Home from New York

Had a great 2.5 days in NYC with my daughter. The city is really fun and much safer, it appears, than the NYC of my impressions. Heck, New Yorkers are even nice and friendly now!

Did a bunch of touristy things including dinner at Pastis, a favorite of Carry, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha. They weren't there last night.

All in all, a great weekend. I'll post more later when I can upload some pictures.

Ciao

Hawaii!

Here are Hawaii pictures with Tom and Reenie. Click on any picture to take you to the album directly. For iPad users, Click here.




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Shawna, Maui, Hawaii & Ingrid!

Today is going home day. I haven't posted because I have been in Hawaii since Tuesday November 2.

Ingrid has been a saint taking care of Shawna. Ingrid reports that Shawna is eating her normal kibble, drinking water, and properly performing the results of those two activities. She is mobile and active and displays only a slight tilt of her head This is a long way from last week when Shawna's legs didn't work or later when she could only walk in circles and decorated the floor with a real mess. And Ingrid stuck with it and nursed her back to health.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Ingrid.

From Tuesday the 2nd to Monday the 8th I was on Maui with my sister-in-law, Reenie, and her husband, Tom. We had a great time on Maui visiting all the places that were Mary's favorite. We had a great dinner at Mama's, hamburgers at Leilani at Whaler's Village, visited the Coach store there, drove to Hana and the next day to Haleakala, flew to Oahu to visit Pearl Harbor and Waikiki, took a snorkel trip to Molokini and to Turtle Town and the grand finale was dinner at "The Feast at Lele" in Lahaina. I rented a two bedroom condo facing the beach and we could walk just a few paces and be swimming and snorkeling in front of our own unit.

On the 8th, I flew to the Big Island while Reenie and Tom flew home. I was attending the ITPC, a trade conference I have been attending and organizing for about the last ten years--except last year of course (click here for ITPC). This year I moderated a panel discussion.  This conference is designed to include spouses and there was a few times with old friends when the tears appeared. Overall, however, it was very good to be here.

Speaking of tears, Maui was Mary's favorite island. And, we loved staying at the Renaissance in Wailea. The Renaissance is closed now but I managed to rent beachfront condo (Unit 7H) at the Ekahi Village immediately north of the closed hotel. After breakfast, Mary and I would walk the very long stretch of three adjoining beaches--Ulua, Mokapu and Keawakapu--it was our tradition--and the beach walk takes a little over an hour. One day Reenie and Tom joined me and a couple other times I wanted to simply be alone on my walk.

I could feel Mary on those walks.

I watched a family--mom, dad and two very cute 3 year old twin girls just celebrating being on the beach and playing in the surf. We chatted a bit and then I made a comment about how fortunate they were to be on Maui. The mom responded that Grandma and Grandpa had brought them along on this vacation.

I had to take my leave and turn away as I realized Mary would never fulfill her dream of hosting her grandchildren on Maui. I cried then and I am crying now as I write this.

Ciao

Shawna, Shawna!

The x-rays taken Saturday were negative and Shawna proceeded to get worse. So much so, by Sunday evening she could no longer stand on her own legs and her head appeared in a permanent twist to the right.  She had not eaten or drunk since Thursday although the vet had injected saline solution to make sure she wasn't totally dehydratred.  

By early Monday morning, I could not stand to see how poorly she was doing--unable to use her legs, unwilling to eat, barely able to lift her head.  When the Vet's office opened, I called and made an appointment for 8AM to put Shawna down.  After all, she turns 17 in December. Mary and Ingrid agreed to join me at the Vet so they came to the house and we headed to the vet together.  

Our long term vet, Diane Wiese, was on duty. Diane also takes care of Mary's cats so we would be among friends. I carried Shawna into the exam room, the technician had me sign the papers and then Diane joined us.  We were all very sad and Diane said she wanted to do one last look before she got the injection paraphernalia. As she looked at Shawna, she asked about her eyes. They were rapidly twitching from left to right and back again.  Diane stepped out, got some inspection instruments and checked Shawna very thoroughly. I said the twitching had started Sunday and, by the way, here is an iPhone video of her walking on Sunday before her legs totally gave out--Shawna was simply walking in circles.  

Diane views the video then says, "I think we are looking at Old Dog Vestibular disease.  What that means is that Shawna will be fine in 7 to 14 days."  

Say what? 

I immediately did an iPhone search to find results like this one. Click here. 

Ingrid and I did time trades from our jobs while we took care of Shawna Monday. By Monday night, Shawna was eating a chicken-rice-carrot dish that Ingrid had made. Just a tablespoon or two at a time but the fact is, she was eating!  The vet told us we should force food down about every two hours to make sure her intestinal tract was functioning.  Force, heck, it was more like feeding a vacuum cleaner.  That dog was hungry!

Here legs were still not working and her head still had the twist to the right but she did manage to scoot her body out of the bed during the night. I found her about five feet from the dog bed on the floor.  Amazing considering her legs are virtually useless.  

As of this AM, Shawna "produced!" Hey, it was messy but it was a great event. Her intestines are working!  

Now it is the "Tincture of Time" to allow her to recover from the affects of the disease.  Shawna is clearly fighting hard to get better. She is eating, drinking and doing her best to get the legs working again. The attitude is so much better than it was just 48 hours ago.  

If all goes to plan, by this weekend she should be very close to full strength again and by the following weekend back to normal--except for a slight head tilt if I understand the write ups correctly. 

You go girl!