Bit of a scare

Robert left this morning at 5am for his class in Smithfield, NC (about 2 1/2 hours away). I got up, fed the animals, and made myself something to eat. Mika started coughing but I didn't think much of it. Then it started to get worse. Eventually she was coughing up foam and food. Not vomiting, but actually COUGHING up food.
Robert is unreachable today and has the car with him.
I gave Mika a few hours, thinking maybe she just had something in her throat. When I made the decision to go to the Emergency Vet she had gotten to the point where I thought something was very wrong. I couldn't keep up with her spitting. She ended up spitting on my hands, feet, etc as I was cleaning up.
Sheli (the Godsend that she is) came and picked us up and took us to the vet. The doctor said he thinks she inhaled something that irritated her. And then as a result of coughing she just kept getting more and more irritated. He said it's coming from her esophagus not her trachea, so that's good. He checked her larynx - nothing there. That was a procedure that involved him putting his entire hand down her throat. I learned today that dogs don't have gag reflexes. Good to know. Could have saved myself $85.00 if I knew that.
So I went and bought some Robitussin DM (oh she loved that) and right now she's laying next to me on the couch - out like a light.

Another bullet dodged!

Friday

How do you start a blog? Do you say 'hi'? Anytime I blog I've always stopped to try and think about how to start. It's not lack of things to talk about, trust me.
Okay so I'll just get into it!
First - Robert has his traffic school tommorow in Smithfield. It's an 8 hour class. Starts at 7:30 am - and Smithfield is 2 1/2 hours away. Blegh!! Luckily, Sheli and I are going to be working on her baby shower invites so that will give me something to do. Robert has really had to twist his arm to get registered for this class so hopefully the court will be leniant when he goes back on the 30th.
By the way if you didn't know Robert got a ticket when we went to Raleigh for the Reptile Show a few months back. It was 8:30 in the morning, nobody on the road - and we were trying to make good time to Raleigh (which is a 3 hour drive). We came over a hill and the cop was sitting behind a lone dumpster at the bottom. Trying to make a buck maybe?
My grandma is still in the hospital. I haven't heard much from my family but from the sounds of it her kidneys are now deteriorating and it's not looking good. I'm praying for her recovery - but I'm dreading recieving the call that she's passed away.

Have you ever lost something that you have several of and then come to the conclusion that there must be some sort of fairy going around stealing that thing from everybody in the neighborhood?
This is what I mean - We own probably..I'd say...7 pairs of nail clippers. Don't ask me why! I don't clip my nails - I pay too much money to get my nails done to have to do it myself. But Robert is super anal about his nail grooming so he's collected a few pairs over the years.
Well tonight he goes to clip his nails and they're just gone! He's looked in all of our little 'misc junk goes here' baskets and drawers - and to save his life - they're all gone. So then I go and look - nope, they didn't want to come out of hiding for me either. How frustrating.

So when I went to Florida in August my Ipod shit on me on the second flight out there. I didn't have the manual or the charger so I couldn't do anything about it then. Well I JUST got around to fixing it. I just deleted everything off of it and reprogrammed it. Since we had to get a new Hard Drive I had to d/l ITunes again - *gag*.

Farmer's Market on Saturday - I'm psyched! But Robert will be in Smithfield all day..soooo who wants to come with? :) :D

Update from my Aunt Kim:::

She is going back to surgery this afternoon to look at the abdominal wound with hopes to do partial or possibly entire closure of the wound. She is on a ventilator. Currently she is requiring full ventilator support; she developed a fever last night and her kidneys are the major concern right now. She is obsviously strong and has a will to live because she is still with us. They are keeping her heavily sedated so she can rest. Well this is the jest of it; too lengthy to go into more detail. Keep her in your prayers. Kim

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I hate to say it - but all these banks going bankrupt is making me want to take money from the bank and put it under my mattress.

**Largest Ch11 filing in nations history: Lehman Bros**

Got an update from my mom last night. My grandma is doing better these past two days. They've been able to go back and do a better job of closing her stomach so that lessens the risk of infection. She's still heavily sedated but her kidneys are working and she's producing urine normally. Great relief! If she continues this way she could potentially make a good recovery.
Mom said the family is all there - the hospital has given my family a room to use to rest, shower, etc. They have an entire waiting room to themselves. Apparently there's always a few of them there all hours of the day/night so they've made the hospital like home ...(including bringing tables of food...) Ohhh family :P I do love them though.
I spent today with Sheli & Mary Alice. Shopping and starting the process of making her baby shower invitations. We're going to get back together next weekend to work on them some more. I've got SO many things to plan these next few weeks it's insane!
I started the hunt today to find an AVMA accredited distance learning program for Veterinary Technology. Looks like Purdue has one of the best programs so far. I've looked at places like Penn Foster but after doing research I've found TOO many negatives about the college. People have sent in money and not been enrolled or sent their books!
I was reminded of how bad my migranes used to be today - I've had one ALL day. I took 2 Excedrin Migrane - didn't work. A few hours later I took 2 Advil - no luck. So I drank 2 beers....Still hurt.

Ew.

Saturday

Robert and I got up early this morning to go to the commissary - they're having a case lot sale this weekend. We got some pretty good deals! Three bags of Doritos for $2.50!

I haven't heard much about my grandma in the past day - one of my cousins emailed me to tell me she's holding her own.

Let's talk about price gouging! Gas is up past $4.00 a gallon. A lot of areas aren't affected - it seems to be the Eastern seaboard mostly. It's as high as $4.99 in some places with premium well over $5.00!! This happened in less than 24 hours in some places - which leads me to believe it's price gouging. Unless every gas station on the East coast got a new shipment yesterday morning they paid one price for the gas and they're selling it for much more than that. The law says they're not allowed to make more than .25/gal profit. So if they buy it for $3.00/gal they cant sell it for more than $3.50.

Kangaroo & Wilco-Hess stations seem to be the only ones not raising prices.

I've been watching the news for information on hurricane Ike - the flooding is incredible! Highways have upwards of 6ft of standing water, homes were washed into the Gulf of Mexico. I hope everybody in that area stays safe and stay off the roads!

I had a meeting with Colonel C yesterday. We're really going to kick this spouses thing into gear. Col said she was very excited about what we're planning. Our FRO really isn't doing much unit-wise so Cindy and I are going to work on getting the G-4 spouses organized. Maybe that'll motivate our FRO.

We've got coffees, baby showers, potlucks, holiday parties, and meetings to plan. I'm very excited! I know when we moved here I wasn't contacted and I know during a deployment it's comforting to be close to the other ladies in the unit.

I can't wait to see the kind of progress we can potentially make in our unit.

Robert and I are going to Petsmart and then Kabuto tonight and then it's OSU football @ 8! :)

Update on grandmother

My aunt called me late yesterday evening to update me on Grandma's status:


She was in surgery for about 5 1/2 hours. They were trying to put in a 'graft' in to patch up the anuyerism and they had trouble. She was going to be moved to ICU soon after I spoke to my aunt but they said that it doesn't look good.


Apparently the doctor took my grandfather and uncle aside and told them she should have died.


I talked to my mom and she told me to stay home and pray but it's all I can do not to get in the car and drive up there. It's a 14 hour drive. I just don't know what to do. Do I stay home and wait to see if she passes? Or do I try to get there before she does?

I've pretty much put my quest for financial aid on hold for the time being.

Today I ran out to get a coffee - every gas station was at around $3.65 and there were people lined up to the street. You'd think WE were getting a hurricane!
On the way HOME (fifteen minutes later) every gas station was deserted and gas was $4.00!
I hope everybody in Texas stays safe - get the hell outta Dodge!

Praying...

I was on my way to dinner with a friend this evening when I got a call from my mother saying my grandmother was in the hospital. Apparently she had an aortic anyuerism this afternoon and was in surgery at the time.
I'm now waiting on word from my family on her condition and making arrangements to make the 14 hour drive if needed.

This was posted on a forum I frequent.

The weatherman predicts...a deployment coming!

Is that like a typhoon? I sure hope not. I have mixed feelings about this deployment. I'm excited about all the things I'm going to accomplish while Robert is gone but I'm also nervous. I'll be honest- this will be the first time I've been on my own. I've been lucky to have him home as long as he's been - but it's time for him to go. Twelve months sure is a long time....I've known about this since January and for some reason I wish I only had a week's notice. A year of thinking about a 12 month deployment has put a huge knot in my stomach. I just wish it were January and he were leaving. I'm ready to start counting down!
I watched the footage of 9/11/2001 on the news this morning. Watching it affected me more this morning than in years past. The confusion was what stood out to me the most. I couldn't imagine being in Manhattan that day. The terror - the footage plays out on TV like a movie and I can't begin to comprehend how surreal it must have been for those people. 2,557 days since the terrorist attack. I wonder what's up with Donald Rumsfeld's arm?