Good News!

We got the results of Bailey's lab work back today and he can be treated!! Yay!! His heart, liver, and kidneys are fine so they can proceed with the heartworm treatment. He takes an antibiotic for 3 weeks and then Feb. 15 is his 1st heartworm treatment. One month after that he gets his 2nd and 3rd treatments and then he's good to go. He can run, play, do whatever until he starts the treatments and then he has to be confined for 7 weeks. We are just so happy that he's going to be okay.

We went to visit with Tommy and Brenda Parrish tonight and let Bailey meet his dad, Jake. His mom, Magic, passed away, but they still have Jake so he and Bailey got to reunite. Tommy does field training with his labs and most of them have won National titles. Bailey's dad came in 2nd in the national trials. We can't wait until Bailey's well so that we can go and do some training with Tommy and his labs. I'll be sure and post some new pics soon...he's getting very comfortable here and we've got some cute pics of him.

Update on Bailey

What an awesome dog! We went to see Dr. Wilkie Friday and got some better news. They did blood work to determine whether his liver and kidneys are functioning properly to see if they're able to treat him. We'll get the results of that Monday. She did say that she thought his cough was kennel cough and unrelated to the heartworms. GREAT news! She also didn't think that his enlarged abdomen was really that but more that he was underfed. Being able to see the dog's backbone and ribcage is a sign of advanced heartworms, but in our case she thinks it's just that he's skinny. She commented that if he were advanced like the other vet said, he should act a lot sicker and he's as happy and energetic as he can be.

So Bailey is inside and is loving life as an inside dog. He's already housebroken! Only took 2 days!! I am amazed that he's a sweet, calm, and affectionate as he is given the conditions that he's been in for the last several years. He's already learned to sit, shake, leave it, lie down, and stay. He loves to jump in bed with us and put his head on our pillow! I hope that we'll get good news again Monday and that we can proceed with treatment for him. Please continue to pray, but things are definitely looking better.

Pray for Bailey

PLEASE pray for Bailey! He's been diagnosed with severe advanced heartworms. The aggressvie treatments that they normally do will not work on him because his heart is not strong enough. They have given him an antibiotic and a steroid along with Heartgard to try to make some progress until they can do the more aggressive treatments. He has bleeding in his lungs and has to be confined to a very small space. He can't do anything to get his heart rate up because he'll have a heart attack. He's not house trained and has never been inside so this is an experience for all of us. We have to crate him at night and confine him to the crate or the bathroom during the day. He has to go out to the potty on a leash and can't have any exercise at all. This is a very serious disease and we're trying our best to save him. Tommy and Brenda Parrish have been a huge help and have referred us to their vet, Dr. Jennifer Dixon who is familiar with this family of dogs. He goes to see her today and we'll continue trying to treat him. It is also a very expensive disease to treat. Please just pray for our family and for Bailey that we can save him and give him a chance to have the life he's never had.

Meet Bailey!!

Yes, we have another dog...don't call us crazy just yet. I know we have 2 golden retrievers and a cat, but this was necessary. Bailey is a champion black lab from Tommy Parrish and is the offspring of his 2 best dogs whom he still has. He's 7 years old and is very smart and very friendly. He's also very calm which is not the norm for most labs. Some friends of ours have had Bailey for the last 7 years and decided they didn't want him anymore. He's been in a small pen that he's never let out of. We just couldn't stand it, so when we heard they were looking to get rid of him, we told them we'd take him. We picked him up tonight. Our backyard is like Disney World to him after being in such a small pen. He got in our pool immediately! Adam hopes to train him to do some hunting pretty soon and we're trying to spend lots of time with him and give him some attention that he's been missing. First stop, however, is the groomer's! Man, does he stink...but he's been in a pen covered in poop so what do you expect? We've given him 1 bath already but it didn't help. I'll be calling Christy's in the morning! So, here's Bailey!

Fun in the Sun!

Who would've thought that it would be 66 degrees on January 19th?? Well, welcome to South Carolina. We are loving the warm weather and combined with the fact that we're out of school today, we had to get out and enjoy it. Lucy and Caroline's friend Holt was staying with us today and so I took the 3 of them to the Laurens Park. They were so excited to play outside in SHORT sleeve shirts! It's such a great park and CLEAN with restrooms! Here are a few shots from our trip to the park...we even took our lunch there to eat it.

New Year, New Start

March 20, 2009, I started CrossFit and Paleo dieting. By June I had lost over 35" and about 25 pounds. During the fall and over Christmas I slacked off a lot and starting eating whatever I wanted and then I hurt my knee. I decided that January 4, 2010 (1st Monday) was time to start over. I have not gained all of my weight back but some of it. I'll try to post my progress on here as I go along...helps keep me on track. So far I've lost 8 pounds and 3" in 2 weeks. Not too bad! If you want to lose weight you really should research Paleo eating and CrossFit...it's not a diet, but a lifestyle. Once I get to my desired weight I'll post before and after pictures. Wish me luck!

My First Blog

Well, I'm starting a blog...not sure why, but thought it might be fun! I thought if nothing else, it might be fun for the girls to read when they were older and a good way for out of town family to keep up with what's going on. The highlight of our day today: waiting on snow..and it is SNOWING! Not much, but a little! Of course, with our schools, they'll probably be closed tomorrow even if it doesn't stick. Lucy wanted to know if Frosty would tap on her window and wake her up when he came. Gotta love it! Of course from all the TV shows, they expected it to be snowing Christmas morning and that didn't happen so even if it's a little, it'll thrill them to death! I'll be sure and post pictures if we wake up tomorrow and the ground is white. For now, here's a recent picture of the girls to enjoy until I can upload more.