Please Think Postive Thoughts! !!!UPDATED 5/14/09!!!

*****Update 5/14/09: Shyner dog had a visit to the vet on the 12th (and got a bit spoiled with a picnic in the park with mom and dad!) and was given a clean bill of health- well as clean as our ol' little stinky pooch can get! She will remain on heart medicine for the rest of her little life (and of course it is an animal formulary, not human so we can't get it at WallyWorld!) so that her big heart doesn't have to work so hard. We are fortunate that a completely different illness prompted us to get her to the vet with the coughing and wheezing as the medicine will help her to stay healthy and comfy for whatever time she decides to honor us with her presence! Your positive thoughts worked! ( :





****** Update 5/06/09: Shyner is a priceless dog. Literally. Between two ear surgeries, a few emergency visits, etc., we are VIP's at the vetrinarian's office! Her ultrasound determined that she had an enlarged heart (we always knew she had a big heart!) that was most likely caused by the heart murmur that she has had for years and years. She also had a touch of pnemonia. She is now on three different medicines- an antibiotic, a diuretic and heart medicine and seems to be fine. We were able to get human-equivalents of most of the meds so we could fill them at Wal-Mart (!) and we shopped online to find the other for about $30 less than at the vet's office. She isn't coughing anymore, and seems to be pretty much her old self. So, with a littl luck, a whole lotta love and some divine intervention, hopefully she'll be around to welcome her little sister into the world and watch her grow a few years.





****** Update 4/28/09: Shyner has another 'doctors appointment' tomorrow morning to have an ultrasound done on her heart. At this point she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. The medicine that they administered to her yesterday definately helped her breathing improve and she is no longer wheezing & coughing. She actually is acting like her old self, just a bit slower- and still the gas-makin' machine as she was before (we don't call her Stinky for nothin'!). The vet said that if heart medicine is a possibility, she would be with us for awhile still. As long as she isn't in any pain and her quality of life is still good, we're going to keep pulling for her. (Thank goodness for a good tax return!)


I've been absent from the blog world for awhile- it's been busy around our house. Mom is visiting, work is busy, trying to get organized and such. Things are good- in fact we've had another doctors appointment and an ultrasound on Thursday and it was good- those pictures will be updated soon as well. My hiatus will end shortly I promise, but in the meantime, I have a little request.

Please keep our little Shyner in your thoughts- she is very, very sick right now and she could either improve or not. What started out as coughing has progressed to a very sick puppy. The vet has released her into the care of Gramma H so that she can try to get better at home. Although Shyner has lived a nice long and spoiled life, I'm not quite ready to deal with the loss of yet another beloved part of the family. We appreciate it and I'll update you on Shynie and BabyW soon.