Recovery

Snowbelle's surgery last Thursday went great! I dropped her off a little after 7:30am that morning. By noon, I heard that she was out of surgery, but still under anesthesia; the vet wanted to know if I wanted her teeth cleaned as well. I said yes, then later I got another call saying she was awake and alert! They removed all of the stones without any complications (Praise God!), and the surgery went quicker than expected! I was originally told that she would have to spend the night and I could pick her up Friday. However, the vet felt so great about the surgery and Snowbelle was doing so well, that he discharged her Thursday night and she got to come home.

Considering she just had surgery a few days ago, she is doing fantastic. She is practically herself, except when it comes to eating. We think that is because her mouth might hurt some from her teeth being cleaned and having some teeth pulled. She still eats, but she just takes a little bit longer to eat than before. She is currently on 3 different medications: one for pain, one antibiotic, and one for inflammation. The antibiotic and the anti-inflammatory one are both liquids, so she takes those fine. And, even though she has been taking antibiotic pills for over 2 weeks, she really fights us with this new pain pill. Apparently it tastes horrible, and no matter how far back in her throat we try to put it, she still tries (and usually succeeds) to spit it back out. Sigh, oh well.

Anyway, I have to go to work soon, but I just wanted to let you all know how great Snowbelle is doing! Thank you all for your support and prayers!!

Snowbelle

In light of the recent happenings over Thanksgiving, I feel the need to express all the thoughts and memories that have been running through my mind the past several days.

I remember the first time I heard you whine.

Mom had just transferred you from the box in the garage to the birthday bag to bring you inside.

I had already received your food container, rug, and food/water bowls, but I figured it meant I was getting a dog soon, not that day.

Then I heard you whine as Mom brought you to me.

I gasped.

I remember pulling you out of the bag.

You had a pink bow in your fluffy, white fur.

My heart melted immediately.

None of us can quite figure out how you knew you were MY dog, but you definitely knew.

Since that very first day, you have been my shadow, my puppy, my friend.

You used to sleep in my bed every night, usually under the covers, sometimes by my legs, sometimes by my arms, always tucked in close.

Now you have your own bed, due to the inability to jump up on my bed and the lack of desire to cuddle close anymore.

I love the way you get so excited to go to bed.

I love remembering how I would walk in the door to see you waiting for me at the top of the steps.

I love the fact that you would lick away my tears when I felt so alone.

I love the eagerness in your eyes as you beg for food, or a treat.

I love that you have been with me for over 10 years now.

I love remembering how you would nip my heels if I ran up or down the stairs.

I love seeing you plow through the snow to go to the bathroom, even though there is a cleared place for you.

I love remembering how you and Bashful used to play together, chasing each other around the house.

Some say that having this kind of a relationship with a dog is unreal. However, I did not work for this relationship at all; it simply happened. While others may not understand it, looking back, I feel that God put you in my life to help me through some rough times. Sometimes you were the only one that I could pour my heart out to and you would simply listen and do your best to comfort me with your presence and your kisses. I can't imagine the day when you will be gone from my life, but I hope it is a long time in coming.

I love you, Snowbelle Princess.

Christmas:)

It's officially Christmas season!! :)

I am soo excited for Christmas this year...like always, I suppose! :) We put our tree up this past Monday night. I had to work til 8 (ended up getting off at 7, though), and it was cold and rainy, so just the guys went to go get the tree. (Yes, Mom and I trusted them enough to get a good one all by themselves :P) They picked out an AWESOME and BEAUTIFUL tree!! It's about 7 feet tall and about 5 feet wide at the bottom. The guys ended up putting 1500 multi-colored lights on it and it is GORGEOUS! Then, of course, we all put our own ornaments on the tree, but it was very different this year because only Kaleb's and my ornaments were put on so there are a lot more of my parents' ornaments this year!

The other exciting part about this Christmas season is that I have almost ALL of my Christmas shopping done so far! All I need is my mom's present. The rest are already wrapped and under the tree! Woohoo!! I am NEVER this prepared for Christmas.

On the not-so-bright side, my dog, Snowbelle, got very sick over Thanksgiving weekend and we had to take her to the vet. She would not eat; we had to force her to drink, and by Friday night she couldn't even stand on her back legs. I had to literally support her back end so that she could pee. :( It was pretty sad and scary. It turns out she had a really nasty fever/infection, which was quickly taken care of by antibiotics and fluids. However, they found out that her bladder stones are back again. 15 months ago, she had surgery, during which they removed too many stones to count from her bladder. She had to go on a special diet and eat this food (that is really expensive) that was supposed to prevent the stones from coming back. Now they are back, but this time there are only about 13. From talking to our new vet, it sounds like the stones last time were 90% made up of the type of stone that wouldn't come back with the food, but 10% made up of stones that some dogs (including Bichons) just naturally produce for some reason. What our vet said is that she probably naturally produces these stones (nothing we can do about that), but then her bladder gets infected and the other stones form around the existing ones. So, unfortunately, my 10 year old dog is scheduled for her 2nd bladder surgery in 1.5 years. However, it sounds like we might be able to do more to prevent them from causing problems in the future. Obviously with any surgery there are risks, and even more so with an older animal and a 2nd surgery, but I am praying that it is God's will that she survive, for a little longer anyway.

Anyway, sorry to end on kind of a bad note, but it has been on my mind a lot lately. Good news is, she is doing much, much better than she was, so she should be as healthy as possible before her surgery next Thursday.

Oh, random note....it snowed today!! Unfortunately, it didn't last long, but enough to slightly accumulate! It's soo pretty! :)