Update on Belle Part 3

Belle is home!

Actually came home yesterday, August 30th, but she is a handful. That's why I've been lax blogging an update. Despite the fact that she's home, she still needs constant attention and care.

The doctors warned us that she'll be coughing alot and that we have to feed her very carefully. What we have to do is make little meatballs out of canned dog food and feed it to her one piece at a time and make sure she completely swallows between meatballs. This is because she kinda has to relearn how to swallow properly. Part of the problem was that the flap of skin that helps control where air and food go was overgrown and part of the breathing problem (in addition to the airway collapsing). So what they had to do was some resculpting of the flesh. This results in the potential that if she doesn't eat patiently she could accidentally inhale her food. I'm not too worried about her though. I have the same problem. I cannot talk and eat at the same time without nearly choking on whatever I'm eating.

Nancy has been spoiling the heck out her. She hardly lets her walk on her own. I think we are going to have an even worse monster on our hands when the healing is done. We are also supposed to keep her as calm as possible.

This is no easy feat since she doesn't believe anything is wrong with her. She is always trying to jump up on things or down from things. Also, whenever Nancy leaves the room (or house) and comes back she gets all excited. The funny thing is that when Nancy leaves, she remains very calm with me and just sleeps. Then when she comes home again, she's excited again. But this also hold true for our other chihuahua, Coco.

The surgeon was telling us that everyone in the ICU was knocking on any piece of wood they could find and would never talk about how well she was healing loud enough for her to hear because they were afraid of a jinx. We were told that she's ton quite a few surgeries on dogs like this and our dog has healed the fastest she's ever seen.

So here's hoping we are through the woods on this one, but Belle is still a candidate for lung infections and infections from the surgery. But she's our little trooper.

Thanks to all who had our little girl in their thoughts. I'm guessing some good energy was sent her way

An Update on Belle Part 2

Well, 5 o'clock came without word from the animal hospital.  Nancy being the concerned parent that she is, decided to call to see what she could find out.  I told her to not bother the hospital because the surgeon most likely was still in surgery.  We knew that there was at least 4 surgeries scheduled for today. 

Nancy got ahold of one of the nurses in the ICU.  The surgeon was still in surgery as I suspected.  They had several emergency cases come in that extended the surgeon's day.  From what the nurse told Nancy was that Belle was doing fine.  She has won over the hearts of the staff and every time someone comes over to her cage to straighten it up, she's there all smiles and ready to jump in their arms. 

That news seemed to help appease Nancy for awhile.  The nurse she spoke to said that we should hear something between 6PM and 7PM.  Well that came and went and she was getting kinda worried.  I told her that either she's still in surgery, busy calling all the patient's parents, or decided she'd call tomorrow because it was late.  So we decided to go to dinner.  We went and got sandwiches and came back.

Around 8PM we heard from the surgeon.  She said that she had to implant around 7 prosthetic rings to support her airway.  She needed rings that went down to her first ribs on her rib cage.  We were informed that her practice was to keep the dogs intubated for 45 minutes after getting out of surgery to make sure there isn't any potential for paralysis.  For that 45 minutes the dog is in the lap of a nurse getting some TLC.  We were told that at almost exactly at the 45 minute mark Belle was letting everyone know that she was ready to get that tube out of her throat.  Once she was extubated, we were told that if it wasn't for the swelling you'd never know anything was wrong.  Then the surgeon told Nancy that she had to lower her voice so Belle couldn't hear, but she was absolutely amazed at her progress.  She's progressing faster than she ever expected or has seen and if things keep on this path, she might be home by Wednesday night.

Belle's next hurdle is going to be eating.  She'll get her first solid food tomorrow.  It will be wet dog food (food from a can) rolled up into tiny balls.

That's all we know at this point and thanks for all of those people that had our little girl in their thoughts

An update on Belle

Some people who read my blog have told me that they want to be kept informed about how Belle is doing.

We got up early this morning to take Belle to the surgeon.  The paperwork we got told us to be at the hospital between 7:15 AM and 8:00AM.  So we took off from the house at 6:40AM.  Belle was all confused because her routine was screwed up and she didn't get any breakfast.  Coco was confused because she was baby-gated into the kitchen but Belle wasn't with her.

Well we hit the highway and just as I feared we ran into traffic.  Not just any ole traffice but the kind where you are only moving at 10-20MPH.  In an hour we had only travelled what the previous day had only took us 20 minutes.  I was stressing.  But we eventually got there with 5 minutes to spare

We filled out the necessary paperwork and sat down and waited for someone to come get her.  We weren't there waiting for long.  Nancy gave her hugs and kisses and handed Belle over to me.  We had to say our necessary goodbyes in case things went badly and this was the last time we saw her alive.

I am usually the cold hearted bastard of the bunch when it comes to feelings so I was taken aback by the fact that I actually felt a little something as I walked away from Belle after she was handed off to the medical personel.

We didn't hear anything from the hospital until sometime around noon.  The call was from someone in the recovery room.  Everything went well.  They had just extubated her and she was real quiet.

Now we await a call from the surgeon to find out how successful the surgery was and anything else she needs to tell us.  Plus, Belle needs to survive the recovery process.

All I know, if that it feels like something is missing here

Organization is the Key

Mr. Eichmann was my 12th Grade math teacher in North Carolina. He really made math fun. Besides his very apparent passion for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (The Tarheels) he also had a passion for organization.

A day didn't go by without him uttering the phrase, "Organization is the Key" and he meant it.

It turns out it's a good phrase to live by. Now those who know me really well and have actually seen either my work office or my home office will know that I haven't really taken the phrase to heart. My wife, on the other hand, lives by it.

When she was a student at Texas Woman's University studying nursing, she began every semester with a trip to Wal-Mart to buy organization supplies. That usually entailed buying three ring binders for every glass, colored post-it tabs and colored highlighters.

Well, her organization fetish isn't limited to the classroom. We were going to the Galleria area because we had to take Belle to the surgeon and they had to run some tests on her that was going to take over an hour. So we decided to go to the Galleria Mall to kill some time. Well, on the way there, we passed The Container Store. Nancy isn't one to blow by a store which derives it's business through providing organizational products. Plus, she is looking for a better way to organize her scrapbooking and quilting supplies. So we stop and go in. We didn't really see anything of use until we got to the end. There were these plastic containers that are designed to store your shoes.

Nancy decided that she was going to pick up a box of 20. I noticed that the boxes for men's shoes were more expensive than the ones for women. So I decided to see if my Size 8 shoe could fit into a woman's shoe box. Unfortunately, it couldn't so we picked up 4 of the mens shoe boxes.

We got home from our trip to the Galleria area and Nancy quickly went to the closet and started boxing up her shoes. Up till now, our shoes resided either at the front door on a shoe rack, or along the floor of our walk-in closet.

The beauty of these boxes is that you can stack them and see into them. So now, all our shoes are neatly boxed away and are on the top shelf of our closet. Boy does our closet look better now without all the clutter on the floor.

This is an animal hospital?

As I mentioned in my previous post, our beloved Belle will be having surgery on Monday. The surgeon operates out of a hospital in the Houston. For those familar with Houston, the hospital is tucked away in the Galleria area.

When you walk into this animal hospital, you'd swear that you were in a medium sized human hospital. But you realize rather quickly that this isn't the case. Everywhere you look there are dogs, a few cats, and maybe an exotic animal or two.

There are departments just like you'd expect to see in a hospital. There is Oncology, Dermitology, Gastrointronology, Orthopedics, etc. Of course, this hospital also had the requisite waiting areas with all the outdated magazines. The walls were covered with professional portraits of hospital staff with their pets.

They even have canine gurneys. It was kinda funny watching the staff transporting the dogs on these gurneys. They had high sides on them like a child's crib but no front or back. The dogs, wouldn't lay down and would try to stand as the gurney moves forward. It's almost like what I imagine a dog would look like if it was trying to surf.

They even have a fully staffed ICU for their surgical cases and seriously ill. From what we've been told, they even prefer to hire RN's instead of vet techs because their own studies have shown that the recovery rates are higher with RN's.

I have to say I'm impressed and never believed there was such places in this world. I felt much more comfortable with the idea that our dog will be in their care.

Lady Belle Von Wags-A-Lot

We call her Belle for short. She's our 7lb fawn colored Chihuahua. We found out early in her life that she had problems with breathing. SHe would cough alot. Our first vet just wrote it off as Kennel Cough, but eventually over time, we found out that it really was a congenital defect called a collapsing trachea.

It's rather sad to see her. She runs around trying to have a good time like a 4 year old dog would like to but she just starts hacking and coughing. She really sounds like a goose when she gets going. All the neighborhood kids always ask us what is wrong with our dog which Nancy promptly tells them that she has bad asthma. Adults on the otherhand think we are choking the crap out of our dog.

Unfortunately, in the 4 years we've had her it has finally gotten to the point where she really doesn't want to do anything anymore but lay around. Our vet recommended a surgeon who happens to be a pioneer in airway surgeries in small breed dogs. Nancy went to see her last December and found out Belle was a strong surgical candidate. The only problem was that the recovery is long and if anything went wrong, she wouldn't be able to cope while trying to go to school at the same time. So we have waited.

This summer has been especially hard on Belle, but we finally made it to Nancy's graduation day so we made an appointment to see the surgeon again.

Belle is scheduled for surgery on Monday. We will not be able to visit Belle after the surgery for anywhere from 3-5 days. Since the surgery involveds her airway, the doctor cannot take any chances of putting undo pressure on her airway so the prescription is boredom. The more bored she is the less stress on the airway and what dog isn't excited to see their family. So therefore, no family visitation.

This is going to be very stressful for Nancy. Since she is young we are told that Belle's chances are good, but with any surgery there is risk.

I know she is a dog, but she is like a child of ours. Some people have think we are wierd but we don't care. I think pets should be given every chance if you have the means to take care of them. To mean that is part of the definition of responsibility

The Quick and Dirty Career Test

Your Career Personality: Independent, Insightful, and Ingenious

Your Ideal Careers: Architect Artist Business strategist College professor Computer programmer Mathematician Neurologist Philosopher Photographer Video game developer

The Quick and Dirty Career Test

What would you do?

Nancy and I went to the movies on Thursday. What the movie was isn't important since it doesn't really have anything to do with this entry.

Before the movie we were being bombarded with the ads that now have become a part of the pre-show before the previews. One of the ads was for a new show coming on NBC this Fall called Heros. It appears to be about a bunch of people who find out they have special powers. One of the people, a teenage girl, finds out that irregardless of what she does to herself she cannot get a scratch. She is impervious to harm.

Yeah, this is a comic book like premise, but it got me to thinking. What would I do if I suddenly found out that I could not be harmed?

Would I still be scared of my own shadow and afraid to take risk or would i done a mask and cape and fight the things that go bump in the night or worse would i become the thing that goes bump in the night?

Another Fine Adventure

Here it is, another Sunday and it's amazing how much the wife and I got done in the past week.

I'd have to admit the most excitement was when Nancy ran to the aid of a fellow human being, but the rest of the week was not boring either.

The purpose of our trip was to get Nancy's urinalysis done for her new job and to get a TB test. While there she found out she can also knock off the drug dosage exam which she did.

The other purpose of the trip was to hopefully find a place to live up there. Well, Nancy found a place she likes. It's about 1000 sq ft smaller than our current digs in Houston but we were planning on getting something smaller. It will allow us to pare down our possessions. To get back to the basics, the bare essentials. Plus, we should be able to save some money. The monthly rent is $500/month cheaper than my mortgage and property tax bill. Unfortunately, we cannot seem to unload the house in Houston.

Nancy was also successful in conquering her quest for the perfect dress for our meal at Victoria & Albert's at Walt Disney World. Since we are eating there twice, she conquered twice. I must admit, that I found the dresses to be stunning. Now that Nancy has found her shoulders it really has opened up a whole new world for her in regards to fashion choices.

I'm going to have to go get a new suit now. The suits I own are huge on me now. When I tighten up my pants with a belt they look like I'm wearing a potato sack. With Nancy having these great dresses, I need to look nice standing next to her

I managed to work from the hotel room the whole time and managed to pretty much kill myself. I must say, I've never been much for respecting ergonomics, but the chair and desk in the hotel were not comfortable. By the time we left Oklahoma City, my neck was killing me from hunching over the desk and working on my laptop.

This was the second week back to school for my neice and nephew and they managed to bring home to the family that little bug that kids like to bring home from school and got my brother and his wife very sick.

To give you an example how sick my brother got, he actually went home from work early so he could rest. My brother never takes a sick day. He follows a philosophy that you save the sick days for when you are feeling great. If you feel like crap you go to work.

Because of the sickness, Nancy and I didn't get to see my brother and his family much. We were afraid we wouldn't get to see them at all, but we got fortunate in the fact that my brother was feeling better by Friday. His family and I went to our favorite restaurant in the area....Red Robin! I love me some Mushroom Burger with American Cheese....yum!

Fun was had by all and then Nancy and I got to take the 7 hour drive home. We took a quick pitstop along the way to visit some of Nancy's family which turned out to be a real treat. Nancy got to show off her new dresses and her sister got to show off her new house. I don't know what I was expecting expecially since every house they've had before was of a different style and age. But I had to admit it was really beautiful. Since she lives along the path to OKC, I'm sure we'll be stopping off again in the future.

Well, that's all I liked to say about that

This is a job for.....

Nancy!

For awhile now, Nancy has been craving seafood. So, we decided to drive down the road to go get some Red Lobster (for the seafood lover in you). Lunch was awesome! I love me some shrimp scampi...yum!

Well, after we paid our check we were slowly rolling ourselves toward the exit when we noticed a man sprawled across the floor in front of the hostess' podium. Nancy immediately sprung into action!

I must say, I've seen Nancy be helpful before. She loves to help people cross the street, get in and out cars. But this time, she was helping someone who was in medical distress. Three people from the restaurant helped the gentleman get back into the wheelchair that someone from his party brought and then Nancy started doing all the stuff you'd expect a nurse to do when you were in the hospital.

She was there taking his pulse while asking him questions. She did a quick assessment to determine if he got a concussion and trying to determine if he was in immediate danger.

The manager alerted Nancy to the fact that they called 911 and if they should turn them back. Nancy was quick to point out that if it was her decision she would make sure the EMT's arrive.

Meanwhile, I'm just slowly trying to get out the way. I got myself to the bench the farthest away from the action and hid. I hate being the center of attention, so in a way (a way that I feel guilty about) I was hoping nobody associated me with her.

The funny thing was that the hostess came up to me and asked me if I needed to be seated. I told her that I was with my wife and pointed toward Nancy. The hostess told me how lucky I was. Something I am constantly reminded about every day.

Well, the EMT's quickly got there and Nancy and I just slid out the front door and left the man in the capable care of paid professionals.

Well blog-people, that was the excitement for the day. Hopefully everyone had a memorable yet good day.

3 Cheers

So I can just hear the roar through my Ethernet connection, "Ray! What did you do this weekend!" Well let me tell you

We hosted a cookout celebration for Nancy in honor of her successful completion of Bachelors of Science in Nursing curriculum at Texas Woman's University.

Now if I tried to convince you that I was excited and eager for the honor of having 20+ people (some being children) over to my house, then I'd be lying to you. I am an individual that lives and dies by my routines. I don't like to carry on "small talk" and I'm not comfortable if I'm not talking about work.

When it comes to parties, I just don't make it a practice of attending them. When I was dragged to company parties under penalty of termination, I was the one sitting on the couch in the corner. If it was at someone's house, then I was the once sitting in the corner watching TV.

My wife has a veracious appetite for the social. She loves attending get togethers and always wanted to host one at our house. What better opportunity than to celebrate her graduation from college.

I was politely told to fake my excitement and if I ruined her party I would rue the day. So I let her do what she wanted.

Since I was the designated grill-master (master being the laughable term), I immediately called the true grill master of the family....My brother....And asked, nay, begged for help. With his excellent guidance I knew how many bratwurst to buy and how many burgers we should have on hand.

I was actually amazed that almost everyone who was invited ended up showing up. Even her only brother, who lives about 2.5 hours away and who is very difficult to get out of his neck of the woods, showed up with his fiancee and kids. I think fun was had by all.

I even was even able to kick the brats up a notch. My brother asked me to try a new preparation technique and it proved to be a hit. This time, I had actual bratwurst connoisseurs in my presence and they were just nodding their heads in agreement after the first bite and giving me the thumbs up. Definitely an ego stroker!

My brother-in-law's fiancee made the cake and it turned out to be a masterpiece. Granted, it went through a slight mishap on the way to our house. Apparently, my brother-in-law took an offramp too quickly and caused the cake to slide in the box and messed up the icing on one side. So, after a quick trip to Wal-Mart to pick up supplies, she quickly had it repaired and we got the joy of eating the frosting she scraped off to make the repair.

The most amazing thing was that the dogs behaved. We were really worried about how they would fare with that many people wandering within their domain. We were especially worried about Coco. She is really skiddish around strangers and we had 20+ of them running around. She would run and hide in the bedroom and then poke her head out of the bedroom door every now and again and look to see if everyone was still there. Sometime she would wander out, make a couple laps and then run back to her hiding place.

When it was all said and done, I didn't ruin Nancy's celebration and I made a few more fans of my grilled hamburgers and sausages.

So blog-izens, that's all I have to say about my weekend.

Defected's ARAQUIEL-A

Well, my brother has put up another piece of coloring work. He's taken on another one of Defected Angel's pieces. A link to the original can be found here


Defected's ARAQUIEL-A by ~impwerx on deviantART

Graduation Day

Well, yesterday August 10, 2006, Nancy completed her Fast Track BSN Program at Texas Woman's Univeristy! She has conquered her Everest. This was a grueling accelerated Nursing Curriculum where they crammed the usual 24 months of material into a 15 month timetable.

Out of the 20 people who started, I think only 2 dropped out either due to not meeting academic requirements or familial obligations that interfered with the ability to meet the demands put on them as a result of an accelerated timetable.

I'm very proud of Nancy. When she got her Bachelors of Science degree in Sports Medicine from Brigham Young University her goal was to just get out and not fail. Any support she received from outside the university was non-existent. Thus, she finished with a 2.91 GPA. I like to refer to that period of her life as B.R. (Before Ray).

As she went through this program I was aware of her past foray into higher education and I attempted to be the most supportive person I could. Granted, at first, I was a despot at best at trying to get my wife to stay focused on the task at hand. I was such a dictator it put fears in Nancy's mind about what kind of parent I would be to school aged children.

Well, after some "come to Jesus" meetings with my wife, I started to let up. I still had to stay on her a bit and try and motivate when the pressure was too much. Nancy is a chronic procrastinator and somehow still gets acceptable (A's & B's) with little or no studying.

Well, when it was all said and done, Nancy is graduating with a 3.698 GPA! The downside is that she is missing Magna Cum Laude by .002 GPA points (if my calculations are correct), but she is still graduating with honors (Cum Laude).

She has a job already waiting for her. It's in Oklahoma City (yes that means we'll be moving) in an Emergency Room. This is where she wants to specialize since she thought it would be the best marriage of her experience in Sport Medicine with her newly gained experience in Nursing Medicine.

It just so happens that it was far easier for her to get hired into an ER up there than it was to get hired into one in the Houston Medical District where they expect a certain amount of experience before letting you come in. So this move is more for her than it is for me. It will give her the experience that she need right after graduation that she'd have to wait 2-5 years to get a shot down here.

So now, a new form of reality is set forth for my wife. And a new adventure begins for us as a couple......

Mall Detox

For those who don't know me real well, you'll probably be shocked to know that my wife and I have had quite a run with the LDS lifestyle.

In regards to my involvement, it slowly snuck on me. I started hanging out with some people that introduced it to me and let me try it for free. Next thing you know, I'm hooked and cannot quite leave it behind. It's amazing how many people, on LDS, are out there. They could be your neighbor, your family member, or even your co-worker. There are some tell-tale signs but you have to look for them. One such sign is as a strong desire to tell you about their cool older brother.

My wife on the other hand was born into this lifestyle. She really didn't have much of a choice on what direction she went down. She tried a few times in college to escape her dependence on LDS by smoking and drinking at college contrary to her university's co-dependant attitude.

Well, as of today, we are 2 years LDS free. We are on the wagon. Our footsteps felt lighter having gotten that giant monkey off our backs. Nancy had a harder time kicking the habit since she has been living with it her whole life. Giving up certain things, even though she didn't feel they were bad for her, was hard to give up because it was such a part of her. But she has slowly gotten over those things. Her mother introduced her to the sweet nectar of the vine and her sister helped her broaden her appreciation of the libation. On top of that she's learned that shorts come in lengths shorter than knee-length. I've been told that clothing can be liberating and therapeutic.

But, my female sources have told me that nothing is more therapeutic and liberating than shopping. Hence, the topic of this blog entry.

Here in Texas we are experiencing the annual ritual known as Tax Free Weekend. Anything clothes or other back-to-school related items costing less than $100 would be sold minus the sales tax.

We went to the mall on the premise of getting me some clothes for our trip to DisneyWorld in September. Since I only own 1 pair of shorts and an array of t-shirts my wife hates, she felt it was a good time to buy some clothes and save 8.25%.

Well after a fruitful trip to Old Navy, the official outfitter of Team Ray, we wandered the mall to try and find Nancy some new shoes for our Disney trip. Well, as luck would have it, we couldn't get to the Lady Footlocker without passing by that bane of the dyed in the wool, balls-to-the-wall, hard-core LDS user’s existence......Victoria's Secret (what is her secret anyway). Nancy turns to me and says, "I want to start wearing some strappy tops, and that means I need a strapless bra, should I buy at Victoria's Secret or Dillards". I told her to buy wherever she can get the most comfortable bra. So Victoria's Secret it is.

Now I'm a man who always was turned into a blithering idiot around pretty women and even more around pretty women in sexy lingerie. So for me to walk inside Victoria's Secret is like hanging a lump of Kryptonite around Superman's neck. Where do I avert my gaze? It's hard to walk around looking at one's feet. Needless to say, my wife found two bras that she liked and it was off to find tops to go with them. After all, a woman can't just buy one item of clothing. It must be accessorized. What better accessory to a new bra, other than a matching pair of undies, than a new top?

After all that looking I have these things two things to say .....

1. My wife has a great set of shoulders which all this time have been hidden underneath those sleeves all these years, and
2. They need more man chairs in women's clothing stores.

Well, that is my story of our day of detoxification at the local mall, or what I more aptly like to refer to as the de-mormonification process

Defected's Barfarel

My brother has posted another piece he has colored on his deviantART site. To see the Defected Angel's original piece my brother used as his source, click here.

My brother never ceases to amaze me. His talents are always growing in regards to his artistic talent.

His latest endeavor is carving. He creates molds out of whatever he finds laying around and then pours Plaster of Paris into them creating the stock material he will work with. Then he carves it with sharp instruments. I have seen some of his finished pieces and they look like they are made out of stone.