Hey Smuvey
Glad to see you
Since I'm the West coast night owl, I guess I'll start. It's been an interesting year, one that DD#3 would like a do-over for. So far for her: new year resolution - don't die; January -appendicitis that required 2 hospitals because the first one didn't want to remove it due to a mild connective tissue disorder, which second one told us was a non issue, time spent from first ER visit to surgery...4 days; February - seizures due to high stress; March - nasty influenza a, the one that a lot of people were getting; April - insulin issues, possibly insulin resistance; May - currently waiting for test results to see if heading toward diabetes type 1 or type 2, and since the month isn't over, who knows what else.
We found out in February that Gurtrude was laying internally and had egg yolk peritonitis. After having a large amount of fluid removed, giving her antibiotics and hand feeding, we got past the acute part of it all. She is still on antibiotics, but is eating well and waiting for DD#4 to earn enough money to have her spayed. Until then she gets monthly birth control shots, the exact same stuff they give women every 3 months. She's not had the issue with the peritonitis since being on the antibiotics constantly, and hasn't been doing any laying since the birth control, since her abdomen is still nice and soft. We found out about the internal laying because she was very bloated, lethargic and not eating.
Sometime in the next year we're going to be getting DD#3 another dog to help her. Her current service dog is small and can't do everything, so she's getting a larger dog to take care of mobility assistance. We are planning to pay for the dog this summer if we like what we see at the breeder, and that will give us first pick female for a litter next spring or summer. It is a breed we are familiar with, and we are very aware of the amount of effort we need to put in to make sure that she is successful at her job. She will be very well socialized with people and animals, moreso than most dogs, because she is an LGD breed. She'll be Anatolian Shepherd with a little Great Pyrenees mixed in, which is why I want to get first pick for female. In amongst everything else, we need to remodel half of the garage for DD#3 to have a space of her own and I need to get back in to college so I can get my RN degree and get back to having an income (medical assisting wasn't enough of a challenge, so I'm finally doing what I should have done almost 30 years ago). So here goes working on career attempt #3. Fortunately, I don't look anywhere near pushing 50.
Ok, I'm done....NEXT
