8/24/2010 A Walk at Royal Palms

So Dr. Leeds, Jack's surgeon, told us to walk Jackson for about 15 minutes a day. He said "I know he can only put partial weight but any weight and walking would do him good since he already has muscle atrophy in his right leg"

So we took him for a walk.

There is this adorable little park on the beach called Royal Palms. You can park on the street and walk down a huge hill, so that's what we did, although I carried Jack most of the way down (and all of the way back up!) Once we were down there it was so pretty! Being a New York girl I still can't get it through my thick head I live by the ocean. It's wild and I should probably take more advantage of it since I know I want to move back east some day. Well I took advantage of the beautiful morning and we went for a walk, or in Jackson's case a sideways stroll.

What a stud!



Mommy & Jack

"I don't wanna take any more pictures"

8/23/2010 A Day Off!

Finally! It's here! I got a day off! Well sorta. I had to drive and meet with my student teaching supervisor at Mt. St. Mary's in LA (which means I had to drop off Jack at doggy day care a.k.a. my in-laws house). Student teaching and my final semester is fast approaching and I feel like I'm suffocating! Freakin' stress. I get so crazed about school, work, Jack, Brian, and I never have any time for me!

Thank God I don't have (or want) any kids. I'd pull my friggin' hair out!

But, at the end of the day I get home and this is what makes me smile:

8/22/2010 My Puppy, My Neice, My Husband Oh My

Oy. It's been an exhausting week! Seriously, almost an entire week has gone by and I haven't had time to sit and write.

Well let me tell you about this crazy week.

My in-laws went on a mini vacay after the family vacay, so naturally, Brian and I watched the house and the dogs; and our niece. Here's what happened: hahahahahahahaha

Tuesday 8/17

I had to work today. We also had our niece today, my sister-in-law works Tuesday's, Wednesday's and Thursday's and normally my mother-in-law will take Avery Tuesday and Wednesday and I take her Thursday. Well since she's gone this week, Brian and I had her all three days.

Let me start by saying that I've been a nanny and taking care of kids for about 8 years now and my niece is probably the easiest kid I've ever watched. I'm not just saying that, for a nap, all you do is put her down with a pacifier and she goes to sleep. On her own. For 2+ hours!

That said, my husband has about as much experience with kids and toddlers as Sarah Palins' had with Kathy Griffin.

Brian picked her up at 7 AM and brought her back to the house. Me and Jack got up ate breakfast, fed the other dogs and fed Avery (don't worry, not the same things) We all hung out easy breezy and then I was off to work, leaving Brian with our niece and my puppy.

By the time I got home from work the living room looked like a tornado had run through it. Baby toys, dog toys a high chair with gold fish stuck together by yogurt and Brian laying on the couch as if he had been hit by a Mac Truck and Jack terrorizing the poor dying cat. I really really wish I had taken a picture.

I think we went to bed at 9:30 that night, getting ready to do it all again the next day.

Wednesday 8/18

Brian again went and picked up the munchkin, but this morning instead of staying up and being the babysitter, he got me up and he went back to sleep. Whoo hoo! Seriously, the best thing about my niece is that she totally understands me when I say "I'll color with you in 5 minutes. Titi needs her coffee"

Jack doesn't seem to understand me when I say those things. He also doesn't seem to understand me when I say "Leave Cloudy alone!" Just because the cat's on her way out, doesn't mean he needs to help her get there any faster!

Today went by painlessly, but Brian was no help today! Shocking.

Thursday 8/19

Big day. I got the baby at 7 AM, fed her breakfast and then headed to work. Yes, I said work, with my niece. I wasn't working at the store but I was subbing at Play School. Avery had a great time getting super dirty and painting and playing with all the kids. It was adorable to watch. While I like when I sub there and I love spending time with my niece, I miss my puppy!

I think Avery misses him too because she's always talking about him. She calls him "Jackie. Oh there he is. Silly Jackie" But imagine that she has a little French accent, (she's not French) but she totally calls his name as you would say Jacques. I love it.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Work, Work, Work.

I'm tired!

8/16/10 A Positive Follow-Up

Jack woke up this morning and for the first time did't yelp when he got up and has even been putting partial weight down on his right leg (yay!)

Today we had a follow-up visit with Jack's surgeon Dr. Leeds (who by the way, drives a bad-ass Jaguar with the license plate PET SRGN - awesome)
The visit was a positive one, and finally I'm beginning to feel happy and optomistic about Jackson's condition. When we walked in Dr. Leeds had 2 other vet's with him and they all reviewed Jack's file. Because my husband and I have such great communication skills, we didn't bring the x-ray's (which would have been beneficial) but they were able to work without them. Dr. Leeds said the Deramax (an anti-infalmmatory) that Jack has to take every morning appears to be working with him rather well.

Then Brian asked about surgery. Dr Leeds said that as long as the Deramax is working well for him we should try to put it off until he's at least 6 months (Jack's approx 4.5 months now) The reason being is because - get this - Pit Bull's are so amazingly resilient and regenerative that if we were to go ahead and do the surgery now, Jack could actually grow back the bone that's taken off! WTH?!?! The most important thing Dr Leeds pointed out was that Jackson doesn't seem to be in pain (at least much less so than when we first brought him in) and we can keep him on the anti-inflammitory until he gets a little bigger.

Oh talk about bigger. He's 18 pounds now, last week.... 15.75 pounds. What a fat boy!

So, the good news: Jack doesn't need surgery like, tomorrow. This gives us time to raise more money!
The not-so-good news: he already has some muscle atrophy in his right back leg and he'll need surgery eventually to ward off arthritis allowing him to live a happy healthy life!


I would like to personally thank all of those people who have donated to Jack's surgery so far. You are incredible and generous people and have literally brought tears to my eyes because of your kindness.

We're on our way to getting this surgery for my puppy! Please, pass this blog along to friends, family and fellow animal lovers, it's because of you guys Jack will be able to live a normal healthy life!

THANK YOU!

*Some Photos from our First Family Trip*

Even though Bass Lake was stressful (only when we found out Jackson had his hip problem) I loved being there. It was beautiful, serene, relaxing and best of all easy. I've been on 'go' mode for so long now that I almost didn't know how to just sit on a dock and take in the sun.



I was surrounded by the best in-laws (let's face it, they're my family, enough of this in-law crap) anyone could ask for; I love them all deeply as if they're all my own flesh and blood.



Here are some pictures of the amazing time we had...

He doesn't look too pleased

On the boat!

Jack at our first rest stop, so happy to have ice cold water from the nice people at Bravo Farms

I'm terrible, look at my poor puppy! Hahahahahaha

8/15/2010 A Full Night's Sleep

Last night was the first night Jackson slept the whole night, without getting up to use the bathroom once. Yay!



He did however wake up when he wriggled around because his hip hurt, and he yelped a little. My poor puppy.



On a positive note, Jack's looking so much healthier from when we first adopted him. His coat is silky soft and shiny, he's becoming muscular (albeit only up front because the use of his hind legs is demanding on his front ones) and I swear he's pretty much doubled in size. Seriously, he's getting so big!

8/13/2010 A Painful day

We're staying at my in-laws house for a few days, and Jack seems to be loving it. He enjoys the other dogs company. Tiger, the yellow lab, is a big love and always wants to play, so when Jack starts barking and getting all puppy on Tiger I thought Tiger would respond the same way. He didn't. He ran away! Looks like Tiger isn't ready for little Jack.

The attempted play lasted for about 5 minutes, before Jack looked at me with those big eyes, I knew he was hurting. I locked the other dogs out of the kitchen so Jack could eat.

Here's the video of poor Jack hobbling around.

We need this surgery. We need it now.