We took Heidi to the vet yesterday, mainly because I was worried about CHF, which is what had with Ben Dr Jeff took two radiographies. For once, her heart and lungs were in perfectly fine - but she appears to have a tumor near her spleen or small intestine. I had a good cry about it, and now we just
Oct 5
Well, I was a little too emotional to finish that post. We did have an ultrasound on Heidi, and she does have a tumor. We can't tell if it's benign of malignant without exploratory surgery, but at her age, the surgery could kill her. So we just wait. And love her. I wouldn't say she's the MOST spoiled dog in Nebraska, but it would be close! I don't dress her up in dresses or Halloween costumes, I think she's way too dignified for that nonsense - she's a very no-nonsense type of girl, but she is loved. I think she knows that. If she doesn't know it now, she should! I'd like to come back to earth as a dog in my own house. Warm, fed, petted incessantly, what a life!
Now, for the fibro nonsense. Neurontin has worked wonders. Truly. I love it as much as I disdain Tramadol. Tramadol is worthless for me, which Dr. S ignores when I tell him. But, if I have hydrocoone to get me over the rough patches, I'll be fine. The pain from the fibro is virtually gone with the Neurontin if I'm doing my day to day regular stuff. If I do too much or go grocery shopping, etc., the pain comes back with a vengeance. I choose to do a few things around the house during the day, but still, I don't want to do a lot because - well, why would I want to bring my pain back on again? Bedtime is the worst time and that's when I usually give in and take a pain pill. But, I have noticed since the weather is changing (BOO - and that's not for Halloween, either) that when the cold fronts and rain start, I have a lot more body pain. Great, right. Welcome fall!
I'm still having those stupid "cold" attacks,where I get so cold I can't get warm. Pretty soon Steve will be lighting fires in the woodstove and that will be soooo nice. I'm not going to worry about these stupid things.
One thing the Neurontin doesn't help is the back pain. Last visit, Dr. S checked my very old MRI that was done at Methodist almost 6 years ago and it showed stenosis, which doesn't surprise me, even though Dr. W told me it was "fine" at the time. Maybe she should have some stenosis for awhile and tell me how "fine" it is. Anyway, he offered me an injection, NO THANK YOU!!, or referral to a spine surgeon, which refused for now. Heck, who cares about a little back pain if those are the options? Right? So, we decided to watch and see what happens. He did double my Neurontin, so maybe that will take care of the cold flashes - we'll see.
Since I wrote last, there has been the Women's Broadcast from Salt Lake - totally awesome, as usual. I went to Kerry's stake with her sister missionaries, Love them all. We had a good time. Great talks, and good cake! :-) General Conference was last week and I watched most of all 4 sessions. I did fall asleep for just a little bit of the 4th session, it had been a long day! On Sunday, Kerry had a brunch and her sister missionaries came over to watch conference with us. That was SO much fun! I love when we have a chance to just "hang out" with the sisters.Hers, mine, it doesn't matter, they're all awesome. I miss Sister Nelson a lot in our ward. She was transferred to Sioux City. I can't remember the new sister's name. It always takes awhile to get used to a new sister or a new Elder.
There's a new movie out and we went with the Rockbrook Sisters to see it the other night. Brad, Kerry's husband went too, and it was great! Very inspiring, I thought. It made me cry. That's all I'm saying about that, but it's great. Go see it. It's called Meet the Mormons. I think you'll find out things you never knew. We also took an investigator from Kerry's ward. Very nice lady about our age. I think she learned some new things. Oh, and all the money from proceeds of the movie are going to the Red Cross.
Today, I started going to the family history class that began at church. Sister Joyce T is teaching it. She's great, I just love her to pieces. She told us how she met Brother Thompson, He was actually the missionary who baptized her! Wish I had been so lucky. Well, not the missionary that baptized me exactly, but I sure saw my fair share of cute missionaries come and go while I waited not so patiently to be baptized. Oh wait, I was dating someone before I moved in with the Smith's. I forgot. sorry...
Magann and Matt were both working yesterday (Saturday) so Little Miss came over so we could watch her.She never ceases to make me laugh. Yesterday she was on a kick with Magann's old cell phone that apparently started when they were all out shopping. She was playing with the old phone, talking to her "boss". She was apologizing for being late and then telling her boss she was out shopping, etc. When she got to our house she had forgotten the phone, so she used her pinkie and her thumb for the "phone". It was hilarious. We had to go to the grocery store, so she told her boss she had to go, but would be back in about half an hour. Later, I asked her how she managed to squeeze work in where ever she was and she told me, "Nana, I already told you. I work everywhere. I work when I'm shopping, I work when I'm here, I work at the grocery store, I work EVERYWHERE!" oh. I want a job like that!
Of course we had to make something out of the melting beads. She made a rainbow because she was going to have a "rainbow show". For a few minutes she talked while doing the rainbow, as if she were instructing a class - hmmm, do we have a future teacher on our hands? While we were driving to the "drocery store" she told me how we needed to go to "Tardet" (Target), because in the toy aisle they had lots of new Turtle stuff. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for those of you who aren't with the program...) With all the talk of Turtles, I was wondering if her love of dinosaurs was waning just a little bit, so I asked her which she liked best, Turtles or dinosaurs. She thought for about half a second and said, "I like them equally". What? Equally? Have I ever used that word in a sentence? I always say, "I like them both the same" or whatever, but I've never used the word equally in my life. I must improve my vocabulary so I'll be able to converse with her when she starts kindergarten. Sheesh.
Fast Sunday at church today. This was the first Sunday in a long time that Brother W hasn't gotten up to bear his testimony. I didn't think about that until just now. I love that couple like they're my own grandparents. It will break my heart when something happens to either on of them. Bro. W will be 91 in a month or so. Sis. W told me today that he gave her a scare on Monday. She said she got up at 6 and he was still in bed. She thought that was odd because he always gets up at 5:30 (Seriously. I usually only see 5:30 a.m. when I can't sleep...) Anyway, he was still in bed. Suddenly he just sat straight up in the bed and took a big gasping breath. She said she thought he was taking his last breath, it scared her so much. Now, I'm all worried about them.There are days (mostly in the past), when I just wanted to stay in bed, but I know they won't go to church with anyone else, at least they don't like to, so I just get up and go. There have been times I've sat in the foyer because I just ached so bad by the end of the first 2 hours, but I went. It's good for both of us, I think.
Okay. I think that's it for now. I seriously need a new laptop that had a spacebar that works and an "s" that I don't have to hit repeatedly to get it to work...
Don't forget, always be the person your dog thinks you are.
