Taking a Break....

This is not a post I have ever wanted to make, but unfortunately, I am making it. I will be absent from the photo challenges, and my blog for awhile. My beloved Maddux has taken a turn for the worse, His kidneys are completely shutting down. For those of you that have been following me for some time, you know the struggles we have had with this beautiful boy. He is 7 years old and has suffered with FSF/SHS since he was 10 months old. This is a breed specific illness and in a nutshell it involves extremely high fevers (his have gone as high as 107) and an inflammatory process. It has taken a toll on his kidneys and in the last week or so he has crashed and stopped eating and drinking. I am giving him IV fluids at home and syringing baby food into him in the hopes that he will rally. Sometimes they do. I am going to spend as much time with him as I can for as long as he has left. I am sorry for the depressing tone of this post, but I wanted everyone to know. Please say a prayer for him, and for me. I pray that I will know when the time comes to let him go. Its not going to be easy.

I Heart Macro 7-31-11

Wow! Almost the 1st of August already, where has the month gone? I was able to get out and about a little this past week. My Hubby and I went for a long walk down by the Rock River near home. There was lots to see, we had some fun even though the temperatures were in the upper 90's. Most of the pictures I am posting were from that walk. To view the other entries, click on the "I Heart Macro" button on the sidebar of my blog.
On a personal note: This past week has been a very hard one for me. I learned my beloved Maddux is in Renal Failure and was given between 3-6 months to live. I am going to keep him here with me as long as I can, until his quality of life is not what it should be. Many of you know the struggles he has had with Shar Pei Fever Syndrome, which has led to this point. He will be 7 August 11th. To say my heart is broken is an understatement. He is absolutely my best friend.

Nothing....

Nothing bead-wise to post about! Ive been too busy caring for a sick dog. Maddux has started fevering again, poor sweet boy! Its been a rough time with losing my Mom, Maddux being sick, and my camera getting broken! I have been working on my BJP pieces, slowly but surely. Hopefully I will be posting the finished piece this week sometime. The crochet bug has bitten me and I have been making the cutest mug cozies! They take about an hour each and are so darn cute. I think they would make nice Christmas gifts, just add a couple mugs and some coffee or tea and put them in a basket! The color combos are endless, you can customize them to your color scheme in your kitchen. I am a very beginner crocheter (is that even a word)? but I found the pattern easy to do. If you want to check it out, the pattern is free HERE. I leave you with a picture of one of my mug cozies, and my most handsome Maddux!

Many Updates!

Hi! Thanks for checking in with me. Once again on the prompting from my daughter Jess, I am updating my blog. Still no progress with my Bead Journals, seems bead work is just too frustrating to try to do with a little one around. Shes just too into whatever grandma is doing to resist "helping" me with everything I do! Don't get me wrong, I love all the attention, but it does get in the way of creativity!

I am so happy and surprised to tell you that Baby Bun has yet to make his appearance into the world. Jessica's Dr said hes just plain too cozy in there to come out, looks like hes gonna stay put for awhile yet. That's such great news since things were so scary in the beginning. Lets hope hes here by Thanksgiving. I think Jess is hoping so!

Here is a picture of Kileigh along with her beautiful mommy Courtney on Halloween this year. She was such a cute little ladybug. She had a blast trick-or-treating. She said her own version of trick-or-treat, said thank you and even blew kisses to some of the people handing out candy! I think she melted a few hearts because she got as many as 4 treats at many of the houses she went too! Such a little sweetheart!

Maddux is continuing to do remarkably well. he is now 10 months fever free! Yippee!

I am still wondering what shape and size piece I want to do for next years BJP. I just cant seem to come up with just the right idea yet. Stay tuned.....

Late Merry Christmas!!

Sometimes things just plain dont work out as planned! We had a wonderful time at my daughter Jessica's house on Christmas Eve. She really went all out, trying to make it memorable for everyone, and she succeeded. Great food, beautiful house and good company. It doesn't get any better than that! We then went to a candlelit church service as we do every year. I got completely spoiled by Jess and her husband. They gave me several lovely gifts, the most amazing thing was the 2008 annual Swarovski Crystal Snowflake! It is breath-taking. I was shocked. I don't know if I have told this before, but the only ornaments I have on my tree are snowflakes. I have white lights and snowflakes on the whole tree! Its really pretty.
Anyway, we went to my step moms house on Christmas day and had another wonderful time with her. It was hard being the first Christmas without my Dad, but we all spent some nice quality time with each other. Then, the part that didn't go as planned. We got home to find Maddux on the couch in the midst of another fever. He went up to 105.3 but with wet towels, rimadyl, aspirin and much babying by mama, he went down to 101 in about 3 hours. Hes still running a low-grade temp today. The normal time span for these fevers is 36-48 hours. I am hoping that since it went only to 105, maybe he will be spared the strep and staph infection this time! Wish us luck! Late Happy Holidays!

Maddux the 10th reindeer!

Isnt this just the most adorable puppy picture you have ever seen? This is Maddux at 4 months of age! He was such an adorable puppy. He grew into a beautiful big boy. We had a blast putting these reindeer ears on him and the look on his face is precious! He looks bored out of his mind. I had to laugh when my Mother in Law sent this to me today. She was kind enough to make it into a stat for me! I know its not bead related, but I had to share!

Tracey where have you been?

RIGHT HERE! I did not disappear. I did not drop off the face of the earth either. I have been hit hard with special orders for Christmas this year. Its a good thing money wise, but not so good time wise. Here is what I have been working on. Add another 15 pins and 6 ornaments to this picture and you will have what I have done so far! I guess my specialty so to speak is dog pins. Most of the patterns are my own, some are not. I have several others I make. All stitched in peyote stitch which is very time consuming. I once did an order of 50 Chow Chow pins for a dog show! I have also done 75 Shar Pei pins at one point! The hard part is making a pattern in the little over an inch wide space that actually LOOKS like the breed its supposed to look like! Not an easy feat for sure.

I am so disappointed in myself that I haven't finished my November project. Mr Buck sits looking forlorn at me while I work on pins! I have 3 more Yorkshire terrier pins and 6 ornaments and then I am all caught up and can finish him. Wish me luck! I have to say I am missing the relaxation of doing embroidery. Its a bit less relaxing working from a word chart or a pattern.

Maddux continues to get better everyday. His spirits are high, he is spunky, happy and eating and drinking well. He is chewing on a pig ear right now, having a blast!

Maddux

Just a quick update on Maddux. We got his culture results back today (finally) and he has 2 serious infections. He has Strep B which is a nasty infection that can cause Toxic Shock Syndrome, Sepsis (blood poisoning) and the Flesh Eating Virus. He also has Staph infection. We have him on Ciprofloxin now 1000mg twice a day. We still don't have the sensitivity results back from the culture so we don't know if this is the correct antibiotic or not yet. I should hear either Sunday or Monday. The cipro seems to be holding the infections where they are, so that's good news I guess. Still no appetite to speak of, but Bubba is drinking well, so that's something! He is hanging in there for me. Poor baby! He tolerates the daily scrub-down of the sores he has which has got to be extremely painful for him. We have to leave the antibacterial shampoo on his skin for 15 minutes which seems like an eternity. I just talk to him and rub his cute little face and he listens to every word I say. Such an angel! I wish you could all know him, he is so special. He makes even people that don't like dogs fall in love with him. If you are a dog lover, you would adore him. I will update Mr Buck later today! Hes coming along, winding down! YAY!

Quick update

I just wanted to fill in those of you who are following Maddux's story. Had another trip to the Vet this afternoon after finding several huge blisters on his tummy and flanks. He has Toxic Shock Syndrome! It was brought on by his extremely high fever Saturday night. This poor baby doesn't get a break. We had it cultured to be sure he is on the correct antibiotic for this virus. We will get preliminaries tomorrow hopefully. Throughout all of this, his little tail still wags for his mama. I stopped at McDonald's on the way home and got him a double cheeseburger. He ate the whole darn thing! His temperature is down to 101.5 which is great. Now we have to get him to get feeling better. I am doing lots of research and contacted a Vet in NY who specializes in Shar Pei Fever Syndrome. She is calling me tomorrow. I hope she can help us. If she cant, no one can! Maddux says thank you to everyone for all their prayers. He sends out big slobbery kisses to you all!
Tomorrow I will post something I got in the mail on Monday. Be prepared to have your socks blown off! I know mine were. Boy, that didnt just date me did it??
HINT: its from Lynn of beading heart art if you haven't already, you have GOT to look at her blog. This is one talented, sweet lady. Hugs to everyone!!

No Update on Mr Buck

I just plain havent had time to work on him. Once again, I have a sick dog. Saturday night after Mike and Jess left, I noticed Maddux was walking stiff legged again. That is not a good sign. Took his temperature and it was 104.1. Not horrible, but not normal either. So I pulled out the new wonder drug I got from the vet and gave him a double dose of it as I was instructed. Waited 45 min, took the temp again 105.6. It should not have risen after a double dose of the new med. SO, off we go to bed, out come the cold wet towels, 1 for him to lay on, 2 rolled up to put in his groin area, 1 rolled up to put in his arm pit area, 2 over his entire body. I also turned the fan on him. When Maddux is sick he wants to practically lay on top of me, so I am soaking wet with a fan on me too freezing my butt off! Anyway, we lay like that for another 45 min, take his temp 106.8. Now i am freaking out. this is the danger zone. I start to cry, like thats going to do any good. I am rotating the towels and re-wetting them every 15 minutes. By this time is 2am and I cant get the darn fever to break. SO, I call my poor vet at home. He tells me to give him 100 mg of rimadyl. I do and retake his temp 1/2 hour later. 105.6. Better. We continue to do the wet towels for another hour. Finally at 4am he is 104.9 and sleeping. I am not sleeping. In fact, I didnt sleep all night. I was watching him, crying and worried beyond belief. Yesterday he was ok. Ran a fever all day but nothing above 104.5. During the night last night, I was petting him and checking his belly to see if he was burning up and felt something weird. Turned on the light grabbed my flashlight and looked at him. To make a long story short, he has about 20 blisters full of infection, its that darn strep infection again (the same one that causes flesh eating virus) another middle of the night call to the vet, wake hubby up to go to Walgreens (thank god for them being open 24 hours) and Maddux is now on 1000mg of Cephalexin 2 times a day for 2 weeks. I feel so bad for him and am so worried about him and how many times his poor body can go through this. I am just hoping he can remain strong and get through this again. Wish us luck!

Mr Buck and Mr Maddux!

Well lucky you! A double update. Maddux seems to have turned the corner so to speak. He drank on his own for the second time in 6 days. I know that doesn't sound like much, but to me it is! He has a little spunk in his step today. Even begged a little for some people food! I pray this is a good sign, I think it is! Lets hope he continues to improve and gets back to the little man I love. Thank you everyone for your prayers and well wishes. Its nice to know so many people care. You don't think he is a wee bit spoiled looking at this picture do you? NAH!

Mr Buck got a little work done to him last night. His surroundings are filling in a little more now. I don't know why, but I am putting off finishing off his ears and antlers. I am not quite sure on the colors for his antlers, so maybe that is why I am putting it off. Who knows! I feel like some weight has been lifted off my shoulders too, so maybe my creative side will kick back in instead of my nurturing side. I nice balance of both would be good.

A couple people have asked me how I picked Maddux for my precious dogs name so here is how the story goes. I am a big baseball fan. I started off being a cubs fan back in the 80s. They had a rookie pitcher named Greg Maddux. I was never one to watch soap operas so when I started seeing lots of Cubs day games, I became addicted to baseball, Greg Maddux in particular. he still pitches today, although I dont get to see him much on his new team. When i got my boy, I knew I wanted to give him a sports related name so his AKC registered name became LuckyWun Cooperstown Bound (Cooperstown is the baseball hall of fame where I am confident Greg Maddux will be someday) and of course, his call name is Maddux! That's it in a nutshell. Nothing exciting, but maybe interesting for some? Have a wonderful day and lets hope my boy gets stronger everyday. Thanks again (especially Lynn and Carol) HUGS!

Update on Maddux

The test results are back and its not the best of news. His kidneys and liver are working fine as of now, but the tests showed he is in the very early stage of kidney failure. This is not at all what I was hoping for. We now have him on several medications to help keep amyloid plaque from building up in his liver and kidneys. Sometimes the medication can keep this disease from becoming full blown amyloidosis, sometimes it does not. The prognosis is guarded at this time. He did take a drink of water for the first time in 5 days last night. I am forcing Popsicles, broth, pedialyte and anything else I can think of down him. He is at least well hydrated at this time. He is still lethargic today, after a brief burst of energy last night. Thank you everyone for your support during this rough time. We are praying we will have much more time with Maddux, but being realistic that we may not. It is heartbreaking. I will continue to post new information as I get it. I will also post a beady update tomorrow. I haven't had much time for beads lately and my mind has not been able to concentrate on anything but my Maddy. I think it would be therapeutic for me to try to do a little work on my page tonight. Blessing to you all!

Maddux

Gosh there are so many nice people out there in the bead world! I want to say a personal thank you for all the well wishes for Maddux. I wish I had good news to report, but so far I dont. We are heading out to the vet again today at 3:30 my time. He has developed a cough now and is walking stiff legged. I dont know what this means. The 1000mg of antibiotics seems to be holding the strep virus at the same level it was on Sunday. That is good news. We are just praying he is not in kidney or heart failure. He is only 4. He is just the sweetest dog in the world. He cant be this sick. I thought he would be getting better by now. Lets hope the Vet gives me some good news today. Cross your fingers!