Thankful Thursday!

Today I am thankful for the family and friends I have in my life, without you all, these past few months would not have been as manageable as they have been.  I have learned a lot about myself these past few weeks, and about how others think and feel about some of the events and issues we have been struggling with.  I've learned that sometimes letting go and putting faith in whatever the earthly realm has in store for us, may not always be easy, but its far better than smacking your head against a wall I have now called "The Losing Battle"  While we cannot make people see things as we do, feel about things as we do, or want to help the causes we want them too....the fact that we never give up or in, and push ahead regardless of if we fail or not, makes us the better person that we can live with come judgment day.  Today I am thankful for all I have accomplished, and all I have left to do!

Time has Run out!!!

 

I know I haven't given you guys any real updates the last few days, but I'm trying so hard to get caught up in all of my college classes at both universities, in addition to trying to stay healthy (failing!), and take care of Spike who is losing this battle faster than I can come up with help for us.  This post is about the time we had, and the time we no longer have.  Primary glaucoma has stolen away Spike's left eye, and is now greatly putting his remaining good eye at risk.  Besides that, the constant high eye pressure, and ongoing infections from it all is jeopardizing Spike's overall health.  Because I have failed to get together the donations we needed to cover the cost of both treating and eradicating the problem with his left eye, while treating his remaining good eye so we can save it from the same fate, I have adjusted our final fundraiser goal to reflect just what is needed to help us pay for what now HAS to be done with his left diseased eye to prevent further complications and infections from spreading to his vital organs.  If you could take a minute to share our story, reach into your hearts and pockets and help us today, not only will you become a K9 Angel for all the world to see, but will also help us to ensure that Spike will be in our lives for many years to come! Thank you so much, and God Bless!

Forgive the quiet!

Hey everyone, please forgive me for not posting recently its been a crazy and long past few days. Between getting hit with another round of the flu virus, taking care of my health problems, caring for spike, and trying to get caught up in my college courses, I'm completely exhausted. At one point I think I even made a comment about how I feel like a mom with a newborn again! Yikes! In any case there isnt much new news to update you with when it comes to Spike. The eye drops aren't having much of an effect on his diseased eye that is now is blind, what that means is that it just continues to fill with fluid which causes the eye to sill like water balloon increasing the pain and pressure (hard to watch him suffer through!) The right eye (his good eye) is still disease free for now, thought without the surgery and proper treatment we're not sure how long that is going to be. He has trouble more so at night, when it comes to getting around. I blame myself for his unwillingness to accept that he has to do things differently now, we have seriously spoiled him more than I guess we knew we were! It's amazing though isn't it How quickly time escapes us, how fast things grow and change, how one minute you can think you have everything finally working for your, and then the next it all fall apart. I find myself thinking about every time I yelled at him for doing something bad or annoying, or the hundreds of times I've gotten up to let him out and stepped on every blooming piece of chewed dog bone piece I thought he managed to eat. I think back to two years ago, while my husband was on deployment, and it was just me and my son, spike and a handful of chattering parakeets to keep each other company in a new house, in a new place, where nothing felt familiar. It's always times like this that we remember things like those things isn't it? Right now the only thing I could ask for, is to get to a place where Spike is out of pain and misery, and we can begin to go back to some kind of normal routine, even if now we have to tend to a semi blind dog. It's been a little over a month since I started the fundraiser, and thankfully the funds we raised through a week or two ago was enough to cover the expensive prescriptions and eye care specialist appointments we had to go to. It got us through to when we got our final opinion, and the written cost sheet for his surgery. Since then, things have stopped, and I have to be honest when I say that my faith in raising the money we need to pay for Spike's surgery and aftercare is pretty much gone. We just cant figure out how to make more money than we are, when we are barely getting by on the military pay we have now. I made the mistake in the beginning of saying that Spike wasnt a Hero in the sense that my husband is through all of the wonderful things he has done in the last handful of years, but the truth is I was wrong..Spike is my sons hero. I was watching my teenage son lay beside his dog tonight with that sad face on. We can explain that these things happen all the time and that we need to be grateful to still have him with us, but it doesn't take away the fact that he still feels like he's been robbed... after all we've been through so much bad and lost so much over the last 8 years, we thought we were finally catching a break which would let us get ahead, and then get hit with this. But spike is a hero to my son, after all it was spike who 8 1/2 years ago bonded with my son and helped him get through a hard family life that put him in the middle of some pretty bad things, and it is Spike who has helped to get him out of and keep him out of the deep dark depression he struggled with for so long. Right now they are curled up together on the floor, and even while Spike lays there crying in his sleep,its that teenage arm wrapped tightly around him, that has me sitting here in tears. I dont know how many of you have read to this point, or how many of you have followed this story from the beginning, or how many of you even care...lord knows there are some greedy and twisted people in this world who find ways to pull on your heart strings and work the system to get what they think they deserve..but if you have ever had children and ever had a pet you loved like a child you get what im saying, and what im feeling. And if there is any of that same love and compassion still in your heart and you can afford to donate even just $1, the difference you would make for my son and for Spike is far greater than you could ever imagine. Ive called all the numbers I can search for and find, and written to every news and newspaper and radio station I can to help get our story out there, and I'm just out of energy and faith. Anyways I have a nutrition paper to write and turn in, so i can spend the weekend writing two 4 page papers for another nutrition class and my psych class..god bless you and yours...Amy

Todays Vet update

Today we took spike in for his regular vet check up. The diseased eye, has had high pressure issues for the last few weeks. In fact, his eye specialist says the eye drops (which are never meant for long term use) are just not working anymore. In taking him in to his regular vet today, she confirmed the same and made clear that she too feels he wont regain any sight in that eye. My focus needs to be on pain management and getting the money together for his surgery, in addition to fighting like hell to keep this disease from taking his other eye. Overall, Spike had a great day today, though he never really shows us that he is ever in pain. Bumping in to things, and having a little more trouble seeing things at night has been something we have had to get used too, but even I seem to be handling it better. Coming up with the money for the surgery has been difficult. I'm not good with people, or for asking for help, both of which you need to have when trying to raise money for a cause. But this is a good lesson for me, as once i finish my college certifications and BA degree, I want to run several non profits, and work on combating the nutrition and hunger problem we struggle with here in the US. But this has shown me that our pets need help as well. I see on tv all of the televised animal rescue programs popping up, but when it comes to military families...there just isnt much help for us with these kind of expenses. We take very good care of our pets, but these added expenses just don't fit into the average military family budget. We work so hard to get by and feed ourselves, but our pets shouldn't have to suffer. I have faith that this fundraiser will help us help SPike, and then I can begin to work on helping other military families help their pets. Thats all for right now

Wordless Wednesday!

 

 

 



Woohoo Happy Dance Time!

Finally!! Husband came home from working out with his fellow Navy crew, and tossed me the priority mail package that contained Spike's NuVet pills!! Talk about a grown adult doing the happy dance!! I so was guilty! He scarfed down three multi-vitamin wafers easily, and even if it's in my head, I felt a little better.  Like I said from the beginning, there is no miracle pill for any disease whether it be human diseases or animal, but sometimes having something to put faith in helps to ease the pain.  I know that before too long Spike will be blind, but as long as I am doing everything I can to try and fight it and figure things out, I'll feel better when all is said and done. We have raised about an average of $200.00 a week which has paid for Spike's visits to both his regular vet for in-between eye pressure checks, and the expensive animal eye specialist that has the job of helping us decide what's best.  We still have so far to go If we are to ease the pain and suffering, Spike feels ever day, and have one of the surgeries he needs to have for long term peace and a happier life.  I'm doing all I can to try and do this on my own, but its not enough.  I'm running out of ideas, options, and energy.  I know how easy it is to sit there and read this, and in a few seconds or minutes close out this blog and never think about it again.  But I need your help.  Spike needs your help.   My husband is the military hero, not Spike.  But Spike is the hero to my son.  You can help make a difference.  That's all for now, have a blessed Monday night. 



Just another Manic Monday Morning!

What a long long night last night was! It seemed like morning would never get here.  While yesterday reconfirmed that spike's eye was in deed not going to get any better, I'm still holding out hope for these pills I ordered last week that should arrive today.  I say should, because so far nothing has worked out as I have needed it too.  So I say should loosely! I remind you that I in no way think giving Spike these vitamin supplements will cure his glaucoma.  But as someone who is immersed into the field of nutrition, I can say without doubt that vitamins and minerals even for our pets plays such a big role in their health and wellness, just as it does for us.  That even the most well laid out dog nutrition plan sometimes lacks essential vitamins and minerals, and that leaves them missing out on some of the important elements that paves the road for diseases and illnesses to happen.  So, hopefully my order comes today and all will be well in this world until Friday when we see the eye specialist again. Spike is doing better today than yesterday, I suppose this rollercoaster is how its going to be until something else somewhere changes, my mission is to get him comfy and pain free, and I'll do what I have to in order to make that happen.  That's all for now I suppose, I'm at a stall trying to figure out what to say or do to get people to donating again.  It's just stopped and we have four days until we get a written confirmation of how much the different surgery options will cost us.  See how today plays out, that's me over and out! :)