Lucky

Today I was working on finishing my Double Delight quilt and cut my finger with the rotary cutter. I have the top pieced and was cutting fabric for the border when my finger came away bloody. I didn't even realize that the edge of my index finger was over the edge of the ruler. I cut a dime size piece out of my finger and it wouldn't stop bleeding. I ended up going to the emergency room to have them stop the bleeding. Now I have this gigantic gauze wrapped finger. I can't believe how bad it hurt and still hurts. Typing is such a joy and I guess I won't be getting the quilt finished for awhile. I have to keep the gauze on for two days and then I can switch to a band-aid.

Ava ended up going to the hospital last night. She is having a hard time keeping food down and I became very concerned. They gave her a shot and stopped the antibiotic. If she threw up today then we were suppose to go back. Well, she has vomited twice, but we haven't gone back yet. I'm going to try to wait till morning because the regular docs will be back in the hospital. She has kept some food down, but she is eating tiny amounts at a time. I'm hoping that it is just the previous medicine because I can't afford to have much more down for her. The money is almost all gone.

Poor Girl

Ava ended up going back to MSU friday night and stayed the entire weekend. Her infection was causing her alot of pain and I was not handling it well. I decided that it was better for her to be in professional hands. She came home this afternoon and is a different dog. She is more like her old self now. I'm so happy. As soon as we got home she wanted to eat. She hasn't eaten much for over a week since I'm sure her throat hurts. Tonight she basically dove into the food. She ate a whole can (3oz) and then a package (5oz) as well. Its not alot of food but its more than she has had since this started. She ate again just a bit ago. She needs to have food with some of her medicines, so now that she is eating it is helping me out. She does have to wear an e-collar (cone) now because she won't leave her bandages alone. She has been fine since we got home, but I'm watching her like a hawk. I catch her licking at it once in awhile but she listens to her mama. Tonight will be hard because she will have to sleep in her crate with the collar on. She is used to sleeping on the bed but can't right now because she isn't suppose to be jumping. Hopefully she won't do much crying because I need to get some sleep. Tomorrow she has to go back to MSU to get her bandage changed. The drainage has finally slowed down and the doctors are hoping to remove the drainage tube tomorrow. I'm just so happy to have my girl back. She is acting so much like herself, its great. I'm hoping the healing process will move along nicely and we can get back to some semblence of normal. I'm not even sure when the staples are suppose to come out. I'll will be checking with the doctors tomorrow to make sure that we get her taken care of. She is going to be a bit deformed on one side for the rest of her life. The way they cut her ribs has created a bulge. It may get a bit better as she heals, but it will always be noticeable.

Ava

Ava came home from MSU yesterday. It has been a rough 24 hours. She ended up back in the hospital today because the incision was draining an extreme amount. Come to find out, she has an infection and the antibiotics they prescribed haven't helped. She now has a penrose and drainage tube. They have changed her antibiotics and are doing a culture to find out what the bug is. Once they have the culture back they can prescribe the correct drugs to make her better. It has been a very scary and stressful day for me.

This morning I noticed that there was some drainage from the incision. I called the doctor and he said that it was okay, just cover it and monitor it. A little while later it had soaked through the gauze pad and I was using a paper towel to help clean it up. When I put a little pressure on it the drainage came spraying out. I immediately began to panic. I talked to the doctor again and he recommended that I bring her in if I was concerned. Needless to say, it is a good thing that I did take her in because the infection is currently just at the incision and hasn't spread into the body cavity.

I hope everyone keeps Ava in their prayers as I think she needs the help. I'm not ready to lose my dog and hopefully the change in medicine will be enough.

Dog Surgery

Ava ended up having emergency surgery at MSU on Monday. She had a pig's ear (chew toy) stuck in her esophagus. The surgery took a very long time and I couldn't sleep because I was waiting for the surgeon to call. She pulled through, but hasn't wanted to eat. This morning she came out of ICU. They are starting her on oral medications and will be removing her IV soon. They are planning to send her home tomorrow. I'm very nervous because there are lots of rules that have to be followed. I've been to MSU for the past two evenings trying to get her to eat. Last night, she was interested, but wouldn't eat. Tonight she finally ate some food. I was so excited. She ate about 3 ounces which isn't much, but its a start. I also got her to eat a raw egg and drink a bowl of water. She also went potty outside, which is good because she hasn't been doing that since being there. This surgery is going to cost me a pretty penny, but my dog is alive. She's not out of the woods yet because she has lots of healing yet to do, but I'm happy and its just money. Here is a picture of her, post surgery.

I hope everyone is enjoying this weather. Its nice to see snow, but I hate the cold and wind. Hopefully the sun will come out again soon!

Sick Dog

Yesterday my baby girl, Ava, ate something she shouldn't have. I think that it was a large chunk of rawhide because I saw her chewing on a rawhide bone. In the afternoon she started crying in pain and scared the hell out of me and the husband. Her belly was distended and rolling. It really scared me. DH started rubbing her belly and throat to try to dislodge anything that was possibly stuck in her throat. She was breathing without any problem, just crying in pain. She was very uncomfortable all and trying to dealing with stomach contractions. Needless to say, there wasn't much sleep to be had. Today she is feeling a bit better, but still has not eaten. I did get her to eat a raw egg and some butter. I'm hoping to get whatever is stuck in her belly to move. We've been outside walking around. I'm trying to keep her moving periodically hoping that she will poop. If she isn't better tomorrow then I will be calling the vet. I can't afford another $3,000 vet bill (her brother earlier this year), so I'm really hoping it will pass on its own.

Today I baked an Orange Buttered Rum cake in a holiday wreath bundt pan that I purchased 4 or 5 years ago from Williams Sonoma. I had lost the recipe and have been searching for it, but could never find it. Well, a couple of days ago I decided to check the Williams Sonoma site instead of Nordicware. Come to find out the recipe is a WS recipe and not from the manufacturer of the pan. Let me tell you, my house smells so good and I want to dig into the cake. My office is having holiday goodie tables every Monday this month, so I thought I would make the cake. I can't wait to have a piece. The recipe is from scratch and even uses cake flour. The batter is so soft, smooth, and fluffy. I hope its good. I know the last time I made it, it was great, but that time I didn't grease the pan good enough and the cake tore apart when I tried to get it out of the pan. This time I thought that I would try to spray some Pam in the pan and then coat with flour. There are so many small spots on the wreath that greasing by hand is a pain. Well, my idea failed miserably and I had to wash the pan and grease by hand and flour it. I learned my lesson on that one today. I won't ever do that again.

Weather

Yesterday we saw our first snow. We lucked out compared to the west side of the state. The Grand Rapids area received up to a foot of snow. The news showed downtown GR and it was a mess. It seems that people don't remember how to drive in the snow until after the first snow. Ionia, which isn't that far away, got 8 inches. They are saying we will get snow tomorrow night into Monday and then a huge storm on Wednesday. I need to get the snowblower ready, so I don't have to shovel. Its way too much work to shovel when its wet and heavy.

I've been piecing my double delight top. I've only got a few more rows to go and the top will be complete. My next step is find some fabric to use as borders. I would like to find the same cheddar/rust color, but I can't remember if I bought it at Joann's or Walmart. I may have enough pink to do the borders, but I'm sure I will check out some new fabric while searching for a cheddar/rust.

The new Bonnie Hunter mystery is already up to step 4. I've been printing the directions out as they are posted and I'm not sure if I want to tackle this quilt. It looks amazingly difficult and lots of little pieces. It looks even more involved than the Double Delight that I'm trying to finish. I've got a few other quilts to finish before I even think about starting this mystery. Its hard because I do want to start collecting and cutting up fabric. I just have to keep telling myself to get the UFO's done first.