Michele~when I exercise, it is always before work because I find myself making too many excuses after work. It never seems to make me tired mid-day, though. I wish I could get myself to stop with the excuses though. I really hate getting up early, but it does set the tone for the rest of the day if I start off right like that. Too bad I've skipped exercising all week this week. I don't know what's gotten into me. That sounds like an interesting party tonight. Have fun!

Michele - when I turned sixteen my then boyfriend's mom threw me a birthday party for the same reason, she had a big house and we actually lived in a trailer at the time. I discovered later that my mom felt pretty bad about it - for lots of reasons, not just limited to it being at someone else's house. How are you doing with someone else hosting the party?

I typically exercise in the afternoon, but find I feel better during the day, and am more likely to actually do it, if I can get up and do it in the morning. I'm working on that this month while XW is in boot camp. Hard to make myself get up and do it when DSS isn't there getting me up at 5:30 to get ready for school. And, I don't have to get up quite as early as you do to have time - don't know if I could do 4:15.

Wow, I decided that this is the only thread I will read through and I'll just have to jump in elsewhere. No way can I get caught up on almost 5 weeks away. I did read about Carter's issues on FB, and I'm so glad to hear he's doing well.

Megan - I'm assuming that you have a new dog. A little older than a puppy?

Shannon - a whole month will DSS, you guys will be like real parents.

to everyone else. I had a wonderful month in Hawaii, and it was hard to come home, though I did miss my own bed, my friends, and of course my cats. We've been busy this week getting back into life's routines and chores. It's beginning to feel normal again.

Someone told me to never put my real birthday on the web as it makes identity theft so much easier.

So thanks but it's not my birthday today

Dagmar

Not to worry; it's not your real name either, LOL.

That's funny, Bill!

And Dagmar, no worries. DH's cousin does the same thing. I'm not too concerned myself. People here know who I am, where I live, my birthday, etc... I don't think any of us would resort to identity theft. I worry more about my mail.

I had the most fabulous day yesterday! Going to my ex-boss's retirement party was such a treat. I saw and talked to friends I have not seen for 5 years. I got caught up on their lives and changes. It was so fun!

Then we went to my neighbor's birthday party where I met all sorts of new people and had a great time.

Today we're thinking of going to a car show. DH was going to go into work but he decided he wanted the weekend off. I can't blame him. We had a pretty productive week at work so I can't imagine he'll lose out on much by not going in this morning.

So Dagmar . it is not your birthday ? I don't know about Canada but in the US , tell the bartender it is your birthday and you get a free drink. Like your age it doesn't need to be true,

We survived the birthday party. I was so stressed about it and so glad it is over!
The birthday boy (ex boyfriend) was quite late and we were worried he wasn't going to show but he did. He came with his mom and she is notoriously late.
Overall I think it was successful.
I spoke to his mom about the breakup and we worked through any awkwardness.
We didn't get back until midnight so I didn't get to talk to dd about her feelings. She said she had fun but she was exhausted so I didn't push it.
It was a little strange having others host the party when I had never met them but they were super sweet. They had gotten balloons and even gave each kid a bday gift (their twins were also party guests).
During the party, the adults (me and dh, ex boyfriend's mom, and the host couple) chatted. The other adults drank wine but I just had water. I had to be strong not to eat the pizza and other junk! But I'm weighing in this morning and don't want to be up! I just wish we could have gotten the kids to leave earlier as the hosts were exhausted.

Dh left this morning for another week. I am so tired so perhaps I will get some rest this weekend. Yesterday I got up at 4:15 (to exercise) and went to bed at 1 am (dh had to pack for his trip when we got home). I got up at 7 this morning when he left. I'm hoping coffee and breakfast will get me through boot camp today!

And Happy Birthday Dagmar/Mudpie (ha!!)

"My life doesn't revolve around food" article... food for thought. I think mine does!

Yes, Pat, I got a dog three weeks ago today! Emma is a 9ish month old lab/pit mix, and her owner was moving out of town and couldn't take her. She is very sweet but event though she's growing out of her puppy body, she still does some puppy things like jumping up and mouthing. She's been getting better the longer she's with us and we work on training her.

We need more description than that of Hawaii! A few pictures, maybe. Ok, I know you just got home. You can have a day to recover before you update us.

Michele, way to stay strong at the party! Hopefully you can sleep in a little bit today.

Jessica, how is Carter doing since he came home again?

I'm taking Emma to the beach this morning and going to the theatre with some friends in the city this afternoon. And I've got a big pan of weight watchers recipe turkey eggplant casserole going on for dinner tonight (and tomorrow, and the next night...). Have a good Sunday all.

Well, just like when we brought him home from the surgery, Carter is a lot worse shape than we were hoping. He's better than he was before they took him in, which is great, but he is still wetting his bed and still can't pee on his own. The difference is that he wets his bed less, and when we take him out to pee he tries to pee on his own and when we express his bladder we're actually able to get pee to come out since he is helping us some now. He's also still having stomach bloating issues, so we are back to the bland diet and are adding yogurt to help his gut flora get back to normal, plus we're giving him gas-x if he starts to look uncomfortable after a meal (don't worry, the vet told us to, we didn't just decide to do it on our own).

The good news is that he is pooping, so things are moving along in there somewhere. Also, he slept pretty well last night. We realized late yesterday that sometimes when he is whining, it's because he wants to roll over, but he hasn't realized that he can do that on his own. So now when he starts whining our first move is to roll him over and see if he calms down. If he keeps whining, then we try water, food, and/or taking him out.

I was kind of having a breakdown over it yesterday because we hadn't figured out the rolling over thing and he was just whining and whining and whining, and I didn't know what to do. Today I'm feeling much better, largely because he slept almost the entire night and we didn't get up to take him outside at all between 10pm and 8am (although he had wet his bed quite a bit at 8am, but he wasn't whining). DH and I have pretty much decided that right now we're going to keep giving him this new medicine, and we're going to see the surgeon on Wednesday to get his staples out and see if he has any more things for us to try, and we'll see how things go for this week. If he starts improving, great. If by Friday he has not made any improvement, we may end up putting him down. It's a matter of quality of life and unless he gets better, this is really not a good quality of life for him at all. If he hasn't made any improvement by the end of the week it is likely that he never will.

I am encouraged though that since last night he seems to be feeling a bit better in general though, and he is definitely better than last week. No trembling after breakfast today, he pooped again this morning, and once we got him set up in his favorite sunny spot he stopped whining and is now just resting calmly. His left rear leg is doing pretty well and seems very strong. His right rear leg he is still having a lot of trouble with -- he can move it some but not too much, so he kind of limps along when he is walking and tends to fall toward that side. But at just under two weeks post op there is still a lot of time for the leg to recover. The bladder and stomach are our main concerns at this point.

I was wondering how things were going for you over the last 24 hours. When you don't post, that's when I start trying to telepathically send you some kind of strength (weird as that sounds) because I figure if the news were great & encouraging, you'd rush to the site to share. You didn't do that.

I'm no dog expert & I'm no veterinarian, but it sounds like Carter is indeed improving, only very slowly & along the way requiring extensive after-care. I hope his improvement is steady from here on out.

Jessica,

I know you and DH are at your wits' end with worrying and coping--but I just want to caution you to make really sure that if you decide to have Carter put to sleep, you're doing it because of his quality of life, and not that you are so exhausted and strung out over his issues. From my own experience, I know it's hard sometimes to tell...

From your description it sounds like he is indeed recovering. The whining can be really upsetting, but see how you figured it out? Be glad that he is passing urine. Be patient. Hang in there. See how it goes from day to day.

to all three of you!

Jay

Jessica, I'm so sorry. I know how much you love Carter and want the best for him. Like Saef, I'm sending telepathic love and support.

Hugs to you Jessica and to Carter and dh. It does sound to me also that Carter is improving, albeit slowly. Try to look where he was a week ago versus now. Then look at where he is a few days from now and see how much he is improving. The stomach and urinary issues should be temporary (correct?), so hopefully they will resolve soon. You have certainly had such a stressful and difficult time with this. Glad he had a better night though. I will be thinking good thoughts for all of you.