iPhone 4S Update

It went dead as a door knob, today. So, I called Apple and they were, as usual, great help. Don't know what I did to knock it out, but if it happens to you hold down the power button on top and the round button on the bottom, simultaneously, for 15 seconds.


Connect the phone to your computer and follow the restore option. It put everything back the way it was. It's important to sync your phone often with your computer (iTunes).


I'm going to guess the cause of the crash. I may have had too many aps open at one time. Just a guess.


Another piece of advice, write your phone's serial number down where you can get to it without your phone. I got mine from the box, but you can get it from iTunes, as well.


For Verizon users, don't forget to do *228 to update your roaming and new towers. I do it at least once a week and have never been anywhere where I couldn't get service.


I'll leave you with a picture or three of my best (lazy) buddy.

iPhone 4S Update

It went dead as a door knob, today. So, I called Apple and they were, as usual, great help. Don't know what I did to knock it out, but if it happens to you hold down the power button on top and the round button on the bottom, simultaneously, for 15 seconds.


Connect the phone to your computer and follow the restore option. It put everything back the way it was. It's important to sync your phone often with your computer (iTunes).


I'm going to guess the cause of the crash. I may have had too many aps open at one time. Just a guess.


Another piece of advice, write your phone's serial number down where you can get to it without your phone. I got mine from the box, but you can get it from iTunes, as well.


For Verizon users, don't forget to do *228 to update your roaming and new towers. I do it at least once a week and have never been anywhere where I couldn't get service.


I'll leave you with a picture or three of my best (lazy) buddy.

There's So Much Wrong...

...and Rich isn't here. I dropped Jack off for what I think will be his last tap before his surgery. He cried like a baby when they took him back which only added to the sadness I've been feeling; only some of which I can write about. He doesn't mind our regular vet, but he knows something is up when I bring him to GVS. So, here I sit, waiting for the call that tells me I can come get him. The house seems even emptier without him. I hope that the surgery fixes him 100% so that we can go camping, again. I feel that I'm giving him the very best chance I can. First, he'll be at a specialty center. He's in the care of an excellent internist and has had all the tests to confirm that he is good health other than this condition. Unlike regular vets, he will have a dedicated anesthesiologist for the surgery, and THE most competent surgeon to do his surgery. Now, he will be in their hands, and I can only hope that he comes through the surgery with good results.  

Best Friends

 Jack and Lizzie

So Sleepy

Quit Waking me, Suz...

So "Jack"

We all feel so bad about little Mary. She's suffered more than any of us in her seven short years. Doesn't seem fair. My thoughts are with her all the time, and with Jenny, John, and Judy. It's a helpless feeling not to be able to do anything-I'd trade places with her in a flash if I could. Poor baby.

I find myself wishing and wishing that Rich could be here--I realize how much I relied on him and his strength during difficult or sad times, and how I miss sharing the happy times. I still feel so empty and hollow without him. Perhaps he's fortunate not to know the sadness--I hated him to be sad. Hard time writing, today.

A Sad Time...

Two days ago I learned that my sister's granddaughter has Leukemia. Life changed for their family in a split second. Shock and disbelief, deep sadness, and frustration that they can't rewind and change what they heard, hoping with their very being that the doctors were mistaken when they knew they weren't. I feel so terribly sorry for her Mom (my niece) and her Dad who are suffering every parent's worst nightmare. And, I feel sorry for my sister and brother-in-law who are also devastated.

Fortunately, my sister has always been a very involved grandmother and is able to take care of their other child so they can stay at the hospital while they take the necessary steps to prepare their little one physically and emotionally for chemo therapy and the long and difficult road ahead.

It's such a helpless feeling to be so far away. I can't do the meaningful, hands on type of things, but I'm hoping our family can lend support in other ways from afar. As you read, please keep this precious little 7 year old in your thoughts.

We had good news about Jack. The Dr. from Texas will do the surgery, here, on June 7. I fully expected that he'd have to be tapped, again, today, but he wasn't. Even though he had leaked some more fluid, it wasn't enough to warrant another tap. Our vet wants to see him again next Friday unless some sort of emergency occurs before then. I'm very relieved. Jack has a good quality of life--doesn't even know why he's going to this place where I leave him amongst all the strangers.:( I hate that he looks back all the time they are walking him down the hall away from me. Our vet thinks he has a very good chance for full recovery, and I hope that I can take him out west once more and he can take over the blog, again.

Phew...

Good news. Jack had no fluid on the left side of his chest and not enough to tap on the right side. Our Vet called me with the good news and then said he had heard from the vet in Texas and he wanted to meet with me to discuss the communication from her. My heart sank because I thought maybe she was not going to do the surgery. Well, she's quite a lady.

1. The surgeon on this rotation at AMTU wouldn't let her do the surgery. The option would be to wait until the next rotation (sometime in June) and risk that,  that surgeon would also decline although she knows the next surgeon and thinks she has a better chance. She listed three other possible options.

2. She trained a surgeon who is at UGA (not as a specialist in this particular surgery), but whether UGA would permit her to oversee the surgery is questionable. If she could attend the surgery whether in person or by video conference I would consider it. Again, I would pay expenses, but our vet said the school might not go for it.

3. The vet from Texas does a clinic once a month in Houston at a facility similar to the one I'm going to and she would be willing to do the surgery there.

4. She is willing to fly here to Atlanta and do the surgery at our vet's facility if the surgeons agree. Of course, I would pay her expenses for being here and the costs associated with surgery and recovery. This is my 1st choice if it can happen. If it can, aside from making Jack well, I hope it can help other dogs and cats in the area with the same condition/disease in the future.

-------

So, Option 4 and Option 3 are the ones our vet and I felt would be the best, with number 2 as an ace in the hole and possibly number 1 as a last resort. 

So, today is a good day. Our doctor says Jack is in optimum health. I'm so thankful I found him. He's not only good to me, but he really likes Jack. The best news of all is that Jack is not filling up as fast as was expected and remains remarkably asymptomatic. He has a dog there, now, who isn't as lucky. He had 2 litres tapped, yesterday, and was back again, today, and had filled up with another 2 litres. He isn't breathing well and his heart is suffering so his prognosis is not good. Poor pup-makes me sad and I don't even know him. 

Susan and I have to feel we've done everything we could possibly do for Jack. We felt the same about our sweet Lizzie, but in the end we couldn't let her suffer and had to let her go.

I was so excited (and hungry) that I forgot about PetSmart. Oh, well, maybe when Susan gets home. I pulled into the driveway and took some pictures. What I thought were going to be great shots weren't; evidently I had pushed the manual focus button by mistake. Once I realized it, Jack was antsy to get in to eat so was avoiding the camera as you can see.

So Hard...

I got up early and took Jack for a walk before I took him in at 7:45 a.m. He's such a lazy bones. He didn't want to get out of bed.

Once he heard the leash, he was up and at it! He always runs to his food dish as if to grab an energy bar or to make sure that he won't get hungry on a trip. He started that way back when Rich used to walk him and since he is a "man of habit", he never changed. Susan and I laugh every time. He was surprised this morning because he didn't know it but he was fasting. When we got back we got into John's truck, which completely confused him, but somehow we managed to get where we were going. A more discombobulated pair you'll never find.

He couldn't get closer to me if he tried while we were in the waiting room--really wanted to sit on my lap, and managed to get half of himself up. A doctor walked by with a black lab, and of course he was reminded of Lizzie, as was I. He howled as she turned the corner out of his sight, and tears slipped out of me. The ladies at the desk came out to shower him with attention. Lots of pats and rubs.

When they come to take him in the back, he's very cooperative, but he always looks back at me several times as if to say, "Aren't you coming?" I just about lose it every time...I managed to get out the door and then lost it.

In the short amount of time between leaving the house and getting back, I lost my phone, his collar, keys, and my glasses. I recovered the phone and the remembered the glasses and phone were at home, but the collar is still missing--I think I left it there. It's the choke chain that he likes--it's like his jewelry. He's probably the only dog that really, really likes his choke chain. I take it off him while he's there because I don't know if he could catch it on whatever kind of area they hold him in until they're ready to see him.

It will be a while before I hear whether he has to be tapped. They do rounds until nine o'clock while the aids prep him for an ultrasound.

The house seems so empty and sad without him. I know if Rich were here he would be taking him to Texas, too. There used to be a program on the Animal Planet channel with a vet, Dr. Fitzgerald, in Colorado. Rich used to look at me, sometimes, and say, "If either of them (meaning the pups) ever get sick, we'll take them there. I wish he were here to go to Texas with us.

Well, I'm going to try to busy myself to make the time go by until they call so I can go get my buddy. I think we'll go shopping at PetSmart. Well, that's if he's not groggy. If he is, we'll go tomorrow.

A Sad Time

The boys are going to take the trailer in May. I've put it off since camping with Teresa, but today I went out to clean out and rearrange it.

While doing the usual cleaning, vacuuming, etc., I was coming across Jack's balls, and so many of the things that I had in the trailer for him. Before I knew it, I was cleaning through tears thinking of all the lasts that have occurred in his life.

I'm glad that he's still happy and not feeling the effects of this disease, as yet, and we enjoy the small things in life-walks up around the school and to the nature center. I'm going to have to give up the latter as it's kind of isolated should he start to have breathing problems. Last week, when I had to take him into the emergency room in the middle of the night, he cried and cried when they took him away from me. He's never been like that.

It breaks my heart to see him so happy and know that at any time, now, I could take him in to have an intense surgery that will require a very long recovery. I'm struggling with it. He's so healthy other than this lymphatic duct thing that it reminds me of when Rich had to go in to major surgery feeling perfectly fine. It's one thing to succumb to the discomforts of surgery if you go, like I did, knowing that you'll have less pain when you come out.

He's so good about taking his medicine. I count with each pill as he takes them and he takes them without any problem. Today, he was a busy boy hiding a rawhide bone deep down into the bowels of the leather chair that no one ever uses. He looked over at me as if to wonder whether I had been watching. I pretended that I hadn't. Why he thinks I would take his bone is beyond me. He spends hours, sometimes, figuring out where to hide his things. Between Susan's house and our house, he probably has 50 bones. We'll be finding them for years.

Many people would think I'm crazy for the way I feel about Lizzie and Jack, but they were my reason to live after Rich died. They provided so much joy even as the dark moments seemed so overwhelming. After Lizzie died, I wondered whether Jack would ever be the same. He isn't, really, and still comes in and looks at her spot whenever it's time to  go out in the back yard as if he's still wondering where she went.

Now, he's my significant other. He's the best communicator of any pup I've ever known. I just hope he understands how much he has been loved. Here are some most recent pictures.

Jack with his buddy, Comet

Where is Jack, Day 107

Our plans changed for today. I am not feeling well. I have an upset stomach. Nancy called an emergency vet in Carlton, and they recommended one which is closer in Cloverdale. It seems that in the northwest, dogs can get sick from what they call salmon poisoning. They don't necessarily have to eat salmon, but if they sniff feces of a raccoon or another dog that's carrying the bacteria, they can get sick. It can be lethal so Nancy was really nervous.

It was confusing because I was eating something when Michael and the girls were here and Nancy tried to take it out of my mouth and I swallowed it so she was worried that I might have caused a blockage.

So, we went to the doctor. He looked me over, said my stomach was making noises when he listened. My temperature was only a half degree above normal and usually salmon poisoning will cause a fever of above 104 degrees, and nothing showed up in the slides, so he said he thought I had what they call "garbage pail pancreatitis".

Usually, I don't even know I get a shot, but the shot they gave me, today, really hurt and I cried. I cried when they took a sample, too. Nancy was practically crying because I cried, but they gave me a treat and I forgot all about it. The doctor said if I wasn't better in 48 hours that she should bring me back in. Oh, I don't want to see those people, again. I have to take three pills twice a day until then.

The vet was very close to Hebo which was where Nancy was going, today, but she decided not to go because the road is steep and curvy and she figured it would be better for me to come home to rest. The GPS brought us back on a nice route and we came across Whalen Island and a county park.

I actually feel okay. It didn't bother me to eat and I was anxious to get in the car and to take a walk. Now, I have to stay in bed for the rest of the afternoon, though. Oh, well, Nancy will pamper me, and maybe I can get some extra treats. I *think* I saw her hide some cheese--I bet it's for the pills!

We went for a very short walk, but Nancy made me get up and rest, again.

Nancy, could you bring me a little treat, please.

She just said, "Darn, I was going to call everyone to say hello, and it's already too late." The time difference gets us on both ends out here.

Here is a picture of  Whalen Island County Park. We only drove by it because Nancy wanted to get back home. It's amazing. There are parks at every bend in this area. She and Rich never really explored the backroads of Tillamook, they always went over to different areas of the coast. Nancy said she could spend another month here with no problem, but we want to get to see Ms. Mary in Idaho, and we still have to do Washington. Who knows. Maybe another week, though, if they have room. Nancy doesn't want to travel unless she knows I'm 100% better.