1. We got a new puppy! On Thursday, May 22, 2009, we welcomed a 6 week old Bullmastiff pup to our household. Anthony and I drove after work to Carrolton, MS to pick him up. He's amazing and smart and the kids...well, they're getting used to him. They like him, but they don't like that the only way he knows to get their attention is with his mouth, whether by kisses (ok, slobery licks with his tongue) or nips with his little puppy teeth, which we are already breaking him of, thankfully. He loves to chase Camden and Carsen because their clothes end right at his eyeline, so he thinks they're playing with him when they run. It's pretty cute. Nothing dangerous...he is a puppy. But he's very smart and already pretty much house trained. We let the kids name him, and though I preferred Maddox or Steve (there's a story there), Aiden named him Copper James. Aiden's name is Aiden James, so he said Copper's middle name should be Copper James. Ant and I wanted to name him after Brendan Sartin, our best friend whose b'day was on the day we got Copper. We thought Copper Brendan was great, but Aiden insisted on Copper James. So here's our newest family member:
Copper James Flowers
2a. Anthony left to go on his Grand Canyon Hiking Adventure on May 24th. He was gone NINE DAYS. While he was gone we had many an adventure and, as you can imagine, so did he! More on that down the line.
3. The day Anthony left mom and dad's dog, our 14 y/o Cocker Spaniel, Daisy, went missing. She was there when I picked up the kids on Sunday and then we could not find her for two days afterward. Mom, Dad, Me and Ash were all worried sick because Daisy is very old and can't hear or see well anymore. Combined with the fact that she now stays outside because she can't hold her bladder anymore and was really messing up the house. She LOVES being outside and rarely wanders. It's never been an issue. Until now. Our Vet called and had gotten a call from someone who found a cocker spaniel in the road near my parents. She was alive, but not very alert. Daddy went to get her and took her to the vet immediately. She had been hit and her hip was dislocated very badly. They didn't want to do surgery because of the anesthesia and her age (not a good combo). They gave her pain meds (STRONG) and she is home now. She eats well and is now moving around just fine. She may have surgery later if needed, but is really doing well it seems for a dog her age. Pray for Daisy. We love her and she's been a good dog. I don't want her to suffer.
4. Tuesday, May 26th, I got a Migraine. I haven't had one in SO LONG. I blamed it on Anthony being gone, me being alone with 3 WILD children, and worrying about Daisy. I should have known it was a sign of things to come. May 26th is also Carsen and Camden's birthday, so after I rested all afternoon in a dark room, I invited grandparents and family over to celebrate. I made the girls a cake with buttercream icing, Dora and a number 3 candle on top. We sang, did the cake thing and visited. It was fun. Until Carsen had her episode. She was rolling horizontally across the floor, showing out, when she bumped her head. I didn't hear it, but I was sitting very close to her. I didn't know what had happened, and I was actually watching it! I had no clue that she was hurting until I realized she was not breathing. I swept her up in my arms and began to blow in her face, noting that it was already blue. She was well beyond 15 seconds of breath holding at this point. I felt her stiffen in my arms and watched in horror as her eyes rolled back in her head and then quickly back forward, fixed and dialated-all the while me, my aunt Janet, my aunt Jennifer, Anna, and my mom are calling her name, clapping our hands, blowing in her face, patting her cheeks....nothing was working. I began to try to lay her down, which was hard to do with her stiff, so I held her close to me, which is when I felt the competing rhythms of our hearts...mine beating 100 miles an hour and hers slowing down to virutally no beat. I knew at that moment that I was going to have to perform CPR on my daughter. I finally got her to the ground and clapped one more time, loudly right in front of her eyes. At that moment, her eyes began to look around and she took a big breath in. She cried for a while, but didn't talk for about 15 minutes. We went to the ER because I was sufficiently freaked out. My child's heart had stopped, she was blue and her eyes were fixed and dialated. She looked dead. I thought I was going to lose her. In an hour, she seemed fine. My nerves were raw. I've never felt so scared in my life. We were pretty much walked through to the back at UMC when I said she'd hit her head and possibly had a seizure (which is what I was thinking at this point). They saw us, did a CT and consulted neurology. Carsen had to go potty, so I walked her to the bathroom. On our way back, they doc handed me our paperwork and said Carsen had a 'breath holding spell' and that she would be fine. I blinked. A what? I knew that Carsen had held her breath in the past when she hurt herself. She'd always scared me and we'd blow in her face and then she'd breathe. This never struck me as strange because I'd heard of kids doing that, but NEVER have I heard of one doing what Carsen did that night. Never. As the doctor tried to walk off I asked her who the neurologist was that they consulted. Mark Lee. THANK GOD! He is a friend of mine from work. I am the neurology social worker at the VA, so I know all the residents that work at UMC. I went home and emailed Mark. He called me the next day and we got Carsen all scheduled for further testing. I pray that Carsen is ok. I am fearful, but praying for God to take the fear away. My Dad and my best friend Katie Walker Sartin went to the ER with me since Anthony wasn't in town. I don't know what I would have done without them. My brain was not firing on all cylanders. Oh, and the CT scan was perfect, btw. No sign of anything strange.
2b. Anthony called miraculously on Wednesday and I lit into him with info on Carsen, though I had debated on whether to tell him at all. I didn't want to worry him, considering there's nothing he could do from the Grand Canyon. But that debate ended when I heard his voice. After I told him everything and he knew she was currently fine, I asked him how he was. He hesitated and my heart dropped. He was sick. He'd barely been on the trail a day when he began having dizzy spells and feeling awful. He broke away from his group and hiked out a different way so he could get to a resting point. Then he stayed in a hotel for the rest of the time. God Bless Him. I was devestated for him. And worried. He sounded so calm about Carsen. It worried me. And so calm about his condition, though he was short of breath and could barely walk ten steps before having to sit at times. He later told me that he had asked for his crew to call 911 on their GPS, but they didn't because he was in and out of lucidity and they didn't want him to be airlifted if he could make it somewhere safe. I have mixed feelings on their line of thinking but I'll keep that to myself. Anyway, Anthony sounded bad. I begged him to go to the doctor, but he said he didn't think they had one in this town. I found that very hard to beleive. In the next breath he told me they had a McDonalds and a Pizza Hut. Hello? What was wrong with him? SURE THEY HAD A DOCTOR. So I began to ask him simple questions. What is your birthday? He said that Chris (guy who hiked with him) had asked him that on the trail a lot. That worried me. What is Aiden's birthday? He got it. Who is the president? Smart answer, but got it. I called him several times again about going to the doctor. He did seem to sound better each time, but finally he told me he'd gone to see a doctor. PTL! Turns out his white count was high, so he probably had something infectious going on before he ever started on the trail. He also had altitude sickness and had heat exhaustion (not deprivation, as I posted earlier, lol! Anthony read this and called me quyickly to tell me that it was PLENTY hot there! Although, it did snow their last day there!!!) and was probably dehydrated, though he swears he was drinking a lot and peeing clear. I know, TMI, but relevant still. So Anthony rested in the hotel for two days and on Saturday he drove 5 hours to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. On Sunday, he met his crew and they stayed at a cabin that night. Monday they drove back to Phoenix and Tuesday morning he flew out. We picked him up yesterday and he looked good as new. He was a sight for sore eyes, and ears, and heads....so whatever was going on with him, he's better now. He brought us gifts, which was awesome, and we spent last night looking at pictures. It was fun!
So....to recap
Daisy is found and doing well, Carsen is scheduled for tests, and Anthony is HOME and well, PTL! Oh, and Copper is growing and adjusting to life with three kids. I tell him that it really is fun, and he looks at me with those puppy eyes, already knowing he has the upper hand because he will grow up WAY before they do! Fun days ahead!
Thanks to Neener and Nonna for their help with the kiddos and to Janet, Jennifer and Anna for keeping me sane and to the Sartins and my Dad for the ER visit. Wow was that a trip!
Pray for the Flowers Family!!!
Love,
Mandye
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