My Crazy Dog

My dog has recently started hanging out in the bathtub while I am gone. It has only been since I got back from vacation back in July. I'm not sure why - the bathtub? She doesn't like taking baths, so why would she lay in the bathtub while I'm gone?
I realized that's where she was one day when I came home and I heard all this scrambling and banging. She was having trouble getting out...
Maybe it's a cool place to lay, or maybe she's hiding and feels safe there...who knows.
I wish I had a picture of it, but I haven't been able to catch her yet - but I always hear her jumping out when I walk in the door.
That's my crazy dog...

Tragedy and Fear

Last Monday, the police found my uncle dead in his house. He and my aunt were separated, so he was living alone. Nobody had heard from him in several days: he wasn't answering his phone and he didn't answer the door hwen the neighbors when to check on him for my aunt.
We later found out that he had had a seizure and his his head and had been dead between 3 and 5 days when he was finally found.
It has always been one of my biggest fears that something would happen to me and nobody would notice for a few days and then it would be too late. There are days when the only people I talk to are the people at work, but would they call and check on me if I didn't show up one day - I don't know...I know its a little morbid, but its one of the fearful hazards of being single and living alone.
I wasn't close to my uncle, but it makes me sad to think of the way he died. If you think about it, say a prayer for my aunt and 2 cousins as they cope with his death.

Sinus Surgery

Last Thursday I had sinus surgery, a turbinectomy and a septoplasty. For at least the last 6 months, I have suffered from chronic sinus infections and in January I had a CT scan that showed inflamed tissues (turbinates) blocking my nasal passages as well as a deviated septum (the cartilage part of my nose was S-shaped) which make it difficult to breathe. Since no antibiotic would help the sinus infections, my Dr. determined surgery was my best option for relief.

When they were bringing me out of surgery and into recovery, and as I was coming out of anesthesia, they had to hold me down because I tried to sit up, take off the blood pressure cuff and take off the gauze they had put over my nose. As I regained consciousness, the nurse asked where I hurt and at that time, my throat was raw from being intubated - they gave me pain medicine and told me to suck on cough drops or life savers when I got home.

Once the numbness wore off from surgery, the pain was incredible! I've never experienced such pain, except when I had kidney stones...when the sheet touched the tip of my nose, it sent shooting pain in all directions through my head and all I could do was cry. I had plastic splints in each nostril holding my nose straight and stitches holding the splints in place. This surgery is NOT worth the pain unless it is an absolute health necessity!

For me, it ended up being a health necessity. After the surgery, they sent samples from my sinuses to a lab for cultures to grow and test. What they found was the infection MRSA (Mersa) - methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus which is a type of bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics. I found out that's what I had Tuesday at 2:30 when the Dr. removed the stitches and splints from my nose. He told me I will have to tell every doctor for the rest of my life that I have/had MRSA because it will affect the types of medicines they can give me. Then at 4, I was watching Oprah and she had a story on it - it can be fatal - very scary stuff. For more information, http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/understanding-mrsa-methicillin-resistant-staphylococcus-aureus.

I have to say I'm glad I had the surgery and I'm lucky they found out what the infection was and can treat it.

Another -0- Year

I turned 30 today. No big deal really. My Monday wasn't any different than most other Monday's except that I got more phone calls, text messages and emails; my teaching team brought me lunch; and Emily took me to dinner and brought me a present. I don't feel any older and I don't look any older than I did yesterday...30 is just another number.
I did want to do something special to celebrate this year so Emily and I went to Humble for the weekend and went with my mom to a tea room in Highlands, TX called the Teapot Depot and then we got pedicures and my stepdad joined us for dinner. It was a fairly relaxing weekend, which is just what I was looking for.
On the 4 hour drive back home, partly in attempt to stay awake and partly reminiscing, I started thinking about other birthdays I've had and how I celebrated them. There are a few that really stand out and others I don't remember at all:
10 - I got my ears pierced and had a slumber party
16 - I had a surprise party
20 - I sat in the emergency room and watched footage of the Columbine High School shooting while waiting to get my ankle looked at - it was fractured
21 -A group of friends took me to Medieval Times in San Antonio and Robin was my waiter (tights and all)
24 - A group of friends took me to the Omni Theater in Ft. Worth
29 - Emily and I went to Sam Moon and went purse shopping, had lunch at Red, Hot and Blue and then drove around Irving taking pictures to spell out "Melanie is 29"
Back when I was turning 10, 30 seemed a long way away. It didn't take as long to get here as I imagined.
I look forward to the coming year and all that the Lord has in store for me.
Lord, let my 30th year be my best year yet!

Maybe next year...

Well, I made the most of a day that I have never once had anyone to celebrate with...the day every single person dreads...Valentine's day. I went and worked out which is an every Saturday morning activity. In the early afternoon, I went to see "He's Just Not That Into You" by myself. It wasn't a great movie, but the premise rings true - at least in my life. I've been the girl to cling to any little hope that a guy might like me; to sit by the phone praying that he'd call - and checking to make sure that the phone did work so that I wouldn't miss the call. Pathetic, yes. But I just wanted someone to like me back so badly.
This evening, a good size group of singles from my church met at Freddy's Custard for dinner and then went rock climbing at Summit Gym. I didn't actually climb but it looked like a lot of fun. I need to practice with just a couple people before I risk embarrassing myself in front of half the singles group!
Overall, I would say it was a pretty good Valentine's Day. I still long for a fairy tale, but what single girl doesn't. Maybe next year...

Bella & Me

I just doesn't have the same ring to it...I went to see the movie Marley & Me yesterday. I thought it was a really good movie, even though I spent the last 20 minutes crying uncontrollably. For those of you that haven't seen the movie and don't want it spoiled, STOP READING HERE...
Foolishly, I forgot my Kleenex, even though I cried uncontrollably during the latter part of the book when I read it 3 years ago just after having to put my dog Ember down - reading about them putting Marley down was like reliving putting my own dog down.
Ember was a 12 year old pure breed Dalmatian with more spots that I've ever seen on a Dal. I had gotten her just before my 15th birthday when she had just been weaned. I was away from her the years I was in college, but as soon as I could find a place that would allow big dogs, I brought her up here with me. At 12, she had become arthritic and cranky. One day she got in a fight with Paisley, my friend Emily's dog. Needless to say, she didn't win. Based on her age, her changing temperament and her injuries, I decided to put her down. It was like losing one of my best friends. She was a good dog. Ember
However, it wasn't just the end of the movie that I related to. I enjoyed the movie more because I could relate to the destructiveness of Marley as well - though on a much smaller scale. About a month and a half after putting Ember down, I got a new dog. It was just too lonely all by myself. I wanted another Dalmatian so I started looking online and I finally found a Dal mix at the Humane Society of North Texas. She was about 8 weeks old when I brought her home. The shelter said she was 3 months so they could go ahead and spay her but they don't loose their puppy teeth until about 4 - 5 months and she didn't lose her until June. Anyway, I brought her home and called her Bella. She was all white with a few brown speckles and hazel eyes!

Bella on her second day at home.

This cute little puppy turned out to be full of mischief. Thankfully, it was all covered by the pet deposit...here is a list of some of the things she did:
1. She chewed through the supply line of the toilet and flooded 3 apartments.
2. She ate all the windowsills in my apartment, parts of the door frames and baseboards and pulled paint off the doors and walls.

Do you see where the paint is peeled off the door? Doesn't she look proud of herself?

3. She dug a hole in my carpet down to the concrete slab.

The hole was in my guest bedroom - through the carpet, she ate the padding, down to the slab.

4. She dug a hole in the crash pad (a big 7 foot long pillow you could sleep on) and pulled the stuffing out so she could fit inside.

The crash pad used to reside at my grandparents house and we grandkids would fight over who got to sleep on it...nobody sleeps on it anymore.

5. She ate a green pen at Emily's apartment and got it on the couch cover (which Emily later gave to me) and on her paws.

Bella's green thumb.

I think those were the major things. I tried using baby gates to keep her in the part of the house where I wanted her but she quickly learned how to climb one, and when I bought a second she could scale them both. She continued with her destructive tendencies until we moved into a new apartment. She hasn't damaged anything in the year and a half we've been here. So unlike Marley, Bella grew out of her destructiveness.

A dog is one of the family and in that I can certainly identify with the Grogan's. No matter what destructiveness she caused as a puppy or what heartbreak awaits when the time comes to let her go (hopefully many years down the road), Bella adds to my life and I can't imagine my life without her.

At my parents house over the summer wearing the pink bandanna her Granny got her.