Second Thoughts

I am having second thoughts on putting Maggie down tomorrow…  Dave is the one who is going, but both of us are struggling with actually going through with it.  She shows us a little life and then the decision becomes so hard.

Hudson–7 Weeks & More

Photo to come!

Everyone is still fast asleep including my little 7 week old who just finally went back to sleep so I can get some cleaning done.

More and more of Hudson’s personality is showing.  I was getting concerned he would be a grump because, for a few weeks there, he was not a happy camper when awake some of the time.  Now we are seeing more and more smiling and contentment as he is awake for longer periods of time. 

He is a very, very strong baby.  He can move himself quite a distance in the bed by pushing his feet.  He has been able to control his head very well almost since birth.  We will see as time progresses, but he seems like he might be my little bruiser.  He seems less sensitive than Henry and more of a fighter than a lover.  Henry is definitely a lover.  Although we don’t call Henry Hank, in my mind they are “Hank” and “The Tank”. 

Hudson does want to be held all of the time.  I foster that environment.  I never put Henry down.  It’s a little more difficult to never put Hudson down, but he is held most of the time.  And he demands it. 

He is awake right now, so it’s a matter of minutes before I go get him.

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Henry the neighborhood ambassador.  For real.  Anyone out on the porch or walking by when we do our neighborhood walks, Henry makes friends with them instantly.  Even demands friendship.  Last night he asked our neighbors if they had animals, what they were doing tomorrow and told them about Maggie.  The next people he told Maggie was going to heaven.  When we were in TMobile yesterday, he ran up and gave a little girl a hug.  His affection for strangers definitely needs to be reined in but I definitely want to foster his obvious strengths with people.

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Dave and I are doing are best to operate our household with joy and normalcy under the cloud of sadness of losing our dog.  I guess it’s probably the pressure and guilt of whether we are making the right decisions in the right timing.

More on Maggie

We made an appointment to put Maggie down on Wednesday afternoon.  It’s a very sad ending to seven great years with our beast.  Dave and I have been reminiscing the last few days.  And watching our precious puppy rapidly decline in health.  Her decline has been very rapid.  She is eating some but very little and very few things.  Just a week ago she was consuming anything but her dog food and now she won’t even eat chicken.  It definitely is heart breaking to watch.  She doesn’t move much and cannot move quickly.  She never would lay down on the floor and now that’s where we find her most of the time.  In a position she never was in before. 

But, like Dave has been saying, we wouldn’t trade it for not having her.  She has been a very precious and very loved pet.  We couldn’t have had a better dog around Henry. 

She’s our girl and on Wednesday, we say goodbye.

Hudson’s Swing

Hudson’s new swing from Grandma Linda & Grandpa Butch.  We had a family night at their house again on Saturday night.  Grandma Linda rescued me from a fate of taking care of a fussy baby and only eating what Dave picked for me… which could mean starvation.  Just joking.  Dave has graciously picked crabs for me for years because I haven’t done much to learn how to do it myself.

Grandpa Butch did a fabulous job cooking the crabs.  And Aunt Desi, daddy, Grandpa & Grandma braved the waters, scorching sun and heat (and crabs) earlier that day for all of us.

Henry this morning.

More on Maggie & Beach

We have been giving Maggie some extra special love and attention since we found out yesterday around noon.  It was never made clear when we should put her down.  When she woke up this morning we thought it would be today because she seemed so miserable.  And then she seemed to rally a little.  I talked to the vet and he said that he can’t tell us when.  We need to make that decision.  We decided to revert back to original plan after hearing and giving ourselves the weekend with our beloved Maggie to say goodbye and then regroup on Monday to see how she is doing.  We, of course, would take her in sooner if she seems to be really suffering.

Maggie has been sleeping in Henry’s bed over the last few weeks.  It makes me smile and cry at the same time.  I am glad she wants to be close to her boy in her last days.  I took this photo when I woke up to feed Hudson in the middle of the night last night.

Hudson giving me smiles yesterday.

Today was our planned beach day as Henry’s reward for successfully potty training over the past weeks. We cancelled the trip when we were thinking today might be our final goodbye to Maggie.  Then around noon, Dave decided he was up for it and then it made me up for it.

Hudson’s first time on the beach.  He loved the sounds and the breeze but wanted to be held the whole time which proved to be challenging since the baby shad tent was very small and little hot for both of us. 

Henry was scared of the waves like last year, but Dave was able to convince him to go in with him.  He ended up having a lot of fun in the water with daddy.

Our little potty champ had a potty challenge today.  He had diarrhea on the way, at the beach and on the way home.  Poor little guy.  We had to pull over on the way to the beach so he could go on the side of the road.  Sorry.  It was an emergency.  He did so well holding it.  Dave and I had a good chuckle about how our beach trips have changed. 

Maggie ♥

I have had a gut feeling Maggie has had a severe underlying issue to her health issues over the past year or so.  I am not sure why the previous vet didn’t ever do blood work when she stayed overnight in the hospital.  Maybe it was God’s plan to let us enjoy this last year with her not knowing her health was rapidly declining and gave us more time before putting her down. 

My last appointment the vet that saw her because my normal vet was on vacation was impatient and acted like I was imagining issues with Maggie.  She was severely overweight and now has rapidly been losing weight with a loss of appetite and a lot of trouble just getting around.  To sum it up, the poor dog is miserable. 

She does not have Lyme’s disease.  She does have diabetes and her blood sugar was very high without even eating.  The trouble is the vet is almost certain her diabetes is secondary because she has elevated liver numbers and pancreatic numbers.  Treating diabetes is expensive with not very long life expectancy.  We can’t even treat her diabetes without knowing the underlying disease which could be a liver tumor, Cushings etc.  Those things really can’t be treated with Diabetes.  So pretty much we are looking at a no win situation.  We could learn more about our no win by spending at least another $600.   We are not going to.

The vet recommended the humane thing for Maggie, if we don’t spend all the money and see if we can even treat anything, is to put her down.

I have been preparing myself with prayer for this very scenario because I was pretty much thinking we might come to this soon.  I know she is just a dog, but we love her.  My heart breaks for Henry the most. 

I am thankful for our time with her and grateful to face this than many other things.  So I put it all into perspective.  Dave always says it’s the nature of owning a pet.  He is right.

We will say goodbye to our dear Maggie very soon.  She has been a naughty, needy but very loved dog. 

Chick-fil-A

Eat More Chicken

8-1-2012