Happy Holidays!

(card design by Tiny Prints)

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Sara

* I promise to be back in full blogging force in the new year!  See you soon!

Mally Update

Hey everyone!  Great news!  Yesterday afternoon I got a call from the surgeon that Mally was out of surgery and did great.  They said she woke up quickly and was already sitting up!  That’s really good news!   They removed the femoral head and neck on the right side and cleaned up some debris that was in the hip socket and probably causing her pain.  They kept her overnight for observation.  This afternoon I got the call that she was up, walking around and in good spirits - almost ready to come home! 

And if that wasn't enough, sometime after her operation, she was sweet enough to send me these...

The card said,

"You're the best mom ever.  Thanks for fixing my hip. 
Love, Mally."

She is one thoughtful pup.

Right now, Ryan's picking her up and taking her home!  I can't wait to see her!

Just wanted to say thanks to you all for your thoughts and prayers over the last few days!  It means the world to me!

Love,

Sara

A Letter to Mally

Thank you to the Shabby Princess and her pups for this letter.  It made my day.  :)

Dear Mally,

Wez hopes you is OK on Thursday aftewr da surgewwie dat youz having. Wez sowwie. Our mompup is vewwie worries abouts you and yours mompup, Auntie Sara. We is saying our puppy prayews for you. And your mompup. Iz scary, buts, you iz gonna to be good as new!

And den and DEN youz can come play with us. Or we come to you. Whatever is easiest. We loves the sheltie. They iz almost as crazy as the beagle. Which, as you can seez, we have.

If youz want you can come and relax wit us. As you can seez, we is vewwie good at the R&R.

Puppy hugz to you our favowite Mally pants.

XOXOX
Butch and Ella Mae
 

 
 
Thank you SP.  Love you.

Mally

This has been a rough couple of weeks for us, especially for Mally.  If you follow me on Twitter, you probably have an idea of what's been going on, but if not, let me recap.  A few weeks ago we noticed that Mally was having some issues with her back legs.  She was hopping instead of running, she'd fall if she took the stairs, she wouldn't jump up on the couch or bed and her right leg was shaky and quivering.  So we immediately took her to our vet to see what was wrong. 

We were a little worried that she might have the same tick-borne illness that my dad's dog had, which was causing Lenny some leg pain as well.  However, her temperature was normal and blood work came back clean.  Our vet thought he heard a “popping” in her knee, but it wasn’t hurting her or inflamed at all.  Her hips also seemed fine with a physical examination, but just to be sure, he took X-rays of her pelvis/hips.  And then we saw the problem.  She has hip luxation (hip dislocation) in her right hip (the leg that’s been shaking).  He said that femoral head has been separated from the pelvic acetabulum (or the “ball” is out of the hip socket), which means her hip pops in and out of place without much effort.  When the ball is out of the socket, the bones are rubbing together causing her pain.  The vet thinks this was probably a pre-existing condition that she’s been dealing with for a while.   But more troubling, he said her left hip looked “terrible.”  She’s got chronic arthritis in that hip, which has been trying to “remodel” itself (the joints in that hip are scarred and inflamed).  So, he put her on some anti-inflammatory pain medicine and referred us to an orthopedic surgeon here in town. 

We saw the orthopedic surgeon last week and said she that Mally needs surgery, possibly on both hips, but at least on the right one for now. We’ve tried the bed-rest/pain med/anti-inflammatory meds route, but she’s just not getting any better, so surgery is the next step. She gave us two options: (1) a total hip replacement; or (2) femoral head ostectomy surgery.

Hip Replacement

If we went with the total hip replacement, she would basically get a brand new hip and be as good as new. She’d have full function in the hip and there’s a low complication rate. But, she would need 10 weeks of resting and rehab. She’d need to stay off hardwood floors, away from stairs, away from other dogs, be crated every day when we’re at work, etc. for 10 weeks. Then a 6 months to 1 year later, if she’s still having problems with the other hip, we could do the surgery again on the left side. This surgery would be incredibly expensive. Also, since she’s so small, they don’t believe that the replacement hip parts they have would fit her, so we might have to go somewhere else for the surgery that specializes in smaller animals (Houston, Texas was mentioned).

Femoral Head Ostectomy

The femoral head surgery would require the head of the femur to be removed and the bone smoothed, if necessary, so that no bone to bone contact occurs between the pelvis, which contains the now empty socket and the remaining portion of the femur. The bone is not replaced, instead, the resulting scar tissue from the operation takes the place of the hip joint creating a "false joint" around the bone end. With this surgery, they could do one or both hips at the same time and it’s about half the cost of the hip replacement. After the surgery, Mally would be on 1 week bed-rest, but then she’s encouraged to be as active as possible to assist in the healing. She’d get walks/runs and rehab (with us) everyday. Complications are also low and smaller dogs do much better with this surgery because they’re more active and not as heavy on their hips.  This was the doctor's recommendation.

So, we’ve decided to go with option 2. Mally goes in for Femoral Head Ostectomy surgery tomorrow. She has to spend at least one night in the hospital and can hopefully come home on Friday. We just feel like it’s a better option for her (and us) to keep her active, allow her to play with other dogs and not have to crate her for months.   She seems fine with everything (we've talked about it).  She's a tough cookie.  I, on the other hand, am a nervous freaking wreck.  I just know I'm going to spend all day tomorrow in tears.  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers over the next few days.  I'd really appreciate it.

 Love,

 A crazy-dog-mama

Hunting Widow

Once again, it's that time of the year...  HUNTING SEASON. 

Duck season, deer season, dove season, turkey season, quail season, pheasant season, goose season.  There's always something to kill.  Last weekend was opening weekend of duck season, and this weekend is the opening of DEER season. 

I don't think anyone would be surprised to learn that I'm not a huge fan of hunting.  Especially deer hunting.  But deer season is huge around here.  It's basically a holiday - I'm surprised schools and banks don't close.  I grew up in a small town where Hunter's Safety courses were mandatory in 4th grade and it was ok to have your rifles in the cab of your pickup truck on school property.  People from my hometown wear camo and orange year round like a badge of honor.  I've seen more dead deer than I can even count.  I know how to call a turkey, mask your scent, install a salt lick, set up decoys, camouflage a deer stand, knock antlers together, etc.  Everyone in my family hunts, from my grandpa all the way down to the kids.  I get it - I just don't like it.  

I know, I know...I've heard all the arguments for hunting.  Every single one of them.  I know they're overpopulated and there are way too many deer.  I know they can feed the hungry.  (I know they're kinda delicious.)  I know they get hit by cars and cause injuries and can spread disease.   I know they destroy fields and crops and gardens.  I know, I really do!  But it still breaks my heart! 

When I met Ryan, he was a nice preppy city boy that liked fishing, was strictly catch and release and wouldn't harm a fly (for real, he'd trap it and take it outside).  But then he met my family.  And went to "Deer Camp" back in my hometown.  And it was over.  Now he's a ruthless killer.  He lives for blood.  Now he's the one giving me all the arguments for why deer hunting is "necessary."  And maybe it's unfair to blame my family entirely for this transformation...but I'm doing it anyway.  Do you hear me Christopher?!

I think the difference is somewhere in our perception of deer.  When Ryan thinks of a deer, he sees this:

and this...

When I think of a deer, I see this:

and this...

And of course, deer are stupid, so they're making it easy for the guys.  The deer around here really need to get their act together if they're going to make it through til next year.  Come on guys!

So this weekend, while Ryan's out slaying poor innocent animals, I'm a hunting widow - abandoned by my husband for the thrill of killing, the camaraderie of other killers and lots of beer. 

Normally, I'm my husband's biggest fan...

But this year, I'm rooting for the deer.

(source)

( I like this version of deer camp! )

So, for all you hunting widows out there, I just want you to know that I feel your pain, your loneliness, your isolation.  I hope you all have weekend plans that involve friends, shopping, wine and watching all the great shows that your husbands refuse to watch with you (hello Gossip Girl). 

(source)

And I hope your husbands have miserable opening weekends, come home empty-handed and no one kills anything worthy of stuffing and mounting. 

(source)

In loving memory...

Any other hunting widows out there? 

Want to come over and have margaritas with me?

Brooke's Baby Shower

This past weekend I attended my friend Brooke's baby shower.  She's pregnant with TWINS!   And even better, she's not finding out the gender of the babies!  What a fun surprise!  Michelle, Carrie and Paige did such a great job as hostesses.  It was such a gorgeous shower, I just had to share the pictures with you.

The shower was held at The Women's Exchange on Clayton Road in Ladue. 

It's an adorable little shop with a seating area for lunch. 

Cookie-decorator extraordinaire Michelle made adorable baby carriage cookies that served as seating cards.  Carrie made these awesome menus.

The decorations in the place were absolutely adorable. 

And the flowers were gorgeous!

Of course, what kind of shower would it be without a little bubbly?

Paige had her friend Sonie make these onesies for the babies with pictures of mom and dad on them.  Sonie makes the cutest baby stuff - her site is HERE.  If you need a baby gift, definitely check her stuff out!

Here's mom-to-be Brooke with the hostesses.

And with me.  Seriously, doesn't she look fantastic?

I made sure to get as many pictures of the guests as possible, without harassing them and bossing them around.  Hopefully I didn't annoy anyone by constantly shoving my camera in their face!  :) 

Below is Brooke with her mom and younger sister, Sarah.  This family has some amazing genes.  Carol seriously could be mistaken as a sister of the girls.  And Sarah had a baby 2 weeks ago and looks this fabulous.  Don't you just hate them?  :) 

Lunch was fantastic.  I'd never eaten at The Women's Exchange before, but I think I'm going to have to go back.  The veggie sandwich was amazing!  And then, there was dessert.  I die.

And then it was time for gifts!!

Check out all this loot!

The gifts were fantastic.  It was so fun watching Brooke open two of everything and seeing everyone's overwhelmed expressions!  I think it finally hit us all that two babies are on their way!  TWO babies!!

She got some really amazing stuff, including this video monitoring system. 

I totally want one of these to spy on my pets while I'm gone!

And all kinds of gorgeous outfits in white. 

These are going to be some beautiful angelic babies.

Lots of books, too!

And check out this My Little Lamb seat. 

It has ears!!

Fabulous shower! 

Thanks to Carrie, Michelle and Paige for a lovely afternoon. 

And best wishes to mom-to-be Brookie! 

I can't wait to meet these babies!