Ty "swimming"

First of all, I want to say what a blessing it has been to be able to see Rocky's response to (even just one day after) his first chemo treatment. All the "knee" and "hip" problems we thought he was having were evidently because he had a mass pressing on his spinal cord. The funny thing is that this is how cats usually present with lymphoma, not dogs (and if you know Rocky, you know that his biggest enemy is the cat). So anyway, after the treatment, he went from basically crippled, falling down easily, tripping on his feet, and having difficulty getting up, to this...

We're so enjoying every minute of time with him that he is feeling so well.

While we were letting Rocky run around at the lake, we knew he'd want to swim, so we thought it would be a good time to let Tyson swim too. We had NO idea that this is what that would like....



Guess he needs some lessons because that was embarrassing.

Rocky Update

Well, I thought I'd update y'all on Rocky and bring somewhat of good news. He had his first chemo treatment on Monday. He couldn't get the strongest does because his white blood count was too low (oddly because lymphoma actually means an overproduction of white cells, but the vet thinks maybe it was suppressing his bone marrow somehow). Anyway, today he has been a very different dog than he has been the past couple of days. He's doing his happy boxer prancing and wiggling that we're used to and got lots of exercise walking around outside. This makes me think that his white cells have come up, giving him some more energy. He has an apointment on Thursday to check his blood counts and see if they're up enough to start the higher dose of chemo. They'll also do an X-ray of his hips because he's been really favoring them lately. We originally thought he had torn ligaments in his knees, but the vet really thinks it's his hips. We're hoping that it has somethin to do with the cancer and will get better with the chemo (which he was definitely acting like they didn't bother him as much today) and that it's not hip dysplasia. So that's what's going on for now. I'm just happy to see him somewhat back to his old self. I definitely know now that we do not want to see him get to the place he has been the past couple of days. We'd be willing to let him go at that point, long before he gets physically sick because he is miserable when he has no energy and is in too much pain to prance and shake. Please just keep us in your prayers, that we'll always do what's best for him and not just think of what we want.

Rocky's Fight

We got some horrible news this past Thursday evening; Rocky was diagnosed with cancer - lymphoma, a very common cancer for dogs. We were both devastated. If you know us, you know that Rocky and Ty (but especially Rocky) are our children. They do everything with us - trail riding, going to the store, hanging out, and even sleeping. I got Rocky as a Christmas present from my dad when I was a junior in high school. Ever since, he has slept with me and been there for me (except for two of the years I was in college, and he lived with Joey). The most difficult part for me about the diagnosis was wondering if it was going to be so progressed that we wouldn't be able to treat him. I was paralyzed with fear about making a decision about Rocky's life or death. The good news (given the situation) is that he is in the pretty early stages (not physically sick yet) and should respond well to chemotherapy. He will start his first treatment on Monday or Tuesday. This was such a relief to me and gave me peace because I feel like if we try this (whether it works long term or not), I have given him a fighting chance, and we'll get to enjoy our time with him. He shouldn't have side effects from the kemo, and the average remission time is a year (give or take). Please keep us in your prayers, and pray that Rocky will fight the best fight yet to give us a little more time with him. Thanks so much to family and friends who have already done so much to support us!

It's Been a While

Sorry it's been so long. School has slowed down long enough for me to study for my boards and look for a job(keep that in your prayers, by the way, please), but in the meantime I wanted to share some pics from the weekend. My nephew has shot up and started spitting out words everywhere. So most of these pics are of him... and one of his new favorite things to do is run through clothes like a maniac...(sorry the video is sideways. I don't know how to rotate it)


And Ty decided to become a psycho jumper....

How We Save Money

Joey and I had talked about making our own "rustic" bench to put out by our firepit. Well, we price a big flat rock at a nursery place, and he wanted $150 for it! He even shared with us that he just goes up in the mountains, finds these rocks, and brings them back to sell them for pure profit (minus gas money). Those of you that know Joey, know exactly what I'm about to tell you that he decided to do. He and his buddy, Randy, (and me) went up into the mountains yesterday to find one of these rocks. They definitely found one, and I'm surprised they didn't kill themselves trying to get it because Joey thinks it probably weighed around 600 lbs.! Anyway, we're very pleased with the result, and because it was that cheap, we'll probably make another one!

Valentine's Day

I thought our Valentine's Day was starting off pretty badly because poor Joey had been out of town and working over 12 hour days for most of the week, and then he got a call this morning at 4:30 and had to go out to fix something. Well, I ended up giving him his present earlier than planned because we had planned to sleep in. Here's his present...



Homemade biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon, deer sausage, and a Merle Haggard CD. He's so sweet though that he did most of the clean up. That's the worst part for me and the whole reason Joey only gets this breakfast as a present.

My present....



Some flowers and awesome chocolate - dark with mint and milk with caramel! He's also taking me out to dinner at some surprise place. We're not really big Valentine's Day people, but we like to do a little something. One year, Joey got me a great present - a mountain bike so we could ride together. Anyway, hope y'all's Valentine's Day is great!

P.S. The puppy found a home thanks to a friend of my sister-in-law.

Another dog needs a home

Well, around this time last year, some of you may remember that I was trying to find a home for a beagle mix dog and her two puppies. So here we go again. I'm actually more desperate this time to find a home for this little girl dog because she's actually been staying with a friend of mine who already has 2 dogs and 2 cats. PLEASE PLEASE tell everyone you know about this beagle mix female. They think she's about 1 or 2 years old. She's probably around 30 lbs. or so (I'm not really good with that) and she's had all her shots and has been spayed. She's fine with cats and other dogs. Here's some pics of her.





PLEASE let me know if you or anyone you know is interested.