A NO-GO for Molly

After 3 1/2 months and three heartworm tests....Molly will not have to have the hw treatment!!! Her test last month came back with a faint positive and today's test was an even more faint positive....almost a negative. So our vet has recommended not doing the treatment. Saying that she may not even have any female worms in her system (oddly the female worms are the only ones detected by the hw test) and what is there are likely killing off. She'll be tested as her regular yearly test next May and hopefully we'll get the same results then as now. Been a crazy summer dealing with Molly drama. So glad it's turning out this way. Even though the preventitive company agreed to pay for her treatment.....still very glad she doesn't have to go through with it!

Blast from the past. Christmas picture of Molly and I several years ago.....pre-Izy. :-)



Post on Izy soon! ;-)

Already August

So just realized I didn't get a post in for July. Oops...but just a day late.

Isaac and I continue to stay busy. Not sure what all we've been up to....but nonetheless...seems like we're always busy. And we are both ready (as i'm sure everyone else is too) for cooler weather!!!

In just a few weeks...i will officially have a preschooler! Hard to believe for sure and even harder to believe that means kindergarten is a year away. Not looking forward to that day at all.

Jana and I took Katelyn and Isaac to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Conway earlier this summer. This was the first musical we saw on Broadway almost 20 years ago. We love it and is special just because of that. It was a really nice production of it....just really good! The kids enjoyed it too. I was so glad. Isaac has in fact become a bit obsessed with it. (the music from it imparticular) Hmmm...like mother like son. :-) That's the cd playing in our car and has been since we saw it. He'll tell me to sing #6 when we're no where near the car/cd. I'm like...help me....which one is that. I think he has the numbers down. And we also have the movie so we've watched it a few times since the show too. Of course not as good....but still pretty good. And he'll talk about the numbers during it too. Right after the show...the actor who played Joseph walked over to where we were standing and spoke to us....and especially Isaac...asking him if he was on front row that he had seen him watching. Isaac was thrilled! He even mentioned it out of the blue the other day...that Joseph had spoken to him. And then got the sweetest little grin on his face. Of course that night....he was a little confused and was calling Joseph, Jesus. But now he definitely has it straight. A little bit of deja vu as that fateful night in NYC...after the show I spoke to that Joseph. We have no pictures or proof....just the memory of it. And i didn't get a pic of this Joseph with Isaac either. :-( But such a wonderful feeling...to get to share this special musical that i love with my son. So so happy he loves it too. And that at least for now....he likes musicals like his mommy!

Isaac and I are both excited for our much needed getaway/trip to the beach this week!

Molly is still hanging in there. Since i last posted she had another surgery to remove two more lumps...but neither of them were cancerous. Thank goodness! One was a hybrid cyst. And the other was something more or less caused from the first surgery. She is still wearing an Elizabethian collar because she keeps messing with her leg wound from last surgery. She looks pitiful. :-) I had decided to hold off on starting her treatment until September..when hopefully won't be as hot. She had to go in for another heartworm test last week required by the manufacturer...found out they were going to pay for part of the treatment!!!!! answered prayer! But then her test came back as a faint positive. that is...barely positive. so now...we are back in waiting mode. She will get tested again in a month and then if it is faint again (it was a different vet at the clinic that gave the first one and they did not note if it was faint or not...so can't base it on that) it may be that she won't do treatment at all. The vet feels like that could mean she just has a very few in her system. And with her showing no symptons....and being on preventitive.....they can't reproduce so would be just waiting for those to die. But if it's fully positive....then probably will go ahead and get treatment. Even though she likely doesn't have very many...the treatment is still the same unfortunately. But at least for me anyway...a bit less of a worry/stress during it...not as many to get rid of...not as many to potentially cause a clot, etc... What a crazy rollercoaster ride I've been on the past two months with Molly.


Here's a recent picture of my silly boy. (yes...he is getting big)


And a picture of Molly with her collar on.

Barely even summer yet

I heard on a commercial last week that it was the last full week of Spring. I guess since it has been so hot....I had forgotten it wasn't even summer yet. For that reason only I must admit i'm glad baseball season is over. It was SO much fun watching Isaac and cheering for him and his teammates. Really a lot of fun! Looking forward to next year already. I think we are going to try soccer in the fall. We'll see how that goes.

I know plenty of things happen for a reason. And even though i can see that plainly.....doesn't mean i always have to really like it. :-). I think i posted earlier about how excited I was to jog a 5k in Tulsa in July. It's a Dillon (adoption agency) 5K. My dad and i were to do it together. Well......did i mention July? Even though it wasn't even summer yet....I've already gotten too hot. Of all places at work...at an outdoor event. Granted it was very very hot. But good grief....so embarrassing! My doctor has SUGGESTED that i not do the 5K in July. I know it's probably the right thing....to skip it. But sure makes me sad. That race was/is special just because of what it represents. This was going to be THE race i did before turning 40. But i guess it wasn't meant to be. Officially i have jogged a complete 5K before hitting 40 and that was in May at the Woman Can Run 5K. So fast forward to June and now i know why i was able to jog that whole thing. Even though......still wishing i could do the Dillon one......i am still happy and blessed that i could at least do the one in May. So regardless...goal was met i guess. And now just to keep finding the time to keep jogging. Trying to figure out if we can do the St. Jude race in December, but not sure if it's going to work out or not.

This is the the first year I can mow with Izy at home. He entertains himself outside close by when i am mowing. Sounds silly probably...but is not....is actually a very huge thing. No more having to take off early to mow, schedule mowing for weekends when Izy would be at my parents. It's really hard to 'schedule' mowing.

We are set to see Cars 2 this Friday night! We've been looking forward to it for months well and especially since we started seeing it advertise. Izy knows right down to what kind of drink he wants. :-) I guess it will be a Mommy & Izy date night. Will be fun! Is so much fun doing things with my little Izy bug!

Been an interesting last several weeks to say the least. From some of the drama mentioned above to Molly.....my 7 1/2 year old beagle-bassett dog....who before Isaac came along.....was for all accounts my baby. :-) I hesitate posting this....but I guess I will. Molly went in for her routine yearly checkup and shots and in a matter of minutes i found out she had a tumor likely cancerous and also that she was heartworm positive. (even though she was on preventive meds). Needless to say....i was very distraught. Surgery and biopsy were scheduled the following week. And then another week+ passed before i got the results. Seemed like forever....i know i read online every chance i got about cancers in dogs and heartworms and treatments for both. Sounds strange maybe since i am talking about my dog...but the unknown was scary and the reading really just made it worse probably because i still didn't know anything. AFter what seemed like forever i got the biopsy results back and found out it was a mast cell tumor stage 1 which was the best news as far as it being cancerous i could have gotten. The vet thinks he got it all and now just have to monitor her more closely for any lumps, etc... So then we could finally discuss treatment for heartworms...which up until then.....that wasn't even being discussed until we knew what were facing with the cancer. She was supposed to start treatment last week for heartworms...but Molly is really allergy-prone and in the summer itches really bad and has to have steroid shots periodically to help with it and she was just miserable...because she didn't get to get one when she had her rabies shots, etc....and then if starting the hw treatment she wouldn't have gotten to get one then either...so i opted to postpone the start of the treatment (had to be 2 weeks) so she could get some relief and get a shot and feel better. Now she's been taking benadryl 3 times a day...so is fairly relaxed and not itching too bad. Now treatment will start next week. I am so nervous about it. It's really a scary/bad deal. Not to go into all the details (as i already pretty much have on everything else)...but she will get injections and then have to stay confined and not get excited or exercise or anything like that for 2 months. Molly's not as excitable as she used to be...but for those of you who know her...know she has her tail-spinning thing. So a little worried about that. She'll have to only go outside on the leash. Yes...that means even at her (during the night) times....ugh. Anyway....don't want to wish the summer away...but am wishing this goes by faster than i think it's going to and is not too painful or stressful on Molly (or me) and we get through it and Molly is all well!! My dad has sorta volunteered to help with Molly-detail....keeping her some too so i don't have to work from home every day. I would appreciate any prayers or good thoughts on this ordeal we'll be starting next week. :-)

Little Slugger

So couldn't help sharing this video from a few games ago. So proud of our Mets boys. They are playing well and I believe having fun. Tonight we won. Isaac and I talked about the game afterwards and agreed that if both teams tried hard/played well and had fun....then really no one loss. And he said Mommy....I have an idea (which is his standard).......we can win this time and the Cubs can win next time. I thought that was pretty good. I told Isaac he needed to pay attention during the game or i was afraid he was going to get hit by a ball......at one point i looked out in the field and he was facing the fence squatted down on his hands with his rear-end up in the air. he's done many things out there from sitting down to laying down to playing in grass/dirt to wanting Coach Brian (his outfield Buddy) to sing Wheels on the Bus with him (yes...true story).....but this was the first time for this stance. :-)



He was safe.....just hit in the 5th run so inning was over. :-)

Basketball

Isaac had his Shine Time TOT basketball season-ending performance over the weekend. Here are a few pictures.

Not participating.....a LITTLE nervous and not quite sure about being in front of the large crowd.


Here we go.....a little dribbling action.


All smiles afterwards with his trophy!

Picture of Isaac and me after the race. I'm wearing the visor Izy made and gave me after race.

555555555KKKKKKKKK

On one of my first posts on this blog first part of the year I mentioned some things I was hoping to accomplish this year. One of them was jogging in a 5K before i turn 40 later this year. I did it!!!! Last weekend was the Woman Can Run 5K in Conway. I had been going to the clinic this spring when i could...but even when due to scheduling conflicts i couldn't go...i kept up with the training schedule. I wasn't worried about time. And it's a good thing......as i really jog super-slow. :-) As it was even a few minutes slower than i was hoping for. Oh well.....i jogged the whole thing. And maybe next time i can cut a minute or so off. We'll see. Really great feeling of accomplishment since the last time I did the clinic was 5 years ago and at the end i wasn't ready to jog a whole 5K. But that summer kept 'training' and was ready definitely in October for the Race for the Cure. But oh my gosh....why didn't i realize that unless you are really a serious runner there is really no way you can 'jog' in the pack of 50,000. I was very very disappointed....can't even put into words. And was upset with myself for being disappointed too since i knew that's not what the race was all about. Then came 2007 and ISAAC! And now fast-forward to 2011 and knew if i was going to do it....had to be this year. My parents and Izy were all there at the finish line.....which was really nice! Even though i could barely breathe......i grabbed onto Izy and held my sweet bug! That was how I envisioned it! Bless his heart he knew mommy was jogging and he had been a part of the clinics and prep work....having to let someone else watch him at times so i could do it. And when i'd come to pick him up at school and be sweaty or in my 'other' clothes...he'd say...mommy did you jog? :-) Love that boy!

Up next is a 5K that i wanted to do the minute I first heard of it back in 2007. The Dillon 5K race in Tulsa for the children. Very excited to be a part of that! And my dad is planning to do it with me. He will walk and he walks faster than i jog. I know....sad but true. Hopefully we can meet halfway in the middle. :-)

I have a picture of Isaac and me after the race that i can hopefully post later.