Never mind catching up with December....

More like catching up with life!

This past week has been... crazy. Earlier in the week I had lip balm orders to get filled, and we ended up making a surprise trip to the Vet with Douglas. He has been favoring his left rear leg. We thought it might be his knee but when the Vet examined him he had no pain and no problems. It's hard to tell because he's still running around but for sure favoring the leg and cannot/will not jump on anything. We were getting ready to leave and start a week of metacam when we decided to test him for lyme disease. He came back with a strong positive (which could still be false, it's very common.) But we decided to go ahead and put him on antibiotics anyway. All our dogs are on Advantix for ticks since they are such a massive problem in this area, but it doesn't guarantee protection. Also he could have had lyme for a long time, a lot of dogs never show any symptoms of it like a lot of people. We figured if his leg improved there would be a good chance it was from that, if not, it's mostly like a sprain from what we could tell. 

Then Wed morning morning bright and early we drove to Syracuse NY which is a several hour drive from us. We ran errands there but had to quit fairly early because of my pain level, so we spent the night and finished errands Thursday. Then we drove home. We spent 1/2 hour at home unloading the truck, picked up Douglas, and drove several more hours to Barrie, where my girlfriend lives. We got there at 11 PM. Then Friday morning we got up at 8 AM and drove several more hours to an Amish community. 

In January when we traveled to Toronto to see an endometriosis specialist, we met this family there who's daughter also sufferers from the same disease. The father was a sleigh maker and through letters Kevin arranged to have a sleigh made that we could use for logging. They have been in touch all spring/summer and a few weeks ago we got a letter that the sleigh was done and ready to pick up. 

We spent several hours there loading the sleigh and also visiting. They paid out of pocked for their daughter and themselves to travel to California in April to see an endo excision specialist (like my Doctor in Atlanta) and have surgery. She had a similar surgery to mine but less work (no organs removed thankfully) but she is still very weak. She is in a wheel chair because of a problem with her foot but also the fact her body remains so very weak. She can't weigh more than 90 pounds. It really shocked me. She asked me how it was I had more done than her but yet there I was standing in front of her, about 80% better than her. I had no answer. I've spent so much time not giving myself credit for what my body has been through and being angry at it for not being stronger, more capable, and in that moment I felt a lot of compassion for her, but also for myself. I had not stopped to consider how strong my body is or how hard it is fighting. I don't give it any credit. 

I have great faith she will regain some energy and be able to over come this. She also suffers from a painful bladder condition and her body has been through a lot. Sitting and talking to someone who has been through what you have in a lot of ways is very moving. It's nice to have that level of empathy and understanding. We are both walking a similar path. She was an inspiration to me because she is so strong inside her heart and so hopeful. She says she does not regret her surgery and feels about 40% better. That also surprised me because I would say right now I am at least 65% better than before surgery. Maybe more. She talked about telling other women through letters that if they were going to go to a specialist to choose the one their heart told them too. I found that so interesting because we researched several Doctors and tried at first to go to one closer to us. But Georgia called my name and after what I've been through with my surgeon there, I know I chose well for me. 

We were also quite humbled that they invited us inside their home and shared so much with us. We felt a little bit like Santa must feel, carrying our new sleigh around, anxious to get home to use it!

After our visit we drove back to my girlfriends house and arrived there (because of insane traffic) at 8 PM. She has a new baby and also a Mastiff and Bulldog. Norman and Douglas have met the dogs before but it was a couple of years ago and this time Douglas did not have Norman to protect him so he was pretty intimidated. Samson, the Mastiff is very docile and doesn't pay much attention to little dogs, and the Bulldog Daisy is very dominant and bossy but not aggressive. But Douglas was still pretty freaked out. He's also never seen a baby before, so her house was a bit like a house of horrors to him... the people were miniaturized and the dogs were giants! After a little visiting and some sleep, we got up and drove the several hours home in freezing rain and with lots of traffic. 

We were exhausted. 

Yesterday, the guys put the tree up. I managed to get my favorite decorations up, and they did the rest. With how bad I've been feeling I honestly thought we would not have a Christmas tree but Kevin wouldn't let that happen... thankfully :)



It feels a lot more like Christmas now that the tree is up.



and our dog poop ornament is hung...



and we even found an elf wandering around it!

Today Kevin spent 6 hours plowing so we can get out the lane tomorrow. Between the snow and ice we got while we were gone, it was quite a chore. I spent the entire afternoon getting a last minute lip balm order ready so it can be picked up tomorrow. I got a bunch of new flavors made too...



Did I mention we are exhausted?

We did not get as much ice as other areas but it was fairly icy outside and very bright this morning... now that it's frozen enough, the dogs could run around on top of the snow and they sure liked that.



I was trying the other day to get some pictures of the birds but Knik doesn't like to stay too still...



and Banana doesn't even know what being still means. Kobuk is the hardest to photograph, but these two are a close second. Thankfully, Kiwi and Kodiak don't mind photo shoots once and a while.



We've sure had some strange weather with the cold, then the ice....



Then lots of snow....



Which no one minded too much...



and last night, a purple sky! It was so beautiful. It felt like we were really living inside a painting.



But you don't have to worry about Rollie, he's quite happy and relaxed by the fire.

My new medication hasn't help me much yet but so far it hasn't caused me to go blind. It is however starting to cause me to be very sensitive to light and have sore eyes, so I'm off to bed to rest. It has been helping me sleep, so that's a small blessing.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday, and really has time to be with family and friends, and have some good food, and good laughs, share stories... those things make the memories more than presents ever can.

I'm hoping I somehow find the strength to get all I need to do done tomorrow too, and then I hope for a good evening of rest and egg nog!