Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I don't know why it always seems to be such a long time between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. By the beginning of November I'm starting to get a bit homesick, and I definitely need a break from the everyday run-around. So, I'm so thankful that tomorrow we'll be heading to Spokane and flying out early on Thursday for the Mattson family Thanksgiving in KC!! It's going to be a great trip. . .family, friends, KU basketball, KU football. . .what more could I ask for? Actually, as sad as it is, Raoul and I are really going to miss our little furball while we're gone. He'll be staying at the kennel and will have to celebrate his 1 year birthday on his own (Thanksgiving Day). It's a good thing he's a dog and not a child so he will not remember that we were gone on his birthday and be traumatized for the rest of his life, blaming us for instilling a sense of abandonment in him. I love dogs but honestly had no idea how attached we'd get until Nelson came along. He really is our furry little child. :)

So, Happy Thanksgiving to all! And, Happy Birthday Nelson!!

Election '08

So, election time is here, and I am eager for it to end. Not because of all the media, or that I'm sick of hearing the candidates talk, or that I'm tired of negative add campaigns. The reason that I can't wait for this election to end is because my co-workers are making this time very difficult. Now, to preface this whole blog post. . .I am not a liberal. In fact I think that it is dangerous for the government to control a lot of things. My personal beliefs on many moral issues "line up" with the Republican platform. However, I do believe in changes from the current presidency such as more government assistance for education and more emphasis on diplomacy with issues of foreign policy. After weighing out the pros and cons of both candidates and attempting to disregard accusations that are mean-spirited and untrue, I will for the first time be voting for the democratic candidate for president. As an American citizen (and a tax-paying one at that) I have the right to my own opinions and beliefs and can choose to vote as I wish. Because I am thankful for that right, I try to respect the rights of others to disagree with me.

The last week, the exact opposite has been happening at my workplace. I work with 6 other male physical therapists. All of them are very right-wing in their political views and have been very vocal in that respect. This has played out in the following ways. First, one co-worker has proceeded to vocally attack another of my co-workers for holding a different political view, using such examples as Obama is like Hitler. Then, today, knowing my opinions, two of them proceeded to talk around me (not directly addressing me) saying that anyone who votes for Obama must be insane, brainwashed or stupid. Not exactly flattering comments to be making around someone who works her ass off for their company, sacrificing a lot to pad their retirement accounts. They used such arguments as Obama is more Muslim than he is black. These guys also love to bring out "evidence" such as e-mails sent from friends or reports taken from biased sources to show how right they are. I disagree with their opinions and their choice of sources, but because I believe they have a right to that opinion so I have not tried to convince them otherwise. They have not extended the same courtesy to me, stating things like: How can you as a Christian vote for someone who is pro-abortion? Again, I know it's not worth arguing with them, and I don't even want to get into a discussion about how they have no right to judge my level of faith. It is sad to me, not that they are McCain supporters, but that they stoop to such untrue and unintelligent ways to promote their view.

So, that leaves me, a little Independent voter who happens to have made her choice. I do not ask that everyone agree with me, only that they respect me as a person and my right to my own thoughts and convictions. I encourage everyone to exercise their right as a U.S. citizen on Nov. 4, and please, respect all others as they exercise their right to do so as well.

I Love the Fall!

OK, so once again I'm attempting to resurrect my blog. So much has happened over the summer, so I'm glad to finally be settling into normal life again with a regular schedule. After pretty much hating the way my job was going, I got the chance to talk about things with my bosses at my yearly evaluation in July. I tried to explain to them how being in charge of all of the hospital and home health scheduling/contacts and trying to keep a normal clinic schedule was too much for one person to handle. After much discussion, they decided to switch things up a bit. Now I spend my mornings in the outpatient clinic seeing patients. Then, in the afternoon, I go out to people's homes to see them for therapy. I am now only in charge of the home health aspect of our clinic, so my overall stress level is much more managable. The catch is that every six months there will be a switch among the therapists that I have deemed to "sit at the little kid's table" if you know what I mean :) So, in six months I will either switch back to the schedule I had before, or I will spend half day in one outpatient clinic and another half day in our other outpatient clinic. Still not exactly what I had in mind for my dream job, but at least I don't feel so stressed out and run down.

The summer was full of trips and visitors. In June Raoul and I went to San Diego for a 5 day vacation. We got to catch up with Erika and Matt and enjoy the sites. It was great to catch up with friends. . .and it left Erika and I wondering how Matt and Raoul were never really friends in college because they have an astonishing number of similar interests :) Over the 4th of July weekend we flew to KC to see family and friends. Raoul and I also drove out to Hays to visit my Grandma in her new home and shot off fireworks with my little cousins. It was a trip that was way to short, but fun nonetheless. At the end of July my parents came out for a visit and we finally got to take advantage of the amazing rivers in the area. We went whitewater rafting in Riggins, ID for a day and drove up to show them the Seven Devils Mountains lookout. They also got to meet Nelson--they've met all three of their granddogs now :) In August and September I worked several weekends and Raoul was busy preparing for his preliminary exams. We did take a weekend to see our friends Chet and Adrienne get married up north of Spokane and have a date night in the "big city".

Raoul studied very hard for his exams, and after a very stressful summer came out in one piece having passed all four exams. I am extremely proud of him and all of his hard work! Now he gets to experience a "normal" semester without crazy cramming, but he's trying to work things through to be able to propose his dissertation topic early next semester. A couple of weeks ago we went to Seattle to celebrate Raoul's success, Matt's birthday, and Doug and Dave coming into town. It was fun to catch up with people we hadn't seen in awhile, and good to get away for a couple of days.

This month is Physical Therapy month, so Nelson and I get to participate in a walk on Saturday to raise money for a free clinic in the area. Raoul and I will also be working with our church's mission team to build a wheelchair ramp Saturday too. . .can't you just see me with a power drill? :) Plus Sunday is Raoul's 29th birthday--don't forget to wish him a happy birthday!!!!

Summer is coming!

Since my last post, things have been moving along quickly. After our longest stretch of the year without a day off, Memorial Day weekend couldn't have come soon enough! Raoul's family arrived just as I was finishing another 12 day work "week", which is always an interesting time since by then I am pretty much unable to form complete sentences. :) We had a nice relaxing weekend, though, and we discovered that the new steak house in town is actually really good. They got to meet Nelson, and I'm proud to say that he was very well-behaved for the entire weekend! Finally with some time off it was nice to be able to take him on a walk down by the river. He made some progress with wading into the water, so maybe he'll be willing to try swimming this summer.

We've also got together with our "valley" friends a couple of times because, sadly, one of them is moving to Oregon this weekend to start a new job. It's a great opportunity for him to work on a wildlife refuge, plus we all eventually look forward to when we get to move on to greener pastures than the valley, but all the same it is sad to see Nate leave. We got to take Nelson over to Nate and Shannon's place and let him play with three other dogs. He's so short that he gets trampled quite a bit, but he's learned to use the bigger dogs as barriers when he's playing "catch me if you can" with other bigger dogs :)

Now I'm sitting in Matt and Erika's living room in San Diego, enjoying good company and a beautiful city, real Mexican food, and beaches. More to come on our little mini-vacation!

Nelson is home!

Just a quick update on the Nelson situation. He stayed at the vet for two days and received an IV dextrose solution. They ran tests after 24 hours and 48 hours to check his blood levels and liver enzymes. Everything came back normal, so either he is not one of the majority of dogs that is effected by xylitol or we got him treatment in time and he had no damage to his liver. Either way I'm just glad we have him home, and he is back to being his little puppy self. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Please Pray for Nelson!

Today was a day that I definitely was not expecting. I was heading home from seeing my last home health patient this afternoon after working all weekend and got a call from Raoul. Our cute adorable little fluffy friend decided to get into my purse which I left on the couch (he is not supposed to get up on the couch) and get into a pack of Orbit cinnamon gum. We're not sure how much he did or didn't eat, but Raoul immediately googled the possible harmful effects of gum on dogs. The type of sugar-free gum I had contained a sugar substitute that just happens to be toxic to dogs. So, Raoul spent 30 minutes on the phone back and forth between the vet and poison control--neither of which were familiar with the effects of the substance on a dog. After research being done on all sides, the vet suggested that we try to get Nelson to vomit back up the gum. I ran to the store to get hydrogen peroxide and mixed up a solution, which promptly made Nelson upchuck all over the yard but no sign of the gum (this substance evidently metabolizes quickly). The vet recommended that we immediately start IV treatment with fluids and dextrose to fight hypoglycemia and try to flush out his system to prevent any liver complications. Nelson is staying at the hospital over night and then the vet will run a full panel in the morning (evidently this substance not only causes liver failure, but system-wide increased blood coagulation and hypoglycemia too). If he does well then he'll probably stay on the fluids for another day or so and have tests done periodically to check his liver enzymes. If he starts to go into liver failure we would be looking at serious medical treatment (i.e. puppy ICU) or he might not make it. Raoul and I are pretty worried about Nelson, and just really want him to be alright without spending thousands of dollars to fix him. Please pray that he will have a full recovery! We already miss him being around :(

31 Cent Ice Cream!

What a whirl of month since I last posted! So first off, ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!! This year's tournament run was fantastic, and that it ended with a win was the icing on the cake! After our near escape from Davidson, I decided that the emotional stress of playing UNC in the Final Four was just too much to endure alone (Raoul was in Tulsa for a wedding), so Nelson and I packed up the car and drove to Seattle to watch with fellow KU fans! What a fun trip! Nelson actually did really well in the car and didn't get sick or fuss. We took long walks by the lake together in the mornings, which he loved, and then Emily and I went shopping that morning, which I loved. It was awesome then to come back and cheer on our boys to victory--what a high! I got to watch the championship game back in the valley with Raoul, and I must say it was really crazy. I'm just glad the cops weren't called on us! It's "one shining moment" I'll always remember, and with Bill sticking around I'm looking forward to more championships in our future!

The extra help we were so excited to get with the new therapist we hired in Dec. left as quickly as it came. By mid-March it was apparent that things were pretty rocky. She just was not up to par on her knowledge-base, but at the same time was not open to learning to catch up either. Really the whole ordeal just brought a lot of office drama, and I was constantly stressed-out trying to make sure she was doing what she needed to do. When she quit it was honestly a blessing, and even though I have more quantity of work to do, at least I know I will get it done and trust the rest of my co-workers to do their part as well. There's nothing more draining than trying to do your job and babysitting someone else at the same time. So. . .we're still looking for another therapist. . .anyone interested? :)

With school winding down for the both of us (Raoul finished yesterday, I have one week to go) we are definitely looking forward to some fun this summer. Last week, we got word that Baskin Robbins was celebrating their 75th anniversary and had ice cream cones for 31 cents! We took Nelson and met up with friends and their 9 mo. old puppy to enjoy the cheapness. Then, we headed back to their place which has a huge fenced-in yard and just let the dogs play. At first Nelson was pretty timid since he was by far the smallest of the two dogs, but after awhile (with all of us cheering him on) he started to take some shots of his own. The best thing (other than enjoying some great company) was when we got home he pretty much crashed like a limp noodle and slept. We need to make more puppy play-dates!

On the schedule for this month: teaching a four-part series on Mormonism to the high school kids, a trip to Seattle next weekend to hang with Matt and Emily, Raoul's family coming to visit! And, we're looking forward to a 5 day get-away we are taking to San Diego starting May 31st! If warm weather won't come to us, we'll go to it!