Busy, busy, busy....

So I have been rather busy of late.  I made a trip home to the US, to spend some time with family and friends.  I flew overseas with a friend to help her out with her 2 kids as she was going to be home the same time I was (we actually planned our trips together).  While home, I spent some time with my grandpa and other family that I wasn't able to see during the time of grandma's funeral.  I was able to spend about 3 weeks there, and I also did shopping to get things that I'm unable to get here in Okinawa.  Yes, I could just order the stuff online, but by purchasing it while I was there, even with the gas and postage, I saved money because I was able to buy it cheaper in person than online and I was able to put more of it in a box together, thus combining shipping.  I'm still waiting on a box, but I knew that it would take a month or so to get back to me here.  After my 3 weeks in AR, I went and spent about 4 days in Angleton, TX with my brother and sister-in-law, where I did yet more shopping and mailing of stuff.  By the time I left there, my suitcase was much lighter than when I left Okinawa ( I sent some of that stuff home because I wasn't going to need it for the rest of my trip).  After that stop, I returned to Tucson, AZ to meet up with my friend (and her husband who had made a trip out by that time) and fly back to Okinawa a few days later.  When I got home, my dogs and JJ were very happy to see me!!

Within a manner of days, my babysitting schedule began filling up, and JJ and I started doing things we've been meaning to do for the last year that we've been here.  Yes, we've been here a year already!!!  Anyway, we took a day and went zip-lining (followed by a cultural festival held by his squadron), we drove out to a close island to visit the beach.  We said good-bye to some friend rotating out, watched fireworks, I walked around most of the park that contains the aquarium and got to see a great view of the ocean from the top of a tower and walk through many greenhouses to see what kinds of things they can grow here.  We walked through the aquarium again (we have got to get an annual pass to that place!!!) and watched the fireworks held for the summer festival.

Amongst all the coming and going, we've had several vet appointments to get things straightened out with the dogs health-wise.  Therein lies one reason I'm sitting here in front of the computer today.  Last week, my dog Sweet Pea got to spend the whole day with the vet getting a work-up done to see why she had suddenly gained so much weight and slowed down dramatically.  The verdict was a Class 6 heart murmer (out of 6 classes, so very severe), possible diabetes, high blood pressure, enlarged heart, and CHF (Congestive Heart Failure).  On top of all that, the poor thing also had a UTI.  So we came home with antibiotics for the infection, and meds to help her ditch the fluid and increase the size of her blood vessels in an attempt to take some strain off her heart.  The vet kept a close eye on her through phone updates, and we took her in the day before yesterday to have the fluid drawn off.  In the week since she had been put on the meds, she had lost 2 pounds already!  I took Sweet Pea back in and over the course of 2 hours they pulled off 4 more pounds of fluid, and she all but skipped out of the vet's office.  The next morning, we got up to give her meds (which took an hour the night before to administer), but found her weak and a kitchen floor covered in tarry poop and blood clots from overnight.  As I was putting her in the tub in an attempt to clean her up a bit before carting her off to the vet again, she began gasping for air and having a heart attack.  By the time JJ had gotten to the stairs, she had taken her last breath, and choked up a large blood clot all over his right hip.  He got to the car and began chest compressions until I could join him a minute later on the phone with the vet letting them know that we were coming in with her.  I gave her chest compressions until we got to the vet, where the tech waiting at the door got her back to the ER area and they put us in a room.  After 20 minutes of 9 people (7 techs and 2 vets) working on her, administering meds to stabilize the heartbeat that she had when we got there and get her lungs working on their own, we told them to stop and let her go.  We lost our first family dog at 8:30 am (local time) on July 26, 2012.

Ceaser is beginning to show signs of loneliness as we get into the 2nd day without Sweet Pea.  She will be greatly missed as a member of our family.  There are a lot of adjustments to make.  The first being that Ceaser now has to learn to take his cues from someone other than Sweet Pea.  He's been barking a lot at everything and everyone, even things that didn't give him cause before.  He stays pretty close to me as I do everything--laundry, dishes, sewing, even now he is sitting with me while I type this.  As hard as it has been to lose Sweet Pea, we knew that it was coming, it was just going to be a matter of time before it actually happened.  We know that she is no longer suffering, and the weather yesterday was just the way she liked it--nice and sunny.  Its hard not having her here to "control" Ceaser and keep him from barking or getting so anxious.  As time goes on, I realize just what all sorts of "little" things she did for us throughout the day.  But as in any aspect of life, we must move on and trust the Lord to help us through the tough bits.  Today, I honor my sweet dog, companion, friend, guardian, and comfort.  May she always live in our hearts.