BEST NEWS EVER

Got the great news this morning. Happi's liver levels are back to normal. In just two weeks she went from liver levels off the charts and a scare that she had liver cancer to back to normal and feeling well.  We have her on a different antibiotic and the milk thistle. She will probably be on the milk thistle forever.  This is the best news ever.

A relief that I needed.

Until tomorrow...

MRI STATUS

Today I took Brenda to her quarterly glaucoma check-up. While we were over at doctor central, I stopped in at my ankle doctors office. The doc just happened to be standing at the front desk. I told her I can't go to the MRI place because of my new insurance. She took me in the back and told me she is worried that if she signs my MRI slip, the insurance company will no authorized it. So she told me to get my primary doc to sign it. Then she told me she was not charging me for the last appointment.  She said she is trying to get on the ACA but can't figure it out. My insurance company told me that if my doc wanted to be on the plan but needed help to let them know and they would get them on the plan.  I took my form to my primary for him to sign. I will pick it up next week.

Until tomorrow...

HAPPI'S VET VISIT AND IT IS RAINING AGAIN

Today I took Happi to the veterinarian.  She was excited to go right up until we got there.  She is usually so happy to go see the doc but not today.  I guess the last few times she was there they did so many things to her she said "oh, no!".  But once she got in the back and all her friends were there, she was fine.  They took some blood and tomorrow we will get the results. 

The doc thought she looked much better and seemed great.  He said we could start giving her some real dog food again in little amounts.  We can also give Happi her flea medication.  He wants us to stop the heart worm for now.  There are no mosquitos at this time anyway. 

It started raining!  I had to go empty some water out of the pond.  I took about 3 inches out.  In a day or so I will see if I have to take out more water.  We need the water so I am not complaining.  I love the new pump!

I will let you know about Happi's results tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...

1964 COLLAGE

I made a collage of photos from the 1964 year.  I found some things from when I was a kid and printed out the photos.  I got a poster board and made a 1964 collage! 

I plan to put it up on the night of the party. 

• Collage
• music from the 60's
• photo project
• decorations
• ordered food

I think I am already.

Until tomorrow...

PHOTOS

I worked this weekend on the photo project for my party. Today I received a package in the mail and there were photos from my childhood. There were baby pictures and some funny photos of me with head gear. They will be great additions. The photos will be a slide show on the TV during the party. It should be fun.  A friend said I should put them on YouTube. I will have to figure that out. 

Until tomorrow...

KINDLE

I have been thinking of buying a Kindle.  I know I have an iPad and I read books on it but it costs too much to carry it around.  I will not carry it on mass transit or take it to the park or to the pool.  It is too expensive and I worry it will get stolen. 

I have been looking at Kindles.  A basic Kindle is selling for $69.99.  Now $70 I would not worry about as much.  My camera and phone cost more than the Kindle.  I would not worry about taking it to the pool and leaving it unattended while I swim. 

I was so anti-Kindle for so long because I like books but lately I like have the choice.  I like having the Kindle because I can read the same book on my phone, iPad and Kindle and they synch.  When I am waiting at the doctors office, for appointments and in bed I can read the same book.  I can also read paper books and have the Kindle books for emergencies.

I made an awesome dinner today.  Tofu scramble (with spinach) and roasted potatoes/sweet potatoes.  It was delicious.

Until tomorrow...

HUGE PHOTO PROJECT

I decided that for this party I would cater the food and spend more time on the rest if the party. The decorations, music, etc. Last weekend I got together 4 hours of music from the 60s and early 70s. 

Originally I was going to get movies from those years and cut clips from them and make a reel. But then I realized I would have to rent a lot of movies to make it good. I didn't have enough time.  Then I went to plan B. I went through all my old photos and scanned in a bunch. Many of our friends are new and don't know me from before. So wouldn't it be funny to put a bunch of photos from the past ___ years on a reel? So I went through almost all my albums and realized that I am in very few photos! I know I enjoy taking photos rather than being in them but it is really ridiculous how few photos I am in. One full album, not one photo. I am in two photos on a whole trip to Europe.  I also realized why it is clear my old boyfriend and I broke up (besides the obvious) the is only one photo of us together. We were together for 1.5 years. Not sure why I didn't notice that before.

I got together a bunch of photos of me as a kid. Me in high school. College. Family photos. We do these family photos every time we get together. It started as the whole family. The the first grandchild was born. Since it was a boy, the "boy photo" began. Then a girl was born. Then we started having a "girl photo". In the boy and girl photos only the appropriate gender is the appropriate photo. So all the girls do a photo and all the boys. It is cute to see the difference each photo. We have each a girl and boy frame.

It was fun looking through those albums. I had not thought of some of those people in years. Friendships that lost touch. I guess that is why Facebook was created.

My mother is sending some photos from when I was very small. Those will be fun to see.

Until tomorrow...

UPDATE ON HAPPI

Happi looks great. She is acting like her old self. She has energy and she wants to play with Lucky. She can make around the block and cries that she wants to walk more.  A few more days until her check up. 

Her new harness arrived in the mail. It is made specifically for three-legged dogs. Her other harness would slip all over and slip off. This harness is also made so we can lift her by a handle on top. It seems more comfortable. 

One week until their test run with the dog sitter. We will see how they do with another dog and a CAT. 

Until tomorrow...

DIDN'T WIN POWERBALL

I guess I had to play to win.  Oh, well, another time.  It was only 42 million.  Thinking of what I could do with even some of that money...

Until tomorrow...

NEED NEW CLIENTS

I have this client that I have been work at their place for two years. Today I realized it is beginning to feel like a grind. Like a job.  I realized I am done, mentally, working for them.  It is time to get new clients. Some fresh blood. 

Until tomorrow...

PRESSURE

Lately I am feeling a great deal of pressure.  I know that some of it I have caused.  I didn't need to plan this party at this time.  It is just causing more stress.

I have to do my taxes and I have a deadline.  I have this party coming up and all the planning.  Things are going right and some things are going wrong.  I made my playlist for my iPod and then the iPod won't download the list.  4 hours of music stuck on my computer! 

I want to do this photo video thing that I will be putting on the TV.  I am also doing a picture collage.  Lots to do.  Believe it or not this is scaled back from my previous ideas!

I just need to keep it together for a few more weeks.  Breathe!

Until tomorrow...

PET ROCK PREP

More party preparations. I put the pet rocks in their homes. Their homes are Chinese food take out boxes with some kinked and shredded paper in them.

Don't they look cute!

I also took a cute photo of Happi. I just have to share.

I have all the decorations I need for the party and I made a playlist of music from the late 60's and early 70's.  The next project is the photo project. I am taking old photos of me and putting on a continuous rolling video.  I thought this would be fun.

Until tomorrow...

SOMEBODY'S WATCHING YOU

After a full day of running around doing party errands, I began making the party favors. I know that sounds like a child's party but I came up with a  fun idea for this party.  I am making pet rocks and putting them in Chinese take out boxes.  Today I made about 25 pet rocks.

Aren't they cute!?   I just kept feeling like they were staring at me.

Until tomorrow...

EVEN MORE GOOD NEWS ABOUT HAPPI

Today I took Lucky in for her yearly check up and to get her shots. While I was there I asked about Happi's follow up on her copper test.  The test results showed that the copper in her liver was low and it was not the significant cause of Happi's illness.  In other words the copper didn't cause the liver issue.  The liver issue happened and the copper was just a side effect.  This is good news because this is one less thing going wrong. If the copper was causing the liver issue than she would have had copper toxicity and that is complicated.  

So she stays on the antibiotics, the milk thistle and the chicken and rice diet for the next week until she sees the doc again.  Today she went out to pee and when she came back inside she crouched down into play mode. She started running around in circles. She wanted to Play! This is the first time in a week and a half.  Happi is feeling better!  Yay!!

I also ran a bunch of errands including taking Lucky over to meet the pet sitters dog. It went well.  I went shopping for party supplies and to be honest, I bought a few clothes.  Most I have to take back because they don't fit.  But the two bike/hike tops were on sale and fit great. 

Watched a GREAT movie tonight: The Sapphires.  Based on a true story about four Australian aboriginal girls who sing Motown in the '60s. 

Until tomorrow...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Today I went to Pillow Fight 2014.  No, I didn't bring a pillow and fight.  That is all I need this week.  To end up getting hurt by a fanatical pillow fighter.  I wanted to watch it since I have never seen it.  Here is a photo:

 

It is a little dark because it is dusk and I don't have the best camera for taking photos at dusk.  This is so funny to me.  Happy Valentine's Day, bring your pillow and beat the crap out of people.  Show your love!  Anyway, I can now say I have seen it.

Here is a photo of Happi's belly.  She had to have it shaved and now it is itchy.  Poor thing!

 

Today I was called in for jury duty.  I was on jury duty call all week and each day I had to call in to see if I had to show up.  Someone was looking over me because with Happi being in the hospital, I was not called until today.  I reported for service with a backpack full of snacks, lunch, water, Ipad, magazine, Ipod, etc.  I was ready to sit around for hours.  Of course I was the second name called and told to report to a court room.  About 70 of us go to a court room.  The judge tells us we are here to be chosen for an asbestos case that will take 1.5 months.  Huh?!  I can't be on a jury for 1.5 months.  I work for myself.  I can't go that long with no income.  I spoke with the judge and after a little convincing she gave me a waiver and I was excused.  Phew! 

I am ready for this week to end.  Tomorrow I take Lucky to get her shots and to meet the new pet sitter.  It is a day of Lucky!  Then I run a thousand errands to get ready for the party.

Oh, did I mention I am having a party?  I decided to have a party in a few weeks.  I almost cancelled it when Happi got sick but now that she is doing better, the party is on.  I ordered the food today and tomorrow and I am getting a bunch of stuff.  If it all works out, it could be cool.

Until tomorrow...

NO CANCER!

Good news!   Happi does not have cancer!  Seems that Happi probably has Chronic Active Hepatitis.  This is an inflammatory disease of the liver.  It is chronic and there is no cure but it seems that if we caught it early enough and we are vigilant she can live many years.  She has a build up of copper and the pathologist has done a pigmentation test that we will get the results next week. That will tell us how much copper she has stored.

I have done some research and with medicine, milk thistle, and a good diet she can be fine.  She will have to be tested regularly.  It is really interesting that milk thistle is what they give dogs.

I have jury duty in the morning so I have to get some sleep.  Especially after this week, I may fall asleep in the box! 

Until tomorrow...

A CAUTIOUSLY GOOD REPORT FOR HAPPI

Today was Happi's ultrasound. I took her in a 8 am.  We were on pins and needles all day. Around lunch time I got a call that the ultrasound didn't show anything. Her liver was slightly enlarged but we already knew that.  This was good news because this pretty much ruled out cancer.  But we wanted to be positive so the next step was an X-ray of her chest. If she had cancer in her liver she most likely have it in her chest cavity.  Then the next step if the x-ray was inconclusive or clear, was a liver biopsy. I told the doctor to do what he needed to do.  Two hours later he called and the x-ray was clear and the biopsy was fine. The pathologist needed to read it but the doctor looked at it and from his point of view it looked good.  So now we wait until tomorrow for the pathologist report.

We are optimistically happy.  Happi is not as good as we would like. She ate a huge dinner of chicken and rice which us a good sign. Although I am not sure she has ever turned down food, ever.  I just think her back is really bothering her.  All the squatting, stairs, tests, etc. has probably wrenched her back all out of whack.   She has been shaking and crying and those are signs she is in pain.  We have been giving her pain pills.  But then the question becomes is it her back or something else?  

Lucky seemed to miss her all day but then tonight Happi tried to lay down on a bed that Lucky wanted and a fight broke out.  I got the short end of that stick with a bruised hand.  Lucky spent some time in Time Out.  Dogs can sure sense when another dog is vulnerable.   I think Lucky thought she could take Happi since she was sick.  Happi held her own even sick! 

Keep up your positive thoughts!

Until tomorrow...

MY POOR BABY HAPPI

We got the results of Happi's test results today. She has an elevated liver count. The doctor sounded very serious so we are quite scared.  I had to go to a clients while Happi took her meds and was sleeping.  I checked in during the day and she was okay until it got a scared phone call from Brenda at 3:30 pm. Happi was having trouble walking and didn't look well. I called the vets and they said bring her over.

I rushed home and got my baby. We went over to the vets and of course she acted fine once I got her there.  The doctor checked her out and she was fine. Heart rate, blood pressure, temp, all fine. She was not dehydrated. The doc said they could keep her overnight but I said I wanted to take her home and bring her back in the morning.  She is scheduled for and ultrasound at 8 am.  We think it is her back causing her to have problems walking.  She had gone up and down the stairs and squatted about 25 times yesterday and those tasks are hard on her back. I think she wrenched her back again and that was making her stumble.  I gave her a painkiller and tucked her into bed. 

She us not going to like that she doesn't get to eat any breakfast tomorrow.  More news to come.

Until tomorrow...

HAPPI RUSHED TO EMERGENCY BUT IS OKAY

Don't you hate when your day starts out with your dog having diarrhea and then vomiting?  Well, that is how my day started.  At first I could not figure out what dog was pooping on the floor.  I assumed it was little Lucky since she hates going outside in the rain.  Then I realized that poor Happi had diarrhea and she was quite ill.  First it was just the poop then she lost her breakfast.  After 45 minutes I called the vet.  They didn't seem too upset but I didn't recognize any of the girls that answered the phone and none of them said anything to me.  Weird!  Happi is a bit of a celebrity at the veterinarians office. 

HAPPI

You know I looked back and I could not find where I told Happi's story.  Happi is from Palau, an island in Micronesia.  An episode of Survivor of was filmed there.  She has three legs because she was hit by a car when she was around 1 year old.  Her life was saved by a visiting microbiologist who performed surgery on her and removed her leg.  In Palau all dogs are street dogs and people put food out on their porches.  Shortly after she had her surgery our vet (who is part of a group that goes to rural areas with the Humane Society and spays and neuters animals) arrived and redid her surgery the correct way and spayed her.  Our vet didn't want to leave her in Palau since dogs are still eaten on the island.  Our vet put her on a three day excursion of flights that brought her to America on Cinco de Mayo!  Because Palau doesn't have rabies so she didn't have to be quarantined.  But she did have heart worm so she had to have the shots in her heart.  That was not fun. 

TAIKO

While our vet was in Palau, our dog Taiko passed away.  We adopted Taiko when our neighbor passed away.  Taiko was his dog.  We had Taiko for 9 months.  Taiko got very ill one night and it turned out he had stomach cancer probably for some time.  His person died of cancer too so I believe they are together.  Our vet was very sad that she was not there for us when Taiko passed away.  When she came back with Happi, she called us and asked if it was too soon.  See, Taiko was a Shiba Inu and Happi is 1/2 Shiba Inu.  They look so similar.  It was meant to be.  Happi had never had a leash or collar on before. She had never seen a toy before or a bed.  She dove into the bed and would not get out.  Even though she had never been in a house before, she had one accident on the first day and that was it.  She never went in the house again.  Except for today!  That is Happi's story!  I know people always say they have a sweet dog but Happi is the sweetest dog.  She has been through so much that she just takes it all in stride.  In her first year she was hit by a car, had two surgeries, heart worm shots, three days of flights and moved to a foreign country! 

HAPPI

Today I waited about another 30 minutes and then I panicked.  She started doing this horse-like thing with her mouth and I remembered Taiko doing that before he died. So I bundled her up and put her in the car.  We rushed to the vet and told them she needed to see a doctor.  At first the new girls were resistant then one of the regular techs showed up!  She rushed Happi in the back and they checked her heart rate.  Happi was fine to sit and wait for a doctor appointment.  We waited about 20 minutes and a doctor saw us.  They ran some tests and gave her some fluids.  Her side was bulging with the fluids.  She was dehydrated.  I will get the results back tomorrow.  They gave her some antibiotics and said no food until dinner time.  I gave her some rice and chicken.  I give her meds at 8 pm.  She is quite lethargic.  At least she isn't doing anything but sleeping.  They think it is a bacteria or something.  They did an x-ray and nothing is stuck or twisted.  We wait until tomorrow.

I come home (because I am too late to go to my clients at this point) and the internet in my area is down.  For 2.5 hours.  Great.  What does one do for 2.5 hours in the middle of the day?  I watched TV and ate lunch.  All I wanted to do was work!  A completely wasted day.  Especially when I am on jury duty this week.  Well, jury duty call in.  I have to call each night to see if I am needed.  Thank goodness I didn't have jury duty today!

Insurance update: I found out that my insurance coverage kinda sucks.  I have the government subsidy.  Well, when you have the subsidy, many of my services are not covered because they didn't sign up for the government plan.  So my physical therapy, my ankle doc, the MRI imaging place, my eye doc.  All not covered.  I am thinking of dropping the government subsidy part.  I am not sure it is worth saving $116 per month if I all those services are "out-of-network" which means I have to pay 50%.  But it isn't 50% because the services are saying they want me to pay for the full cost.  If the PT costs $250 and the insurance covers $35, they want me to pay $225.  Not the agreement price.  When I get their bill I am going to call The-Insurance-Company-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and find out if this is right.  It seems that if they have an agreed price, I should only have to pay the agreed price.  Especially since I went to 3 PT appointments before they told me they are not in-network.  

Today was a good day because Happi is okay!  Tomorrow will be a more productive day.

Until tomorrow...

GOTTA TYPE QUICK

My battery is about to die.  Today I went to linner (the meal between lunch and dinner) with some friends.  We went to check out a pho place.  The pho is fabulous.  I am so happy because it is in our neighborhood.  Yay!

I also made a really good slower cooker soup: lentil chard potato soup.  I haven't tried it yet but tomorrow night, I will. 

Had to pump more water out of the pond.  Four more inches of water had to be taken out.

Until tomorrow...

ELECTRICITY AND RAIN DON'T MIX

The day started out kinda hectic when we lost electricity in the backyard. It happens every year or so when it rains. I went to go pump water out of the pond because it was about to overflow. We got about 4 inches of rain last night. The pump would not work and I thought the electricity was out, and it was for a minute, but then I realized that the pump was turned off. That was after I called everyone in my family to figure out how to fix the electricity.  I finally got it all working.

After that excitement I met my friend A for lunch.  We both braved the rain storms and ventured out for a short trip. We live about 2 hours apart so we split the distance and meet at a mall at a halfway point. Today we tried a new restaurant and it was delicious! It was a place where you can choose a salad, sandwich or grilled cheese. We chose salads. First you choose which salad, then what dressing and then if you want to add a protein (or anything else). I added grilled tofu and she added chicken. My salad was a tostada type salad. It had black beans, jicama, and crunchy tostada thins. It was great to hang out and catch up.

Then we went to a cupcake shop and got dessert. I got a whoopie pie. It was delicious!

I forgot to take photos so I could share with you all.

Until tomorrow..

LET IT RAIN

It is raining here on the West Coast. Yay!  I mean really raining.  It is so exciting. Each hour of rain means less water rationing.  Let it pour!

I finished the antibiotics today.  Now I see what happens.  I sort of detect a cough returning.  I will see how I feel in the morning. 

Happy Belated Birthday to my Sister-In-Law!

Until tomorrow...

I GOT MY CAR BACK!

After days of driving a rental car I got my car back!  I am so happy.  I love my car.  It is small and cute and it is a convertible.  It is so easy to drive and park. 

The rental car I had last Friday was okay.  At least it wasn't huge.  I don't know what kind it was. It was silver and it had satellite radio.

The rental car I returned today was huge!  It was a silver Chevy Malibu.  My brother had a blue Malibu when we were kids.  I think it was a '68 or '69.  That was the first car he restored.  Anyway, the Malibu I had for the last few days was big that it took up my whole garage area for parking.  It barely fit in the garage!  I was going to take a photo but I forgot.  It looked like a stuffed sausage. 

The first night I brought the rental car home I parked and could not open the driver side car door.  I had to climb out the passenger side.  Then the car is so big that I could not walk around the car to close the garage door.  I had to climb over the hood to get the drivers side to push the button to close the garage door.  I had to make sure the door didn't close on the back end of the car.  I guess cars back in the day were not very big!

My baby has a new waterpump and a new catalytic converter.  They also fixed my CD changer.  It was stuck and I could not get the cartridge out.  Now I can listen to new music.  There are only so many times I can listen to the same CDs. 

This reminds me of a story I heard a long time ago, a LONG time ago.  There was this guy who got into a car accident.  He ran off the road and his car rolled and he was trapped for hours.  Since no one else was involved in the accident, no one knew he was trapped for a long time.  The car rolled and was banged up but the 8-track player kept playing until the battery died.  (For those of you under the age of 40, an 8-track is a music player that had cartridges. Each cartridge was an album. You plugged the cartridges into the 8-track player and the music would just keep playing over and over until you turned it off or pulled out the cartridge. Cars had 8-track players.)  The album cartridge was Purple Rain by Prince owned by his wife.  When the car accident occurred, the cartridge got pushed in the player.  Because the man was trapped, he could not reach the 8-track player to remove the cartridge or stop the player.  He was stuck for hours listening to Purple Rain over and over again.  He said when he was rescued that the accident was painful but listening to Purple Rain over and over again was excruciating!  Ha ha!

I am so happy to get my car back!

Until tomorrow...

PHYSICAL THERAPY ENDING

Today I showed up for my physical therapy appointment only to find out that my new insurance does not work with this physical therapy location.  Unfortunately I am finding this out three appointments in to the new year.  A regular appointment costs around $250.  The office manager told me that because I didn't know that my insurance would not cover the appointments, she would cut me a break and only charge me $105.  The-Insurance-Company-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named paid them $69 and I would have to pay the rest.  This was only for these three appointments.  After that I would have to pay the full price and it would be up to me to file the receipt with my insurance company and get reimbursed.  

I went to my appointment and then I told them I would have to think about it.  I am not willing to pay that much out of pocket when I have an amount that need to meet on my plan.  So I need to find another physical therapy place.  It sucks.

It also sucks that I can't get through to The-Insurance-Company-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named on the phone.  I am going to try again tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...

TO MRI OR NOT TO MRI

I got the call today from the imaging place to schedule my MRI.  The doc wants me to get an MRI of my lower back to see how far the degeneration of my disk has gotten.  I have to decide whethe r I want to get it done. You see I could get the MRI and find out information but I most likely won't have any back surgery. With my history of infections and not so great surgeries, I am not rushing to have surgery on my spine. I f I am not going to have surgery, than do I need an MRI?

Just like my neck. Why get the MRI only to hear I have degenerative neck problems. Surgery is the only option other than physical therapy.

Until tomorrow...

SUPERBOWL SUNDAY

Today was Super Bowl Sunday. Unless you were a Seattle Seahawks fan, it was a boring game. The halftime show was pretty good. Not the best but not the worst. Our neighbor kid came over to watch the game.  Brenda made her wings and pasta salad and I made barbecue tofu.

After the game I spoke to my friend A. Her dog is quite ill and she lost her job unexpectedly.  I tried to do what I could.  We were watching the puppy bowl! So cute. 

Oh, my migraine finally ended. Yeah!

Until tomorrow...

A MIGRAINE DAY

I would pay a lot of money for a miracle cure for a migraine. Sometimes I get these migraines where I take the medicine and the migraine goes away (or seems to go away) but then it comes back hours later. Like a cruel joke. I just start to feel normal again and then WHAM. Back it comes. 

Today was one of those days my migraine started yesterday. It broke sometime early this morning like around 4am. Which meant not much sleep. Then it came back around noon. I took the medicine and tried to pull myself together.  It got a bit better but then it got worse. Such a crappy day. I ended up watching three episodes of My 600 Lb Life. Why? I don't know. It is kind of like the day I watched a whole afternoon of Snapped episodes.  I was mesmerized. 

Until tomorrow...