Tag: grateful

Brogan’s heart mystery
dogs

Brogan’s heart mystery

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Brogan has beaten the odds, no one had expectations of him making it for more than 4 months after he was diagnosed. We smashed those numbers and he continues to do well. If I’m doing math correctly it’s been 2 1/2 years since his diagnosis, which is amazing and we are so grateful that he is still with us and doing relatively well. He is now starting to show old dog symptoms, so we have added CBD oil to his morning ritual. It’s amazing how big of a difference that has made for him. He has the puppy “zoomies” more often than he has in a long while. It’s a fantastic thing to see him be such a goof again. I didn’t realize that he had slowed down until we see him act like a puppy again.

His heart still gives him a bit of grief (and a little stress for those that love him). He still has had random dizzy spells when he gets excited, but overall we seemed to have it under control. Then this past weekend he had a bad collapse, this one seemed a little different than the ones in the past. He got dizzy, but then when he collapsed and lost consciousness he lost control of his bladder and also went very rigid. It was more like a mini seizure of some sort than his normal faint. I don’t know what to think about that. He’s rarely lost control of his bladder (but it has happened) and I’ve only seen him go rigid once before and that was right before we diagnosed him. So now the neurological link possibility fits a little better. The cardiologist thought there might be a neurological issue that was a contributing factor to his collapses, but no one was really sure how to test that or if it was all a heart issue. Not that this has confirmed anything for anyone. It is just another piece in the complex puzzle that has become our life with Brogan. His most recent collapse makes me realize that we do really need to enjoy every minute we have with him.

1 year of blogging
dogs · Journal

1 year of blogging

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Well I can’t believe its been just over 1 year since I jumped in with both feet and braved putting myself out there with a blog. Originally I thought I would use it for young living and education about essential oils, but it quickly evolved into a blog about my dogs and cooking with just a touch of essential oils on the side.

I’d like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read and comment on my posts. It means a lot to me to know that someone is looking at what I wrote.

Its amazing how cathartic it can be to write things down about the dogs and how it feels good to memorialize the ones that we have loved and lost.

I also love cooking, always have, and I think the greatest compliment you can give someone is to ask for their recipe. I have always like sharing great recipes that I find and this is an easy place to do that.

I have been inconsistent with my posts recently, but I want to get back to at least weekly posts again. Maybe more if I’m feeling creative.

While I’m writing I figured I should update all of you on Brogan. He is doing well, he still collapses, and no one seems to be able to figure it out. So we just try to do stuff that keeps him somewhat calm and contained because big bursts of energy or excitement seem to cause him to collapse. Both dogs are resigned to on leash only walks and now that its not so hot out we can go for much longer ones. They both behave much better on a leash now than what they did when we first started with on leash walks so they are more enjoyable for all of us. And Rosco is Rosco, affectionate, loving and goofy, and healthy, healthy is pretty rare in the animals I love. So I have to mention that.

This is a big day, 2 years since Brogan’s diagnosis!
dogs · Journal

This is a big day, 2 years since Brogan’s diagnosis!

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Feels like I blinked and summer was over, I don’t know how it managed to slip by so quickly. It doesn’t feel like I accomplished much, but I did get to enjoy it. It just feels like it went by too quickly.

We got to spend a lot of time at the cabin, which is our happy place. So although summer went by too quickly I do have to say that we did get to embrace and appreciate every moment of it.

Today, September 27th, is an emotional day for me. Its my mom’s and one of my good friends birthdays, but its also on this day that we lost Sloan, and that Brogan got diagnosed with right sided heart failure. This year today is a day for celebration. I’m celebrating that I have such a loving family and circle of friends. I’m celebrating all the love that Sloan brought to us in the short amount of time we got him, and I’m really celebrating that Brogan is still with us and is doing fairly well. Not saying our life hasn’t changed, but he didn’t have a great prognosis and its 2 years post diagnosis and he’s still feeling good, being a goof, and today he even managed to catch 3 Frisbees in a row…he then missed the next 5. But he has never caught one yet, so thats pretty amazing. Unfortunately I’m away on the road this week, so I didn’t get to see it, but my husband made sure he shared it with me. It makes me so happy that he still feels good enough to do those things. He loves frisbee, he loves going for walks, he loves travelling with us and he loves being a pest to his older, smaller brother. So I am very grateful that he still is with us and enjoying all of that.

dogs · Journal

Brogan’s heart mystery continues

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Brogan loves playing in mud and water

Last time I wrote about Brogan I wasn’t sure what he would want and what we should do with him…should we let him off leash, should we let him have dog friends, or should we play it safe and keep him on leash and healthy for as long as we can. Well today confirmed my decision to keep him on leash. We went for an on leash walk this morning. It had rained so it was muggy, but not crazy hot. He loves playing in mud puddles and really any water, so I let him splash around in the ditches while we were walking. He ended up in one spot that was deep and he sorta had to take 3 swimming strokes to get across. He came out of that hole and was so happy, but was starting to look a little tired so I figured we would come straight back to the cabin and into the air conditioning. We weren’t far from the cabin when he slowed right down, I looked to see what he was doing, I could tell that he was dizzy and he sat down when I was getting close to him. I put my arms around him and held him and talked to him and while I was doing that he slumped down onto his chest. I kept talking to him and we sat like that for a bit, he didn’t lose consciousness, but definitely was having some issue. When he was okay we got up and walked the rest of the way to the cabin.

He basically confirmed with that episode that I can’t let him run around off leash. His heart, or whatever is causing issues, is just not good enough for it. He is happy with our on leash walks, always wants to go, plays like a goof with Rosco (his dog brother) and basically seems very content and happy to be doing what we are doing. So we will enjoy every minute of every day we have together, we just won’t be running around in any off leash areas. I’m okay with that. And I guess he will have to be as well.

Appreciate your time with loved ones
Journal

Appreciate your time with loved ones

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It’s been a while since I have sat down to write anything. Initially I was sick and didn’t feel up to it, I felt like I had the never ending cold that sucked all the life out of me for over 2 months, and then the unthinkable happened and I didn’t know what I should say about it, if anything. Many of you heard about the awful tragedy that struck the Humboldt Broncos. And if you haven’t I’m not sure where you have been hiding, but a simple google search will catch you up on what happened, written by people much more qualified than I am to write about it. It was something that affected everyone. You couldn’t find a person who didn’t know someone, or knew someone who knew someone, or at a bare minimum was a hockey fan who understands how integral hockey is to small town Saskatchewan…really most communities in Canada understand how small the hockey community is. Now I can’t say I’m currently involved in anything to do with hockey personally (other than having a lot of friends and family with kids playing hockey), but that wasn’t always the case. When my husband and I were first dating that was how we spent most of our weekends, we were like most small town teenagers, we were at the hockey rink cheering on our home team. We travelled all over to watch them play. And many of our friends and family played higher level hockey. So the tragedy really hit home, as it did for everyone. It was a devastating event, but it also brought the world together. It was amazing to hear how much money was raised from so many countries for the Humboldt Broncos. The outpouring of support made me feel so proud to be part of our country. I can’t honestly say that most of the time, when we are bombarded by negativity. This was a horrible accident that brought the best out of everyone. It was great to see that we can all put our differences aside and pull together to support each other when we need to. It is something that no one will ever forget 💔 #Humboldtstrong

It also made me reflect on myself and my life. It’s so easy to focus on the negative and what is “wrong” with things around you. I am trying very hard to appreciate everything and focus on what makes me happy. I’m not saying the negative in my life has magically disappeared, but I’m trying not to let it consume my day. There are so many things in life that we take for granted. I’m trying not to do that anymore, I want to know that the last thing I said to someone was kind, and that if something happens to someone I love I will know that they knew I loved them and appreciated them in my life. I hope everyone takes the good out of this tragedy and makes the world a kinder happier place to be in.

Brogan’s heart update
dogs · Journal

Brogan’s heart update

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We got the echocardiogram done and got the cardiology report back. It is the best news we could have hoped for, his heart looks better. So much better that she is recommending decreasing and discontinuing some of his medication. She has also recommended 2 additional tests, because although his heart looks better that leaves a mystery as to why he is collapsing more frequently. If his heart is looking better, his symptoms should be going away, not increasing in frequency.

Now we wait for our normal Vet to get back from holidays so that we can plan our next steps. I have done a lot of reading in the meantime trying to understand everything better and decide what I think our next step should be.

But in the meantime we are going to celebrate the great news that his heart hasn’t deteriorated, and we will just have to figure out what is causing the other issues.

I’m ecstatic that the news we have so far is so good. And hopefully the next 2 tests will point us in the right direction on what we can and should do to keep the goofy guy around for many more years to come.

The goof spends more time upside down than right side up.
Everyday we choose to focus on the positive or the negative
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Everyday we choose to focus on the positive or the negative

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I’ve been struggling with how to write this for a few weeks. It’s something I really want to focus on this year, but something I’m really struggling to do, which makes me think that I should let someone who does it well already write about it…but I’m going to give it a go.

It’s so much easier to focus on what is frustrating and “bad” in my day than to focus on what is “good”. I guess it takes time to change the way we think. But that’s not going to stop me from trying. One of my goals for this year is to focus on what is good everyday and try to ignore what isn’t. Or at least not let that consume my day. I know that it will take a lot of practise and hard work to change the way I look at things. The sad thing about it all is that my logical brain knows that there is probably only 10% of things in my day that are bad and the other 90% are things that I shouldn’t take for granted and should be thankful for. Unfortunately my emotional brain seems to want to focus all my attention on that 10%. I have read so many books that talk about tips and tricks on how to get out of the cycle of focusing on what is making me unhappy and instead focus on all the things that are fantastic and that I should focus my attention on. I know it will be a work in progress, but hopefully soon it will be a habit to focus on what is good and let the negative pass by without more than a few seconds of thought about it.

The other thing I want to focus on is “me”. Now I know that sounds selfish. But what I really mean is that I want to focus on me and my goals and achievements and stop comparing myself to others. It just ends up discouraging me from even trying to achieve the goals that I set for myself because I feel like I’m failing before I even get started. I had written a post about making goals and resolutions but not announcing them, just clapping for yourself when you achieve them. And I thought that was brilliant, but am still having a hard time sticking with my own goals.

I read this fellow bloggers post just over a week ago, and have shared it on social media and reread it numerous times. This year I am going to ” water my own plants”.

Please take the time to read it

https://thesunshinethagain.wordpress.com/2018/01/18/water-your-own-plants/