Lillie wasn't feeling very well on Friday night so Paul and I went out for dinner on our own. We hit up the local Marketplace Grill and ate on the patio. It was a lovely evening and we had a lot of fun! Paul even ran into two of his friends from school....small world. Paul ate pizza and I had sushi.
He decided he wanted dessert and chose to try the creme brule. It was his first time trying this dessert and it was a hit. Who doesn't love the equivalent of pudding with sugar on top?!
You think he gets a little tired of me taking pictures?! HA!
I enjoy spending time with Paul alone - you just never know where the conversation will take you.
We registered Paul for Camp Invention this year and it was a hit! This is a national program that is run in communities around the country through teachers from the local school district. The camp is based on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) curriculum. Needless to say Paul loved it! The kids got to take apart electronics to see how they work, learn about inventors and the inventory hall of fame inductees and create their own inventions. He came home each day with lots of great stories. On Friday they held the Inventor's Showcase and invited parents to come participate. Jason and I both were able to attend and Paul was so proud to have us there. Each kid received a certificate and then go to show off their inventions to their parents.
Paul's invention was a special oxygen mask to help sick people. His marketing plan was to sell it to doctors. I asked him if he would want to market it to someone like me who is responsible for obtaining supplies for hospitals to take care of patients....he said no! Too funny. I like that his invention would help other people - encompasses his caring heart and bright mind all in one.
He said a final goodbye to the camp director named Stephanie. She took a liking to Paul from the very beginning because it turns out she has a sister that was adopted from an Asian country as well. Her sister actually volunteered at the camp too. Small world and great program.
We will definitely look for Paul to participate in this camp again next year!
We had an unusual Father's Day weekend this year because we ended up spending most of it not together. With Maya's discharge from the hospital, we decided it would be best for me to stay home with her while Jason and the kids hung out in the QC. They had a lot of fun with grandparents and then returned home on Sunday afternoon. Jason had requested a meal of grilled burgers and homemade baked fries....and I obliged. We even ate outside which isn't really Jason's favorite but sounded nice to the rest of us. In typical fashion, you can see Lillie's personality shine right through.
Jason's face sort of says it all about how we all feel sometimes about Lillie's volume!
We all enjoyed this fun dessert that I made.....
Last year at this time we were really hoping that Peter would be home to celebrate this year.....but clearly that didn't happen. So now we can just look forward to next year with Peter in the picture.
Last weekend when Jason and the kids got back from the QC, there was a request by Paul to play in the sprinklers in the front yard. Lillie wasn't interested so we cranked them up for him and let him run. He thought it was pretty funny to pretend like the water was him peeing. Hard not to laugh at that.
Paul had to show off his sprinkler jumping skills.
A few weeks ago we had the bright idea to try to sneak a picnic and some fishing in before it got stormy. We have had so much rain this summer that we are trying to be creative to be able to actually do outside activities on the weekends! We packed up our lunch, bought our worms and headed to Big Creek. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot it started raining. Figures. We snagged a close picnic shelter and ate under the cover while it rained. Someone was happy about her carrots and hummus.
Mommy and Paul....
The rain subsided and we headed down to the pier. Little miss hung out and watched from the comfort of her chair.
Someone was pretty happy to be fishing. You can't tell though, right?!
Hey Lillie....ssshhhhhh.....you are scaring the fish away!
The ladies hung out while the boys fished.....briefly.....
.....because then this set of clouds rolled in quickly and we packed our things and started running for the car as the thunder rumbled and the rain pelted us. Good times. You can't say we didn't try to squeeze in some outside fun.
No fish were caught but it isn't surprising since we were only on the pier for about 20 minutes and it was pretty busy down there. Paul is excited to go again soon!
Paul is currently obsessed with American Ninja Warrior and thinks they should have a kids version. He decided he would start training...gotta give him credit for his take charge attitude. A few weeks ago he asked to go to a specific park because he wanted to train on the bars. Too cute. His upper body is getting much stronger - he was able to do even more on the monkey bars tonight when we were at the same park! He was quite proud of his skills.....
Taking a breather after some hard work!
Here is some live action video.....he just cracks me up.
Maybe some day we will see Paul compete on American Ninja Warrior.....or maybe we will just watch him have fun training for it. Either way, I think it is cool.
We are so happy to announce that Maya came home after three weeks in the ISU animal hospital. We met with her lead vet and then learned all of her therapy routines from her rehab resident Esther. There was LOT of information to absorb but it didn't matter since we were so thrilled that she was actually coming home. Her log sheet from her last day in the hospital - bye bye kennel run!
Loaded up in the back of the vehicle. She looks SO happy.
My view from the passenger seat.
Hanging out in her new confinement space in our lower level. An octagonal play pen that works really well for her. She stays in this at night and during the day when we aren't downstairs to supervise her.
After she got settled at home, Jason took off with Lillie to visit grandparents (Paul had already been with them for a few days of fun). Maya and I hung out on Friday night catching up on our favorite guilty pleasure tv shows. She enjoyed being right next to me.
You want me to take what medication? That was a bit tricky this weekend....she wasn't a fan of taking her meds regardless of what I stuck them in. And of course the Sunday evening dose when Jason was back home was smooth sailing. Little stinker.
She was so happy to be standing back in her own backyard. She doesn't get to walk around naked like this - she has some sort of front and rear support just to keep her safe.
So happy to be soaking up the sun.
Practicing her good sitting habits.
It wasn't an easy weekend but it was so fulfilling to see her back in the house. The kids were thrilled to see her when they came home on Sunday. Lots of tail wags for everyone. She isn't a fan of her range of motion exercises or her pills. She is still showing a lot of spunk and tenacity in her recovery. She will start her outpatient hydrotherapy later this week and will head back up to ISU twice per week. We are so thankful for her care team at ISU - everyone we have dealt with has been so wonderful. It is hard to believe that she spent three whole weeks there but the change we have seen in her is nothing short of a miracle. She has a long road to recovery but we are extremely hopeful. Thanks to everyone who has been cheering her on.
We have officially hit the 2 week mark since Maya was admitted at the ISU vet clinic and it truly is a miracle how far she has come in that time. The drive to Ames two weeks ago was one filled with tears as Jason and I thought we were going to have to let her go. To hear that Maya had a good prognosis with surgery and rehab and now to see that in action is an amazing turnaround. We are so thankful to her care team and all of the time and work they have put into her case. Her current resident is Esther and she does a nice job keeping us informed of Maya's progress and working really hard to get her going on her rehab. Maya did have two small setbacks this week. Mid-week she developed a GI upset and started having loose stool and was vomiting. Lots of reasons it could have happened - stress, she was just getting back to normal eating pattern, pain medication, food used to get her to take her oral medication (she isn't used to hot dogs!). Regardless of the reason, the issue meant she had to come off her medication until it was under control. Her fentanyl patch had been discontinued and without the oral meds, she was without any pain control but didn't seem to be painful which was a good sign. They gave her an anti-emetic to settle her system and that seemed to help. The next day brought eating without incident and she started her meds again. Then she developed a urinary tract infection which wasn't surprising but certainly disappointing. She is now on an additional oral medication to treat that and will be on that antibiotic for two more weeks. Downside to this is that she in unable to start her hydrotherapy until at least next week which is a bummer. She seems to be on the mend again and settling back into a more normal routine. I took the day off work today and went up to visit Maya first thing. It had been a week since I had seen her (Paul and Jason went up on Monday). She looked great! She was happy to see me but not in an overly stressed way. She was calm about coming into the room with big tail wags and a little whining but nothing over the top. We spent about 30 minutes together hanging out before Esther came back to take Maya outside to show off her mobility. Nothing like trying to take a selfie with a dog!
Our hand holder wanted to hold my hand/arm the whole time. Love her.
Such a fighter. I know she is ready to come home and ready to feel better....she is doing so awesome in rehab and we *think* she will come home next week. She is being such a strong girl and working hard. I know she sleeps well at night!
That face.
Her hair is growing back so fast! This is a picture of her incision which is much harder to see now. They took the sutures out today (after I left) and her incision is healing up very nicely. Not sure if they waited much longer if they would have been able to find them all with all that hair. She still looks a little piecemeal with all of the shaved spots but with time the hair will grow back in.
We need Maya to start gaining some weight and obviously gaining strength in her rear legs. They are weighing her weekly and as of Monday of this week she was still at 55 pounds which is 10 to 15 pounds too light for her. I feel confident that her Monday weigh in next week will show some improvement but this will be an area of focus for her. She is eating 3 meals per day which should help but this will be a slow process. And here is the video that I took from today - she was super speedy and getting around SO much better. If you go back and look at the video from a week ago, the progress is amazing. They weren't using the full harness system today because the straps had started to rub some of her shaved spots so they have been alternating the ways in which they support her. Today was just a fleece strap under her hindquarters. You can see how much strength and gait she has gained in her front. Her back legs are clearly stronger than a week ago but have quite a bit of muscle mass yet to recover. I am SO encouraged by this today as she was seriously motoring around. The sad part was that it was clear that she was searching for our car when we were on the sidewalk by the employee parking lot - broke my heart but I know she is still in the best place for her right now. She will come home soon enough but it won't feel good for anyone until she is actually here.
We continue to ask for prayers for Maya - specifically for weight gain and improvement of strength in her hind legs. We know Maya has a big fan club and we are so grateful.
Wow the last week has been tough. Maya has had mobility issues for a while with decline in muscle strength in her rear legs. We tried medication without much improvement and then tried acupuncture without impact. Both vets came to the conclusion that she had degenerative muscle disease. Her quality of life was still good but she was just a little slower and a little limpy to get around. She had some trouble with the stairs so we kept her on the lower level with everything she needed and easy access to the backyard.
Last week she took a sudden downward turn and could no longer stand or get up. Her front legs were suddenly impacted and she was clearly in pain. We took her to the Iowa State Vet Clinic in an emergent situation on Friday of last week. They admitted her to the ICU and determined that she likely had a bulging disc in her back that had burst but would need to perform an MRI to confirm. Because Maya had to be sedated under general anesthetic for the imaging, they also wanted to ensure the surgery schedule had room so that if she needed surgery (which was likely) then they could transfer her straight from imaging to surgery without a second sedation. Unfortunately they could not get her scheduled for Friday so she spent the weekend in the ICU with an IV and pain medication to keep her comfortable. It was a stressful weekend for her.
On Monday morning they took her in for her MRI and found something different than they were expecting. She had a genetic deformity of her spine as well as a cyst that had formed in her upper c-spine. This was causing compression of her spinal cord. The surgery had a good prognosis for recovery so we gave the approval to move forward with surgery. The procedure took 3-1/2 hours and went very well. They removed a portion of the bone deformity and the cyst. They could visualize the indentation on the spinal cord from the compression. She wasn't terribly happy when she was coming out of the anesthesia but it isn't surprising since she was sedated for 6 hours. She spent the first 2 days post-op in the ICU and then transferred to the medical unit for a day and is now residing in the rehab unit. They were able to discontinue her IV and ECG monitor when she moved to the medical unit. She is currently receiving 4 oral medications and a fentanyl patch for pain. She is finally eating again and drinking. Her pain is well managed. She is pretty gassy right now and it is super stinky. I think the change in food and stress of it all is causing it but it was pretty crazy bad today!
She has lost a lot of muscle mass and between that and the lack of eating on a normal schedule, she is down to 55 pounds. Her normal is 65 to 70 pounds so we have some work to do! She has good nerve reaction in all 4 limbs but needs to build flexibility and strength. They are using a special harness to support her while she re-learns how to walk. One harness under the rear and one under the front and then they connect and have nice carry handles on the top. Her front legs are doing much better but her rear legs have a harder road to recovery. I got to visit Maya today in the rehab unit and see her in action with the harness and our new friend Alex the 4th year resident.
Her incision is VERY large - much much larger than I anticipated. It is at least 7 inches long from the base of her skull to the middle of her shoulders. The sutures are healing well but there is still some bruising and swelling. They intend to use a laser to help treat the muscles and skin in the suture area. It will be several more weeks before the sutures are removed. She is missing a LOT of hair - mostly in the surgical site but also on areas on her legs (for IV access and fentanyl patching) and her chest (for the ECG monitor). She looks a little rough right now but the fur should grow back like new again with time. I am glad the incision is healing nicely and without infection.
She is moving around a little on her bed now and will move from a laying down position to sitting up on her chest. This allows her to eat and drink more normally and is a good sign that she is not in pain to move her neck even with the large incision there. She will likely be at the hospital for another couple of weeks to ensure she is comfortable enough to come home. She will have to continue rehab both at home as well as in the outpatient clinic. We are so thankful to have access to such a great facility and know that Maya is in the best hands. While our stress level is still high, we are feeling much more optimistic about the future.
Jason visited Maya on the day after surgery while she was still in the ICU. She was still hooked up to the IV and the ECG monitor but I was so pleased to see her lifting her head and the return of a little sparkle in her eyes.
I took these pictures from my visit today in the rehab unit. She was VERY happy to see me and I got spend about an hour with her. Lots of pets and kisses and hand/paw holding. Check out my sweet baby sitting up on her chest...such improvement!
Alex the 4th year resident got her harnessed up and we walked outside together. I could not believe how much progress she has made in 4 short days since surgery. When you consider that a week ago she couldn't stand, walk or lift her head much.....this is pretty impressive. She obviously has more work to do but the harness is really helpful to support her and let her start to rebuild those muscles. She is pretty vocal in this video at certain points - this is not because she is in pain but instead because she has to work hard to support herself. By the end of the video, we had been outside for a while and she had been standing the whole time so she was ready to go back inside.
WARNING - you can see her incision in this video so if you are squeamish about such things then don't watch this video or squint to not see the incision. It was windy outside and of course my voice is annoying.
Someone was very thirsty after her 20 minutes outside.....so happy to see her sitting up and drinking from a bowl.
And finally, a glimpse of the sweet face that we all love.....looking pretty content to be outside on the grass even if it means she is in the harness. I could kiss this nose all day long!
Thanks to everyone that has prayed or sent encouraging words. Maya is our first baby and this has been tough on the whole family. We miss her being home but know she is right where she needs to be. Keep those prayers for healing, muscle growth and weight gain coming!
