August already??

Is it really already August?  Where in the world has summer gone?  Although summer flew by, I am so ready for Fall.  Cooler temperatures, pumpkins, leggings, boots, scarves, FOOTBALL!  Those are just a few of my favorite things about fall ;)

I'll try to do a brief update on my summer and make it {somewhat} short and sweet.

First off, most of my summer involved working... and working... and more working...

I did get to enjoy a short weekend getaway to Charleston with my best friend and another friend of mine.  We got to enjoy Isle of Palms for a couple of days and got to sight see and shop in Charleston.  It was the perfect little vacation and it's moments like this that I will remember forever.

My favorite fountain in the whole world!

Down at the Battery in Charleston, SC

At a Rooftop Bar in Charleston-- very neat place!

Next on my summer festivities was my birthday party! My parents were down in SC for the WHOLE summer!! I loved having them here and hope they will be back soon!  My dad fixed frogmore stew- one of my favorites!  My Aunt Lisa and cousin Kristen and her boyfriend came down from NC to celebrate with me!  I love them very much and I was glad they were able to come.  Also, my boyfriend was in town so he was able to come as well as my two very best friends, Kasey and Ashley.  I had a WONDERFUL night and was reminded how blessed I am to have the life I do.  I have the BEST friends and family in the world.

Blowing out my candles.  I loved my sprinkle cake that my sister made!

Josh, me, Kasey, Ashley

The Saturday before my party- My parents, me, and Kasey went to Elberton (about an hour away from our house) to watch the Swingin' Medallions play a show.  My parents had never seen them and really wanted to see Josh in action before they left to head home to Kansas.  Despite a downpour and thunderstorm on the way to Elberton, the weather cleared up and we had a great time!

Kasey and me before the show

Me and Josh :)

To celebrate my actual Birthday, which was on a Sunday, I went to Greenville to watch a Greenville Drive baseball game with Josh, Kasey, Matt, and Kasey's friend Jeff.  We had a ball at the game and then afterwards went Downtown to a local Sushi place and then went to a little bar and played some pool and darts! I do believe this was one of my best birthdays, ever.





At the Drive game

Things slowed down a lot after my Birthday.  My parents are back in Kansas and I've continued to work.  I am going to take off some time from work tomorrow to help my sister get her classroom organized for the start of school.  I'll try to write another post if anything else exciting happens in my life.  ;)



My Addisonian Baby

Whew! What a busy past couple of weeks and not a good busy either!  Things are finally starting to calm down and get back to normal... at least as normal as can be.

I don't want to bore you with a million details because, believe me, I could.  But, I do want to update you on how things happened and how they are going right now.

About 3 weeks ago, Stella got sick.  It only took a few more days for her to go from sick, to deathly ill.  She vomited a couple of times (once a day at night) for 2 nights in a row.  I knew something was wrong so I made an appointment for her to visit the Vet.  We left the Vet thinking she had a bacterial infection in her intestine, so she was put on meds.  This was when she was sick.  It took a day from going to the Vet for her to get deathly ill.  She stopped eating.  All during this time, she was so weak she could barely walk and literally laid in the same spot 24/7.  Of course I had her bundle up the entire time. :-)

These are all from when she was very sick.  See her all bundled up and then she slept 24/7

Of course, she stopped eating on a Saturday morning.  I called the Vet first thing Monday morning and took her in that morning at 11:30.  She was immediately "hospitalized" due to the fact that she was SO dehydrated and weak.  They wanted to run blood work and get fluids in her ASAP.  Since the Vet does not have people there 24/7 I was able to bring her home that night and I took her back to the Vet Tuesday morning.

At this point, I didn't know what was wrong.  I thought that once she had fluids in her that she would be OK.  Little did I know, this was not the case.

I went to get braces on (terrible, I know) Tuesday morning after I took Stella back to the Hospital.  It wasn't until I finished getting them on, walking out the door when I realized something was terribly wrong.  Stella's Vet called and left me a message to call her back.  When I did, I was informed Stella's health was declining very fast and that her Sodium levels were continuously dropping and that the Vet (Dr. McNinch) thought she had Addison's Disease.  I was told that if I did not take her to a specialist that she might not make it.  I drove my hour back to Greenwood from the Upstate to pick up my baby and take her BACK to the Upstate to the Specialist. 

I freaked out this whole morning, I couldn't even remember the name of what Dr. McNinch said she probably had, and I'm thankful for my mother who helped get everything straightened out for me.  All I knew at that moment was I needed to take Stella as soon as possible to get help.  I literally thought she was doing to die on the way to Greenville.  She was as pitiful as I've ever seen anyone.

Okay, I said I wouldn't bore you with details, but I am.  Needless to say, she was immediately hospitalized at Upstate Veterinary Specialists (and this was a REAL animal hospital- staff there 24/7).  She was officially diagnosed with Addison's Disease and after 5 long nights away from home, she was finally discharged from the Hospital.   

This was the first time I got to see her after being Hospitalized.  She was very tired and completely out of it.

This was the day before she was discharged.  Finally starting to act like herself.

This photo was taken right after she was discharged.  We were coming home!!

In case you were wondering about Addison's Disease, I will give you a little overview: Basically, Stella's adrenal glands are not working.  When she gets put in stressful situations, her body does not produce the steroids she needs.  Normal dogs and humans produce steroids when we are stressed, but her little body cannot. 

Addison's is not curable, but it is definitely treatable.  She is on medication daily, prednisolone and will be getting injections of Percorten about every 28 days.  She will be able to live a normal, healthy life and I'm happy to report she is back to her old self and doing very well.  Here are some pictures of her recently:

Let the mouth work begin....

The ortho work on my mouth has officially begun! Ready or not I am going to tackle this with all I've got for the next 2-3 years....

I find myself thinking about things A LOT! Things such as: why me? why do I have to get all of this stuff done?  Why can't I have a perfectly normal mouth, just like my brother and sister? THEN I begin to think about things such as: I can't wait to get braces- I know my mouth is going to look SO much better.  It's a struggle for me.  Should I be excited about this or should I let it get me down?  After all, who DOES want braces?  No one.  Even though I will have hard days, I am going to stay positive throughout this whole experience.  I mean how long is 3 years?  It will all be over before I know it and I KNOW i will have NO regrets!

I went in yesterday for my first official appointment.  I got 11 spacers (separators) put between my teeth.  One already feels loose, but it has not come out yet.  I am praying it won't :)  I go back in 2 weeks for the actual braces... freaking out! The spacers are opening up space between some of my teeth so that they will have room to place the brackets for braces.. at least that's what I think. 

I have read through blogs and such on the web, and most people said that spacers were the absolute worst part about braces.  So far, I have had some soreness and tenderness but nothing like I expected.  I woke up this morning with my mouth hurting, but I've been taking ibuprofen on a regular basis.  I have had so much work done on my mouth, the pain I feel is nothing out of the ordinary.  I'm hoping it doesn't get any worse now that I'm saying its been more than tolerable. ;)

I am excited about the braces part- I am ready to get them on and done and over with.  I will be getting ceramic braces on my upper teeth and regular metal ones on the bottom.  The ceramic will be clear with a silver wire.  I have read about how they stain easily, so I have already started thinking about which foods I should avoid.  Among those are mustard, RED VELVET anything (this is going to be hard, especially at Christmas since my sister makes the BEST red velvet cheesecake) and coffee (this will be hard smelling it everyday at work).  I also read that eating salads with braces is difficult because lettuce will get stuck in the braces.  I am SUPER bummed about this because I LOVE salads and salads are my favorite meals at many restaurants around town.

I want to update this blog throughout my whole orthodontic journey with updated pictures and such.  I plan on taking some pictures of my teeth soon with the spacers so we can see before and after pictures after my mouth-work is all done! Stay tuned for more updates :)

Updates on Stella

Between Stella and me, it seems as if one of us is either sick or having a surgery.  This time it was my princess, Stella.

This picture was taken this morning of Stella.  I woke her up from her sleep... oops :) Notice her arm in the picture. She had to have some of it shaved for the IV cath to be placed in her. 

As you saw from my last post, Stella had surgery this past Friday.  She had her teeth cleaned, was spayed, and had 2 growths removed.

We first thought she had one growth, but it was actually two small ones right beside each other.  They are both sent off for testing to see what they are.  Stella also had her teeth cleaned and had to get 3 teeth extracted.  My poor baby hardly has any teeth left.. it doesn't matter to me though, I love her just as much as I got her.. if not more.

The surgery went well, as I was told.  She is in the recovery process now, and I feel so helpless for her.  She has 3 incisions and my biggest challenge is to keep her from licking her stitches.  She is a HUGE licker and I just knew she would try to lick them, and she definitely has.

Knowing that she was a licker, I bought an Elizabethan collar (E-collar, Cone) for her.  She HATES it and I HATE it even more.  I put it on her and she immediately ran into a shoe of mine.. go figure.  She then proceeded to freak out.  She darted out of my room, hitting the wall with the cone.  I had to hold her down just to get the cone off.  I then put it on her last night in my bed, thinking that it would be better since she wouldn't run into anything.  I calmed her down and for about 10 minutes she was alright.  She wouldn't sleep, but finally stopped breathing heavy.  After about 10 minutes, she jumped up and tried to run off the bed, like a crazy dog.  Thankfully I stopped her just in time and have since tried putting it on her.  A stern "NO" from me usually gets her to stop licking but I am in a pickle as what to do when I have to go to work tomorrow and for the rest of the week.  The thought of putting her in the E-collar and having her have a panic attack while I am gone tears my nerves up.  I am actually scared she will hurt her incisions more trying to get the cone off than licking them.  When she has the cone on, she goes into panic mode only thinking about getting it off.

Other than her licking, I feel that she is getting better.  Her personality is starting to show again, and she has picked up her pace when walking her (short walks only). 

I am thankful for another day home with her, to monitor her and to love on her.  I have never been through anything like this before.  I've never been responsible for someone or something who has just undergone a major surgery.  I have learned many things from this but the biggest thing I learned was that I love Stella more than anyone else.  She is my world and knowing she is in pain kills me.  For now, we will be resting and I will be giving her all my sugars.  :)



Updates on my life

We'll its been a while since I've blogged and I'm not happy about that.  I have been SO busy lately, which is totally not like me!! I will talk about a lot of things that have been going on and update you a little on Stella and her whole situation.

The weekend after Valentines Day, my sister, Noah, and I went to North Carolina to see my beautiful cousin compete in her school's Scholarship Pageant.  I might be a little biased, but I do believe Kristen was the most beautiful girl in the pageant, and I felt like she did AMAZING, especially for being a newbie to the whole thing.  She did win Miss Congeniality out of the whole group of girls, and I could not be more happy for her.  I felt like the title of Miss Congeniality is better than anything else.  I always knew she was such a sweet, genuine, caring individual and it's amazing to know that everyone else feels the same way.  Although the trip to NC was about Kristen, I did enjoy spending time with a lot of my family and I always cherish the moments we get to spend together since I don't see them as often as I would like to and should.

Me, Caroline, and Ashley before the Pageant

Kristen and me after the pageant. Isn't she just beautiful?!

The next weekend after the NC trip, was the Abbeville Woman's Club Mardi Gras Dance.  I helped set up things that Saturday morning and my sister and I went to the dance that night.  They had a DJ, and finger foods and everything looked awesome! We had a blast!

I also had a Thirty-One Party the following Monday and had so.much.fun! The turnout was ah-mazing and I am still in awe over who all showed up.  I do have some of the best friends and co-workers in the world.  I often take these things for granted, but I am very blessed.  I decided to make a couple of homemade things for the party, so I ended up making Snickers Cupcakes (super yummy) and homemade pizza rolls!  I think they both turned out great and I have pinterest to thank for that.

Snickers Cupcakes... to.die.for

Now to the news about Stella!  She has been such a joy to my life and I am falling more in love with her everyday.. I think about her non-stop and I don't know if this is good or not :)

I took her to the vet this past Monday for bloodwork and x-rays.  While there, I found out that she has an ear infection.  I have a solution for her ears and a gel-like substance to put in her ears.. one goes in 1 time a day, and the other one 2 times.  This is torture for both her and me! She does not bite, but she wiggles and squirms and makes it near impossible to get anything in her ears.  I am constantly left wondering if I even put the stuff down far enough in her ears.  The last thing I want is for her infection to stay around or get worse! Prayers please.  On to the bloodwork and x-rays... Everything looked GREAT! Praise the Lord.  Her heart and kidneys are in great condition.  She has lost some weight, but the vet said that she is not underweight and is in good shape!  I am SO happy she is healthy, but this also means that she is ready to have surgery! AND she is having it THIS FRIDAY! She will be getting spayed, her growth removed, and her teeth cleaned all in ONE surgery!  I constantly think about it and I am so scared for her.  I had a chat with her and told her what was going to happen but she has NO idea.  Bless her heart.  I am trying to prepare myself for what to expect, but I have never been through this before so I have NO idea what to do! I pray that the surgery is successful and that I have the patience and ability to care for her after and that she has a speedy recovery... As my momma told me over the phone Monday night, you will do whatever you have to do because it's your baby.  Regardless of what's to come, I know this is true.  Stella is my heart and I will do everything to protect her, keep her safe, and to nurture her back to health as fast as possible!





This is the latest picture of Stella (right after she came home from the groomers)

:)



Sunday Funday

Oh.My.Word.  I was little miss Laura Homemaker yesterday.  I am so proud of myself and I would like to give myself a pat on the back.  Yesterday, I made homemade powdered laundry detergent.  So amazing.  Thanks to pinterest and the Being Creative Blog, I successfully made my own laundry detergent.  I cut the recipe in half, since I'm only doing laundry for myself.  It took me in all about 30 minutes to make it. 

This is the before picture, with all of my ingredients

I ended up using 1 1/2 bars of the Fels Naptha soap, 1/2 box of the Arm and Hammer Washing Soda, 1/2 box of Borax, and the whole thing of Baking Soda

This is the after picture of grating the Fels Naptha soap... It looks like cheese!

All finished!

I washed a couple loads of laundry after making the soap.  Everything seems to turn out nice and clean.  However, there is not a scent to it, as I knew going into this project.  For those of you who like a scent, a liquid detergent might be better since you can add essential oils to make it smell nice.  Along with this, I use my homemade Softener, which consists of 1 part hair conditioner, 1 part white vinegar, and 2 parts water. 

**Also, the Fels Naptha soap DOES dissolve in the water.  I read what others posted on the above blog, so I put in the laundry detergent and let the water fill up 1/2 way before adding any clothes.  I also found on another blog that if the shreds bother you, that you can put the mixture, little by little, in a food processor to make it all a powdery substance!**





The Coast is Clear

Last Friday afternoon, I had my postoperative visit with Dr. Voelkert from Periodontics of Greenville. After a brief chat about the super awesome boots Santa brought me for Christmas that I was wearing we got right on to the visit. 

These are my super adorable shoes.. They apparently make my feet look REALLY small! I still LOVE them (Thanks, Santa)

 

Anyways, back to the appointment.  Dr. Voelkert looked in my mouth briefly and told me everything was A-OK! (thank goodness!) The next step was to get my stitches removed.  The first thing I asked the really sweet dental assistant (I'm not sure if that's what they are called) was if it was going to hurt.  She assured me that I would feel only some pressure as she was removing them.  YAY! So, she starts and halfway through the tugging I heard her breath deep with a UGH! I thought to myself, this can't be good.  Apparently my stitches were wrapped around my teeth so well it was hard to get the removed.  After she called another dental assistant over to help, she finally was able to successfully remove my stitches! I got word from the Dr. that I could eat whatever I wanted as long as I could keep the sharp, hard foods to the opposite side of my mouth that my surgery was performed!- Score! I've been eating won tons, chips and salsa, hamburgers, etc. etc.  It's all so bad, but so very good!  I am VERY careful when I eat, breaking everything in small pieces. 

I go back for another visit in about 2 1/2 weeks!  I'm still praying that everything continues to heal properly and that I have no complications! 

On another note, I will be going to Columbia this Saturday with Ashley & Noah.  We are going to do a little shopping and watch a baseball scrimmage that will be taking place.  I think it's a baseball scrimmage.  I am VERY excited about this! I love baseball... the players... the uniforms... ha! Seriously though, the Gamecocks have had a phenomenal run at this baseball thing and I'm excited to see them in action!

Under the Knife

I am planning on getting my teeth fixed within the next few years.  This will be a long process, but I believe in my heart that it will be something that I will be happy about and have no regrets. 

To start off, I will explain to you what I will be going through.  I still have a baby tooth.. yes, I said it.  Most people find this weird, but it is what it is.  My "adult" tooth is still in the roof of my mouth, just hanging out.  In order to fix this, it will require some maneuvering of my teeth, and so forth.  This will also take a surgery to remove the baby tooth, and to put a bracket of some sorts on the adult tooth that will slowly, be brought down. 

I had to have surgery #1 this past Friday.  What was it for?  I had to have a tissue graft, which means they took tissue from the roof of my mouth and placed it on my gums, next to the spot where my baby tooth is.  The periodontist recommended this surgery because he felt that the tissue I currently had might not be enough to support the adult tooth once it goes into place.  So, surgery #1 was completed.  How do I feel? I am in pain, sore, achy.  I am wearing a plastic retainer to protect the site where the tissue was removed and I can barely eat anything.  My saving grace has been applesauce (with cinnamon), mac-n-cheese, oatmeal, and rainbow sherbert.  YUM! I have to be on a "soft" food diet for the next 2 weeks so pray that I can make it through.  It actually hasn't been too bad, because the pain I am experiencing takes away from my appetite.

I called the nurse today, because I always think wayyy to much about stuff.  Am I taking care of my mouth? Should it still hurt? Will it get infected? I'm way over paranoid.  The nurse assured me that day 3-4 is when the pain normally peaks and that they felt that everything during my surgery was definitely a success and that I should not get any infections, whatsoever.  I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.  I go back next Friday for the postoperative visit.

After my gums heal (approximately 8 weeks) I can technically start my orthodontic treatment.  It's been a while since I went to see the orthodontist, so I may get a few things wrong, or leave out details.  But, if I remember correctly, the first thing they will do is give me a spacer (an appliance that spaces out some of my teeth).  This will help get my teeth ready for the braces.  I will then have braces put on (clear on top, normal on the bottom teeth).  Once my teeth have moved and have enabled my "adult" tooth to replace my "baby" tooth, I will then have another surgery.  This will expose my "adult" tooth, and get things rolling for it to be brought down to chill with the other teeth in my mouth. 

This process is going to take yearss, literally.  I am praying, hoping, dreaming, that it will take less time than expected, but with my luck it will take longer. 

Until I finish with all this madness, please bear with me.  Excuse my lack of manners while eating, my hard time pronouncing certain words and letters.  Please, please, please pray that everything goes smoothly during this process.  This is something that I have ignored for years and years, but to be honest with myself, this was nothing that was just going to "disappear".  Like I said earlier, I know deep down that I will be 100% happier with myself once everything is over with.  I always admire people with a pretty smile, and I KNOW that with my incredibly awesome doctors, they will do wonders on my smile!

Stella Bella... my Christmas Miracle

I always told myself that I would keep blogging on a regular basis... has that happened? Nope.  My last blog was in October and it is mid January.  Holy Canoli! Time sure does fly.  I had probably one of the best Christmas's of my life.  I got to spend it with my wonderful family, all who mean the world to me.  Not only did I just get to spend time with my family, I adopted a new family member. 

Meet Stella:

Stella is what I like to call my Christmas Miracle.  She came into my life on Friday, December 23rd.  I had been keeping up with her on Facebook through the City of Abbeville's Animal Services Page.  I had spoke with the Animal Patrol Officer on a few different occasions, checking on her progress as far as any interest from other individuals.

I had ALWAYS wanted a small dog, but just did not know if the timing was right.  I am single, working full time 8-5 Monday-Friday, living in an apartment.  Was this right for me?  A dog?  So much responsibility? So many questions, concerns.  I often doubted myself thinking that if I had so many questions, then it was obvious that the timing wasn't right.

I work for the City, so I knew that the Animal Shelter was going to be closed Friday, Dec. 23rd and Monday, Dec. 26th for the Christmas Holidays.  I also knew that Stella was still at the shelter.  Leaving work Thursday evening, I was heartbroken knowing that a sweet innocent dog was going to be all alone at the Shelter for days on end (mind you it was also forecasted to rain and be cold throughout the break).  I literally called Chris, the Animal Patrol Officer, at 5:15 that Thursday night.  My initial thought was just to get her out of the Shelter and "foster" her throughout the Holidays.  I had no intention of formally adopting her right away...I got his voicemail.  Thursday night, I finally got to speak with him and he said that it would be perfectly fine to take her for the holiday and to see if it would be a match.

Friday morning, I took a drive to the Shelter where I picked up Stella.  From there I took her to my sisters house (I couldn't take her to my apartment due to a deposit and filling out paperwork).  I also took her to the vet at Emeral City Animal Hospital, where she needed shots and a check up since she had no records or history.  While at the Vet, I was informed that Stella is around 8 years old (definitely an oldER dog) and that she has a tumor on her stomache (something that will need to be removed and checked to see if it is indeed cancer).  This broke my heart.  Again, I had many things running through my mind.  Is this something I can do?   Can I pay for surgeries and medicial care that Stella needs?  Will I have enough time to spend with her, to love her, to care for her?  After those thoughts crossed through my mind, I began to think about what would happen if I did NOT keep her.  Will anyone adopt her?  Will anyone love her?  Will they put her to sleep?  That last question replayed over and over in my head.  It was a hard decision and one that I shed many tears over, speaking to my mom about it a lot.  I needed guidance, help.  I didn't know if I could make a decision that big by myself. 

I finally reached a conclusion, thanks to my mom's help and advice.  I would keep Stella and love her and give her the life she deserves for as long as she lives.  If she turns out to have cancer, I will love her and be there for her. 

She is my heart and soul and she was one of the hardest decisions of my life, thus far.  But, one thing is for sure and that is: I have no regrets and she has been the best decision of my life.

This is Stella and Mia (my best friends dog) at the park