Yahooooo

Today Dr. Reed said I could start walking in my walking cast. No more wheel chair, at least for the next 8 weeks, more or less. Yes, I have a tenative date for the surgery on my left foot on December 16th. The boys at St Thomas will be taking exams that week and the school starts Christmas Vacation on December 18th. I will have to take off on the 15th (for pre surgery) and then will be off until Teachers and Staff start back on January 4th. So this is a good time to have the surgery. It should make it easier on my poor husband who has had to take full responsibility for the care of our dogs, our new house, cleaning out our old house and driving me to and from work. I am using crutches right now, but it is just to help with the balance. I have to walk on the right foot with my full weight. Right now, it is not a happy foot and neither am I! :-) It hurts a lot, but will get better as it gets used to being walked on again. I go back to the doctor in two weeks and I think the walking cast will come off then. I (and Ken and the dogs)will be so happy when the left foot is done and everything is healed up nice and I am able to walk without pain again. I am so looking forward to get backing to walking here where we live now in the country and do some walking in the National Forest that is 10 minutes away from our house. It will be good to get the weight off that I put on in the past 2 and a half years when the bone spurs became so bad that just day to day walking was so painful, I was in tears all the time. After the doctor visit, we stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things and also got our Christmas tree. It is about 7 feet tall and is a Douglas Fir look alike. I am glad we went ahead and got it now because the selection was starting to get picked over. Even though I will be a week out of surgery, I am so looking forward to celebrating our first Christmas in our new house. Also, Magic is doing great! His stitches, which are staples, will be coming out this Thursday. I know he will be happy to have them out. Have a great weekend everybody!

Another Magic Update

Well, it's Sunday and Magic is up and about more. I have been working on my friend Ann's website today and he for the most part has been sleeping at my side. I am so grateful that he is doing so well, loosing him to the spleen and then stomach torsioning would be like cutting my heart out. These dogs do not live long enough as it is and losing one at 8 and much younger as what happened when I lost his sister, Teddie at 2 years of age (but that is a story for another day) is something that is much harder to deal with. I am sitting here looking at my German Shepherds and I am watching Magic's mother gait around the yard. Witchey is 10 and a half and full of herself. Behrens aka Greatest Show on Earth of Edan (sire of Champions) is 10 and a half and is also full of himself. I know in another year or two I will be losing them. I guess what I am trying to say is no matter their age, it never gets easier. Each one takes a piece of your heart everytime they leave you. After all these years, I not sure how much of my heart is left. But for today, Magic is doing well, the sun is shining, the weather is cool, my other german shepherd are romping and stomping.........Life is good.

Judy

Magic Update

Magic has survived the first 24 hours and more. As a matter of fact they are letting him come home this afternoon. Of course we will still have to keep an eye on him and he has a whole lot of medicine to take, but he is coming home. The vets are very pleased with his progress, so keep your fingers crossed that he continues getting better and better. Below are two photos of him when he was about 12 to 18 months. The first one we were coming back from a long dog show trip and he was sacked out on a sleeping bag. The second one, he was playing keep away with his toy.

My Magic

Our 8 year old BISS Am/Can/Intl CH Magical Memories v Riata Edan went through Surgery this morning, his spleen had torsioned. Magic has survived the surgery. He has now gone from 25% surviving to 50% or better according to the vets. He had an infection in his spleen and it twisted. On the way to the vet his stomach flipped. They have taken out his spleen (which the vet swore weighed 5 pounds), flipped, cleaned out and tacked his stomach. The next 24 to 48 hours are critical. If they die, they die in the first 24 to 48 hours usually of heart failure. Say a little prayer for my Magic.
See my amazing Magic man at: http://www.edangsd.com/CHMagic.html

I'm Back and Ken's new play toy

Well, I did not mean to be gone so long from the blog, but there was a lot going on. I had foot surgery for some very nasty bone spurs in my right foot. I have been in a wheel chair for the past two weeks and after my doctor took the metal staples out yesterday, he told me I would be in it for 2 more weeks. Hopefully after the 23rd of October I will be able to walk with my walking boot he has on my foot. Once that comes off about the second week of November, it will be time to schedule surgery for my left foot in December. I have to have it done then or I will be paying out of pocket 1400 dollars(new deductible) for the surgery after the 1st of the year.

On a happier note Ken was able to get his new tractor yesterday. He can now putter around the 5 acres to his hearts content. The tractor has a bucket on the front and a mower on the back. Now we can get more gravel to add to the kennel and he can start working on cleaning out our woods of some of the small dead trees, which are on the ground. Below are some photos of the new tractor arriving and Ken driving it around.

Above is the tractor as it arrives at the house.

Here is Ken driving it in through the gate

And now Ken is posing with his new tractor

Here Ken is showing me how he can raise and lower the attachments

Mowing with the new Tractor

My parents are coming today from Marble Falls for a visit and tomorrow we are having a get together with my brother and his wife, her mother and their son at our house. How much do you want to bet that the men folk will be having a love fest with this tractor on Saturday? I plan to take pictures and let you know. :-)

We have Fireflies!!!!

Sorry that I cannot catch a photo of them but we have fireflies. The last time I saw a firefly, I think I was a child and it might have been at my Aunt's farm in Epps, Louisiana. Ken and I decided to sit out on our front porch this evening, something we have not really been able to do together yet. He lit the candle that keeps the bugs away and I brought out two glasses of wine. Ken, Magic (gotta do a meet the German Shepherds blog) and I were sitting on the porch enjoying the evening when I spotted the "flickering lights of the fireflies. Man, that brought back so many fun memories of childhood. Deer, woodpeckers, morning doves, spanish doves, finches, black and regular colored squirrels, blue jays, cardinals etc have all been in the side yard between the house and the woods where I put out food for them. I am in seventh heaven. I am really looking forward to the time when we get the deck built off the dining room (because it is located in that side area) so we can sit there and watch the wild life up close and personal. You sit there quietly and they come and eat and never pay any attention to you. Best blood pressure medicine in the world!! :-) Did I ever tell you all how much I love this place??

What an Awesome Retirement Gift

The guys at the fire station where Ken was serving when he retired (after 30 years) had a retirement party for him on Saturday. These men are his brothers because that is what they are, living and working together the way they do. The photo below is what they presented him. This shadow box contains his life with the Houston Fire Department. Ken joined the fire service at 19 and served the citizens of Houston in some of the hottest fire stations in the city for a little over 30 years. We were married in 1986 and just a year later he was severely injured when a wall collapsed on him and several other fire fighters. He suffered a broken back, his ear had to be reattached, his ankle was reconstructed and they had to do some work on both knees. But as soon as the doctor cleared him, he returned to duty even though more times than not he is in some kind of pain. When they say that being a firefighter is a calling, they are not kidding. As they say, Firefighters, Police Officers and EMTs/Paramedics run into situations the rest of us run from. I am very proud of my husband.
PS Don't tell him that, he might think I feel he is something special and we can't have that! LOL

The shadow box background is a wood siding material (that is what it looks like) that was burned to make it look like a house fire. There are flickering red lights to make it look like fire burning through the wall of the house. He drove the ladder truck, hence the axe. There are also two shields from his helmets, one from Station 19 where he drove the ladder truck and Station 96 where he also drove the ladder truck. He had also worked at 9s, 74s, 17s and 35s but he never kept the shields when he transferred to another station. You will see his two badges, one as a pipe man and the second when he was promoted to driving a ladder truck. There are also the two patches of the fire department. The one on the left is the one that was used when he first joined, the one on the right is what they are using now. The plaque says:
Presented to Kendal C Bryan
for over 30 years of dedicated and faithful
service to the Houston Fire Department
September 28, 1978 - May 25, 2009
Thank You from
The Crew of Fire Station 96 D Shift

To the crew of Fire Station 96/D Shift, thank you. Good Luck, Stay Safe and God Speed.

Judy Bryan