WITH A SEVERELY BROKEN HEART

At this moment, I feel as if my heart has been ripped from my chest.  It is with indescribable  sadness that I let you all know I lost my beautiful Shotsy this morning.  He was suffering from breathing difficulties and was really struggling.  I rushed him to his vet and it was determined that he had a disease called Laryngeal Paralysis which causes them to struggle with breathing.  Because of his age (12 +) and few options for him, I had to say good bye.  He died peacefully in my arms as I cradled his head against my chest and held his paw.

Shotsy was such an amazing dog and was so much a part of our lives.  He was so smart and was so helpful.  He would pick up things that Jay would drop and hand them to him, he would carry groceries into the house from the car, and would even carry in the mail for me each day.  He was always so ready to please and he was such a happy dog.  I don't know what I'm going to do without him.

As you might imagine, I am devastated and my heart is broken.  All I've been able to do is walk through the house sobbing.  I just can't believe that he is gone.  But I wanted you to know because so many of you shared my dogs with me through this blog and I wanted you to know.  I also want you to know that I won't be blogging for some time to come.  I'm going to need quite a bit of time before I am able to resume.  I know you all will understand.  I'll miss you, but know I will think about you all.

REST IN PEACE MY HANDSOME BOY

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR NOVEMBER 13, 2013

Hey All!

I survived my oral surgery and even have a couple of cards to post.  For those of you who want the details on how I survived, I've posted it at the bottom of this post.  I just want to thank you all for the kind and positive comments you left me.  They meant a lot and helped me get through this ordeal.  I can't thank you enough.

For Halloween, my good blogging friend Mark who owns Deadbeat Designs, sent me a gift of some of his latest stamps.  So I thought I'd make a couple of cards showing some of them off.  Take a look:

These glasses are so fun and retro.  The timing of these two stamps was perfect.  Jay had his yearly eye exam last week.  They are so kind to him when he is there and take good care of him.  They go out of their way to accommodate his big power chair and try to make him as comfortable as possible.  So I wanted to send them a card thanking them for their kindness.  I stamped the little glasses at various angles to create the background then colored in the "spots" on the rim with red marker.  The big glasses are stamped with Versamark then embossed with clear ep for the shine of plastic rims.  I added jewels for sparkle.  I came up with the sentiment and it is computer generated.

 One of the many things I love about Mark is his sense of humor.  This sentiment stamp of his is a great example of his humor.  You can't tell in the photo, but both the sentiment box and "Leaning Thelma" are popped up with dimensionals and I fussy cut her out.  The background is just designer paper.  I have a friend in mine for this birthday card.

Now please don't look too close at either card. . .I've been on pain medication on and off for a week, so things look a little crooked. . .have mercy.

Pic of the Week

This is a view from the back yard of our 30+ foot sweet gum tree in our front yard.  It is massive and so beautiful in the fall.  It has reds, oranges, yellows, and greens.  I actually see this beauty from my bedroom window.  It is so vividly colored that my bedroom walls appear yellow/orange when the sun hits it.

OK . . .for those interested in my dental ordeal:

I ended up having 14 teeth extracted as well as some bony areas filed down.  I was in the chair for almost 2 hours.  What most people find appalling is that I was awake through the whole procedure.  Really, I was. . .of course they completely numbed me and I asked for "laughing gas" to relax me, but I was completely aware of what was going on.  Believe me, I heard every crack and pop as the teeth came out.  My only real complication was excessive bleeding.  If any of you are familiar with the show "The Walking Dead" on AMC, that is what I felt like.  Since my mouth was completely numb, I didn't realize that I was bleeding profusely as I was driving home.  At a stop light, I looked in the rear view mirror and realized with horror that blood had been oozing down both sides of my mouth.  It had dripped all over my leather coat, the front of my shirt, and the seat belt!  LOL  I seriously looked like one of the "walkers" from that show.  The bleeding didn't slow down much for the first 12 hours, but finally got to a "trickle".  I took pain pills a lot for the first 24 hours, and now sporadically for the last week.  The only real pain I have now is in the hinges of my jaws.  That pain is from my jaw muscles trying to adjust to a new position since I have no upper teeth to keep them at the level they are used to being.  But that too is getting better.  I had my follow up today and he said that it looked great and was healing nicely.  I've been spitting out stitches for the last couple of days (which is supposed to happen).  I go for my impressions on December 30th and should have my new smile by the second week of January.  I swear, I'm so tired of eating mashed potatoes, apple sauce, scrambled eggs, etc.  I am craving meat so badly!!!  LOL  But I can't even eat macaroni yet without mashing it into paste! 

Thanks again for your support.  It really meant a lot.  Even though I had to deal with all that I was going through, I still had to take care of Jay and the boys, and I can't lie, at times I just wanted to scream.  There is nothing like throbbing mouth pain that just makes you want to crawl into bed and die.  But I'd read your comments and knew I had friends out there thinking about me.  I love you guys!

Hugs,

Curt

"God, please help me be the person that my dogs think I am."

Hey All!

No normal post for today. . .Reason?  I'm having a major dental procedure done today.  At 2:40 this afternoon I will be having all of my upper teeth removed and 4 bottom wisdom teeth as well in anticipation of a full upper denture.  I have wanted this procedure done for years, and now the time has come.  After taking care of other people, it is time to take care of me.  My father's side of the family (whom I take after) was cursed with bad teeth.  My father had dentures by age 46.  I've just gotten so tired of not smiling, not wanting to go to functions, etc. because of my failing teeth.  For years I've endured painful procedures (i.e. root canals, crowns, extractions, etc.) to no avail.  I've always been terrified by dentists because of some horrible experiences as a kid, so going this afternoon, is almost like driving myself to a nightmare.  The other thing that will be tough to deal with is having no upper teeth until the first week of January!  OMG I can't imagine that, but hopefully the final outcome will be well worth it.

So please think about me today and tonight (I have a feeling that tonight is going to be a rough one).  Send out positive thoughts that I get through this rough part and that today goes well!

Thanks everyone!  I appreciate your positive energy!

Hugs,

Curt

"God, please help me be the person that my dogs think I am."