching movies, but this time I got out of the condo and did some of the touristy things.

Logan and I did a dolphin watch boat tour one day. It was about 100 degrees outside with very little wind, so it was pretty miserable at first. Once the boat picked up speed, we went to the top deck of the boat and enjoyed the wind. The first hour of the tour was spent trying to spot dolphins, which isn't easy. It seemed like they were swimming around all the other boats out there and staying as far away from ours as possible. There was one cute dolphin that swam right up next to us, but he poked his head out of the water for literally about 2 seconds and then was gone again. It was practically impossible to catch any dolphins in a picture, so the pictures I have of them look more like sharks... and barely. Apparently we chose the "dolphin watch and eco tour" boating experience, so the last hour was spent "trolling" for sea creatures. They tossed a net off the back of the boat, and we literally floated around the bay at about 2 miles per hour for over 45 minutes, waiting to catch something good. This experience did not go well with the 100 degree heat and no wind situation. When they finally reeled the net in, we got to see what we caught. Seaweed!! Lots and lots of seaweed. In all of that time, the only living things we caught were a catfish, a baby stingray, an itty bitty crab, and a sea horse. The other people on the boat were all too eager to touch these nasty things, but I decided taking pictures was good enough for me. I don't like slimey things. And at this point, Logan was miserably hot, so I'm not sure he even came over to see our "big" catch.

Another day, Leanne and I decided to go horseback riding on the beach. I LOVE riding horses, but Leanne had never been on one before, so she was pretty nervous. She did well though. I'm not sure she'll ever do it again, but I'd go back in a heart beat. It was actually a prety cool riding experience. They took us from the bay side across the highway to the beach side where we rode up and down the beach for a while. Then we went riding through the sand dunes and foliage, which felt like we were in the desert. After that we went back to the beach and rode around there for a while again. I kept trying to get my horse to walk in the water a little, but he was having none of it. He'd get one foot near the tide and be done. I'd love to go riding there again next time we go. I'll have to pay somebody to go with me though. :)

Oh! I cooked while we were there - twice! One night I made my famous chicken with special green beans and corn, and another day I made taco salad. I don't know how to cook a whole lot of things, but these two things I've got down, and everyone liked them. Even Mike enjoyed them, which means they must have been edible. Logan's sister Lacie came over a couple of days, and we all went to eat at this place called Dirty Al's, which is known for having just amazing food. (You know, the good and greasy stuff!) Logan ordered oysters, and Lacie decided to be brave and try them. You can tell by the look on her face how she felt about them. He wanted me to try one, but I just can't. It's that whole slimey thing again. I did try Lacie's fried catfish, but as I was eating it I remembered an episode of Dirty Jobs that I'd seen where they fed catfish poop. I wont' be having that again.

On the day Logan and I did the dolphin watch, we stopped at a random restaurant for lunch called The Pelican. I had the BEST sandwich I've ever had in my life there. It was called the London Pub, and I have no idea what made it so great, but it was amazing. Logan got a blue cheese and bacon burger and said it was great too. We liked it so much that we took Mike and Leanne back there Thursday night to have wings and watch the football games. Later on in the evening, they had karaoke too, which was quite entertaining. I've never figured out why people who absolutely cannot sing get up there with a mic.

I had to board Lucy while we were gone, and when we picked her up she was ecstatic to see us! (I love that feeling.) They said she did great in doggie day care, and didn't try to eat anybody. Progress! Since I've had her home though, I've noticed she's drooling a lot. Its not like draining from her mouth or anything, but her face is always just soaked. And she smacks a lot, and is hacking sometimes, I'm assuming from the extra drool draining down her throat. When she was eating a rawhide yesterday I noticed it was pretty bloody, so I looked in her mouth. It looks like she's either broken or severely worn down at least 4 of her teeth - two on each side. I'm guessing she sat there and chewed on the door of her kennel the whole time she was in it at night. (We all remember how when I first got her she'd throw her body onto the door of the crate until it came open so she could get out...) She just hates being contained. Anyway, today I looked again and it looks like she's got several sores on both sides of her tongue too where those teeth are missing. So she has a vet appointment on Thursday. Hopefully she'll get used to having 4 less teeth and stop all the drooling by then, but if not, I guess we'll have to see what the vet says. I've never met a dog with more issues than Lucy. But I sure do love her. :)

I have the rest of the pictures from vacation online, so if you're interested in seeing them feel free to take a look!

http://picasaweb.google.com/lorinlaprade/SouthPadreIslandLaborDay2008?authkey=kJd3OeDVdiI#

What a depressing day...

I haven't had one like this in a while. One of my patients who has been in heart, liver and kidney failure for a while now spent the day lingering at death's door. She is in so much pain, and its really hard to not be able to do enough to take it all away. One of my other patients was just diagnosed last night with leukemia, so all day long she and her family cried and cried. They had probably 30 family members come visit through out the day, and every time a new one came in they'd have to re-explain what was going on, bringing up all those emotions again.

I also think I'm going to have to take Lucy to the vet tomorrow. She's been having massive diarrhea since yesterday, and she started throwing up today. She's acting like she just doesn't feel good.

My pastor (and my mom's boss for about the last 10 years) also just announced that his wife just found out she has breast cancer. She had a double mastectomy last week, and they thought they'd gotten it all. But when the biopsy came back it showed that the cancer had already spread to her lymph nodes. She'll be doing 8 rounds of chemo (about once a month) over the next year. They are such a sweet and just genuinely good family - I don't understand why things like this happen. Not just to good people, but at all.

I guess that's about it for now. Apparently I'm Debbie Downer of the blogging world tonight. Hopefully I'll wake up on the cheerier side of the bed tomorrow.

Whew!

What a crazy couple of weeks! Logan was discharged from the hospital on Monday, after spending 6 long and boring days there. He wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything for the first three days, and when he was advanced to a clear liquid diet, he absolutely fell in love with the chicken broth. Kept saying it was the best thing he'd ever had in his life. He made such a big deal about it that the lady who brought the meal trays in snuck him FIVE whole extra broth packets - just for him. I mean, he was so obsessed with that broth that when the docs said he could be advanced to a regular diet, he made sure he could still eat as much broth as he wanted. The picture is of Logan chowing down on a grape popsicle. If you look closely, you'll notice he'd already finished his chicken broth of course. As for his health, he's feeling much better. He'll have several doctor's appointments over the next few weeks, including the dreaded colonoscopy to biopsy the abscess in a month or so. He also has another CT next week to make sure the abscess is still shrinking with just the oral antibiotics.

As for me, while Logan was busy causing trouble in the hospital, I got the all-clear from my foot doctor! I'm finally out of that hideous boot! I went back to work this week after having been off for a month, and to tell you the truth, I was glad to be back. Seeing everyone up there was like coming home, as cheesy as that sounds. The people I work with are so important to me - they really are my second family. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't really miss the work. Mostly just the people. :) But now that I think about it, it was nice being around the kiddos again too... they are pretty cute.

One of my best college friends, Jeff, was also in town this week and it was great getting to see him. He just finished his Masters at Berkley and stopped by the good 'ole Lone Star State on the way to Florida to begin his Doctorate. Logan and I took him to brunch at Breadwinners, which he'd surprisingly never eaten at. We got to see him again when we went over to Mike and Leanne's after Mike and Paul's hockey game. I know Jeff hasn't even started at Florida State yet, but I'm ready for him to be done so I can convince him to move back to Dallas! I miss that guy.

At Mike and Leanne's we watched the Olympic women's gymnastics competition. People that can do half the things gymnasts do without killing themselves absolutely amaze me. There are now tons of news reports coming out about half the Chinese team being under the age of 16, which is what we all kept saying the whole time we were watching. What I wanna know is why there's even a question about it!! Isn't it obvious just by looking at them?!? Their team is made up of children, giving them a HUGE advantage, therefore making it completely unfair that they won the gold. If they really are all at least 16, then they deserve the medal, but if they're not (and they aren't) then why aren't the officials taking the gold away from them? You're just pathetic if you have to cheat to win.

One more thing and then I'm done. Lucy has started doing this really weird thing. Whenever I'm drying my hair and I flip my head upside down, she gets up from wherever she is and starts circling my legs and even doing figure eights through them, rubbing her body against me like a cat. She does this the entire time I'm upside down, just rubbing up against me and begging me to pet her, and when I stand back up she goes and lays down again. I think she's confused about what species she is.

One Year Anniversary

Logan and I celebrated our first anniversary this weekend. I can't believe its already been a year! I am so thankful that we met, that he was available... and that he was interested! I've never met anyone as genuine and kind hearted as Logan. I am truly blessed to have him in my life.

Anyway, for our anniversary we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Trulucks. That place is great. Once again, Logan got the Dutch Harbor King Crab, and once again I had to hope that giant crab leg wouldn't walk across the table and attack me. It was HUGE. He actually got a leg and a half this time since it was so good before. Dutch Harbor is where the fishing boats sail out of on the show Deadliest Catch, which we've been addicted to lately. Once you turn it on, you can't stop watching it! Anyway, I'm including a picture of a freshly caught king crab on the show, and then the one on Logan's plate. Who knows... maybe they're related.

I got the filet with mashed potatoes and asparagus - my favorite meal in the world. It was pretty amazing, but the best part of dinner was dessert. Trulucks has the best desserts. We usually get their carrot cake (which you know has to be pretty good if a self professed chocoholic like me will pass up chocolate for carrot cake!), but this time we got the chocolate bag. They make a dark chocolate mold from a paper bag, and fill it with angel food cake, whipped cream, fresh blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. When they bring it out to you, its standing upright. They knock it over in front of you, and cut out the middle so you can get to all the goodness. Then, they drizzle warm chocolate on top. It. Is. Fabulous.

Anyway, we had a great anniversary, and I'm looking forward to many, many more in the future.

Another Milestone...

I had another weigh in today, and as you may have guessed from the picture, I've lost 15 pounds! (15.4 to be exact.) I didn't think I'd done well this week since I've been ordered to stay home and off my foot as much as possible, but whadda ya know?? AND, I'm back in my skinny jeans too. Just wanted to share the good news!