Mini Update

[miagi's_mommy]

Good to see you Nikki! I am glad you are feeling better.. how scary that surgery must have been though. I'm sending you lots of good thoughts and prayers. Of course head butts, purrs, from Miagi, Tiger, & Angel and kisses and tail wags from my dogs Buster, Rudy, and Dixie Loo.

What kind of puppy is Ranger? I never knew you got a new pup.

Glad everything is going well with him and your furbabies.

 

[starryeyedtiger]

Originally Posted by LDG

How're things going Nikki?

Did Rylie find a home?

Originally Posted by Miagi's_Mommy

Good to see you Nikki! I am glad you are feeling better.. how scary that surgery must have been though. I'm sending you lots of good thoughts and prayers. Of course head butts, purrs, from Miagi, Tiger, & Angel and kisses and tail wags from my dogs Buster, Rudy, and Dixie Loo.

What kind of puppy is Ranger? I never knew you got a new pup.

Glad everything is going well with him and your furbabies.

Thanks you two! I've been feeling much better over the past few days! I'm driving again and have been able to go on several nice long walks around my complex without having my heart go insane- that's a MAJOR change! I've also had more and more color to my skin and just feel much better overall! I'm still taking it slow though and resting often so that I don't overdo it (trying to take at least one to two naps a day while my heart heals up). I've had a lot more energy and the arrythmia issues seem to be happening less often!

I go tomorrow at 1 for my post-op checkup, so I should have a little idea of how things are progressing then, and when I can resume normal activities! It'll be about 3 months or so though before they run more tests and are able to tell how well the surgery worked. If it works out, I won't need my mitral valve repaired (that's a much more major surgery than what I had done). It takes a few months for the scar tissue to form in your heart after that procedure so that's why I have to wait a few months before they'll know if it was successful. Being cautiously optimistic- I really want to say that so far I think it's working despite a few issues. Hopefully I'll get a good update tomorrow and I can start getting back to a more normal life! I'm still on the heart monitor and will be on it until the end of September (it's a 30 day monitor). If all continutes to go well, I will start back to school/clinical rotations again in October!

Krista, my boyfriend Jack surprised me with Ranger the day before Easter.

I think there's a half million pictures of him (and my kitties) floating around facebook & my blog!

He's a blue merle Australian Shepherd (7 months old now) and couldn't be a more amazing dog! Ranger is currently in training and will sit for the AKC Canine Good Citizen test in a few months. After he sits through that, he will take the Therapy Dog International test and become an official therapy dog! Hopefully he will bring bring as much happiness to others though therapy work as he does to me on a daily basis! In a bit of positive news, over the weekend, I got a call from another rescue that I had talked to several months ago about potential therapy dog matches. (I wanted another dog to add to my TDI team when they're ready to test training wise- the timing just worked out perfectly since I was finally feeling much better health-wise and up to looking at a potential match). I got matched with a gorgeous black lab/doberman/ who knows what x! She is perfect with Ranger, non-food/child/cat/dog aggressive, well tempered and very sweet. She had been at the rescue for over 2 yrs, overlooked because she was "just another black lab x". She couldn't have been a more perfect match! (I have a soft spot for her too because she also has some heart issues (cardiomegaly, grade 5/6 heart murmur/etc...things that have made others shy away; but I think she's worth it!). She's perfect in the apartment too, and easy on my heart because I can walk both dogs at the same time so I don't have to worry about putting any additional strain on my heart. I named my new little girl "Macy". She had her first class yesterday and did splendid! I'm soo thrilled that I finally found the right match for me, and my other pets after several months of looking. I also love that she has seems to know she's finally home now!

(As far as Rylie goes, she is adopted!!!!

She went to a home with a huge house/backyard! She's was a sweet pup, but just not the right match for what I was looking for in a second pup or a potential therapy dog (which is why I fostered her before making a decision-sometimes you just don't know until you try fostering and see how well they do/don't mesh with everything.) She was sweet on her own, but highly aggressive towards Ranger and my cats in addition to being food aggressive- all concerning since I was looking for a pup with therapy potential as well as one that would be safe to have around my sisters kids when they visit. I think it also put too much stress on my body with the constant potty training trips up and down the stairs/ and her behavioral issues. She was a great pup, just not a great match for me, the kitties, or Ranger. Considering her potential size as an adult dog and her energy level too (american mastiff), I'm glad she found the perfect family that can offer her a huge house to roamp around in as an only doggy. She'll be much happier in a bigger home!

Thankyou everyone who sent adoption vibes little Rylie's way. Those TCS vibes always work like a charm!

)

 

[katkisses]

Woot!

I love these kinds of updates!!! Glad your doing well, the pup got adopted out, & that you got a great dog for Therapy Training!!!!

 

[starryeyedtiger]

Originally Posted by KatKisses

Woot!

I love these kinds of updates!!! Glad your doing well, the pup got adopted out, & that you got a great dog for Therapy Training!!!!

Thankyou!

It's been a long road, but things finally seem to be falling into place!

At first I wasn't sure if the heart surgery was worth it because I was sooo miserable and having a lot of issues right afterwards, but now that I'm starting to feel better and have more energy- I think it was the right decision! My new heart monitor got delivered about an hour ago (the other one I wore for a few days wasn't working properly, so I'll have to start over again from this point, but it's only 30 days so not a huge deal). Well, I'm off to grab a quick shower and go to the cardiologist; hopefully he'll have some good updates and I can resume some more normal activities! (There's still a bit of confusion about what medicines I can take because of my risk for blood clots, so that needs to be sorted out too.)

I am definitely thrilled that Rylie found the perfect home to meet her needs and that I was able to give little Macy the perfect home here! I'm just glad I was patient and fostered/etc so I could find the perfect match for my home that meshed well with me (my heart issues included), and my other furbabies. I couldn't have been blessed with a more sweet new addition! (Ranger and the kitties adore her; she's soo gentle with all of them. When my mom came to see Macy yesterday, she said we should have named her "Mother Teresa" lol.

 

[ldg]

Nikki, great to hear the good news on all fronts! Sorry the first monitor wasn't working, but hopefully that's straightened out. Congrats on Macy, and SO glad to hear Rylie went to a wonderful home.

Continued vibes!

 

[ldg]

Just checking in to see how everything's going?

 

[swampwitch]

Originally Posted by LDG

Just checking in to see how everything's going?

Hope you are doing better and better!

 

[starryeyedtiger]

Originally Posted by LDG

Just checking in to see how everything's going?

Originally Posted by SwampWitch

Hope you are doing better and better!

Thankyou ladies.

I had a pretty bad setback on Tuesday and wound up in the Emergency Room all day. Woke up around 7am that morning to the most horrific stabbing pains in my left lower abdomen/back. Lovely that now my heart is finally doing a little better, my GI system decided to go haywire.

After a ton of tests, they did a very painful CT scan (I couldn't hold my breath without being in excruciating pain despide all of the pain meds they kept putting in my IV). The ER doctor diagnosed me with Diverticulitis & Epiploic Appendagitis. They put me on a ton of antibiotics & pain meds, so hopefully, things will clear up soon. (They said that the GI issues were unrelated to my recent heart surgery.) I saw my GI doctor yesterday and he said that he wasn't sure what caused these issues or why it happened...so I pretty much left more confused than when I arrived there.

I go back next Friday to see him again-he wants to give the medicine a few days to work. If I'm no better, he wants me to see a GI surgeon for a consultation. Not the best news since I was planning to go back to school for the October session in a few weeks. My heart was FINALLY starting to improve after that surgery (still on a heart monitor until the end of the month, but overall I was starting to feel better), and now my GI system won't chill out. I'm just praying my body settles down and things improve asap so I can get back to normal! I'm soo ready to finish school/clinicals! I defintiely don't need another setback, but I'm trying to stay positive and pray these things resolve themselves.

If you guys could spare a few vibes for my body to chill out a bit, I would really appreciate it!

(In a side note, the furbabies are doing wonderful and are proving to be excellent little "nurses" while I'm not feeling so well! All of the kisses and cuddles from them definitely help.

)

 

[ldg]

Oh Nikki!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No more seeds hun. Raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, cucumbers - that kind of thing. Scrape the seeds out of tomatoes. No grease. No fried foods. No nuts.

and mega !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!