The Book of Simon-an excerpt.

Chet and I had to put down our 12 year old pug Simon yesterday. That was a decision I never thought I would make. Chet and my parents had been telling me for awhile that we needed to, but I wanted him to live his nature life. He has been in pain for quite awhile, with less and less use of his hind legs. They would just collapse under him. He could barely lower himself to sit down. The vet thought it was an injury that would heal, but it never did, it got worse. She put him on pain medicine last December, which we were supposed to ween him off of after a couple months. We never did, because without he couldn't move. With it, he moved slowly. The pain got worse and worse. He lost control of his bowels, and recently his bladder. He was miserable. There were many nights I didn't think he would make it through the night. He was having trouble breathing, and would get very stiff. This past weekend, and Monday, he was in bad shape. So I made an appointment, not sure what the vet would say. She was supportive of whichever decision we made. His spine looked much worse than the last time she saw him. She said his pelvis had fused together, which was why he now stood with his legs spread apart, I imagine. Just in case we did put him down yesterday, I took pictures of him and Sophie before we left. I tried to get Toby in there too, but he was uncooperative as usual. Chet met me there. At that point, the doctor had inserted the catheter and brought Simon back to me wrapped in a blanket. He gave me kisses on the nose, which he hasn't done in a long time. I gave him lots of kisses and mommy loves you's. Chet held him, and I left. I didn't want to be there when the drug was administered. I went home and Chet wasn't far behind. Due to circumstance, Sophie was at home with my mom, and one of my friends and her daughter. That worked out well, because she didn't really notice we came home without Simon.

Ballooon Boy

I have probably mentioned that I am a huge reality T.V. junkie. So, on Thursday I dropped my parents off at the airport for their trip to Denver to see my sisters. On the way home, I heard about this runaway balloon on the radio. They said it was 40 miles north of the Denver airport, and they were clearing airspace. So I called my mom to let her know. Their flight hadn't taken off yet. When I got home, I turned on the T.V., and Chet and I were both praying for that little boy. CNN mentioned that the dad was a storm chaser, and I said OMG, I wonder if it is that guy from Wife Swap. Then my sister called and said the local news had released the name and I asked what it was. When she said Falcon Heene, I was like shit, that is the family from Wife Swap! We were so happy when they found the kid. I watched the interview on Larry King Live. I was pretty surprised they were composed enough to do and interview. If I had spent five hours thinking my child might be dead, there is no way I would be calm enough to do a interview hours later, let alone in front of cameras. Even when the kid said "you guys said we did this for a show", I just figured he was confused. By Friday, everyone thought it was a hoax, and I thought wow, everyone is so cynical. I just could not imagine parents doing such a thing. Even though I had seen these guys on Wife Swap and the dad was a real jerk. At that point, I was just happy that we hadn't seen or heard from Jon and Kate in a couple days! So now, it has come out that it was a hoax. Of course people are saying take their kids, throw them in jail. Certainly, there should be major consequences. And I am not convinced that the guy isn't abusive to the wife, if not physically, verbally. There needs to be an investigation by Child Protective Services. As for the hoax, fine them, give them community service, and probation. But jail? Really? I think we need the room for all of the child molesters, abusers, and murderers. Yes, it is totally unimaginable what they did, and all that time spent looking for the boy could have been spent fighting crime. I just don't know if jail is the answer. And of course, this wouldn't be such a huge story if it wasn't for the stupid media. I will give Richard Heene that. He has them figured out to a tee.

Yikes, an ear infection

I really thought Sophie was going to go through life with no ear infection. Pretty naive considering all the ear/throat/sinus infections I have had in my life. If I was born in the 90's and not the 60's I would have my tonsils out, tubes in my ears and a regular allergy prescription. Add in the fact that I grew up going to Group Health, which my parents pay out of pocket for now. A typical trip to the doctor went like this: What's wrong? What do you think you have? What medicine would you like? That was after an hour wait in the waiting room, and another half hour in the exam room. Nothing I say can convince my parents they would be better off medically and financially if they switched insurance. Sophie had a runny nose for awhile, but suddenly Friday afternoon she was putting her finger in her ear and saying owie. Then she started crying and wanted to be held. I called the doctor and they said they could get her in at 4:45. Well it was 4:30 and we are a good 15 minutes away, so I sent Chet since he had just walked in and could just jump back in the car while I threw shoes on Sophie. Plus he is a faster driver. So at least Sophie got an antibiotic, my old friend amoxicillen. When they come home I start firing off the questions. What medicine? I don't know. Did you tell them you are allergic to Penicillen? No, why would I do that? Well, because Sophie could have inherited the allergy. But you aren't allergic. Yeah, but she has your DNA too. Did she get the flu shot while she was there? No. Did you ask about it? No. Did you ask about Swine flu? No. Did they say anything other then she has a middle ear infection? No. When I called him about an hour after they left, the doctor had just come in. So I could have gone myself and been late since they waited an hour anyway. Usually we never wait there, but this was last minute. Lesson learned.