Goodbye Eva...

On Wednesday night around 8:40p.m., we had to say goodbye to our loved companion, Eva. Mark and I had to make the decision that no one wants to make, we had to release Eva from the pain and suffering that she was feeling. After only a few short weeks of dealing with a Mast Cell Tumor, her body couldn't take it any more. She started to get disoriented and she was ready to leave. On many occasions when either Mark or I took her outside, she would wonder to a corner of the yard and lay down looking up at the sky. As Mark put it Wednesday night, she was asking and ready to go home. So with heavy hearts Mark, Mikayla, and myself (along with two of the most caring vets) helped her gracefully take that final walk home. She passed peacefully and fast. She laid her head in Mark's lap as she did, letting him know that everything was alright. When we got home, we looked up at the stars brightly shinning in the night's sky and said goodbye to one very special part of our lives. Take a moment and make a memory of the things you care about - we have.

Here is a tribute to one very special Dive - Miss Eva. The movies of her playing in the snow were taken just two months ago (if that). Shows you why you need to make the memories each and every day. If you were lucky enough to know her, you know how special she was. If you didn't know her, I am so sorry that you missed out on one of the most special things that graced my life. She will forever be missed.

Miss Eva The Diva:

Cough Medicine...

When doing research for Mikayla's cold, I came across this information on cold medicine and kids. An FDA advisory committee has determined that there is no data that states using cough and cold medicine for kids (and adults) does nothing to help. It may also be harmful.

What's the concern about cough and cold medicines for kids? Over-the-counter cough and cold medicines won't cure a common cold or make it go away any sooner. In fact, cough and cold medicines haven't been proved effective for children. And there are serious risks to consider. For example, the sedating effects of antihistamines can be dangerous for kids already having trouble breathing. For young children, an accidental overdose of cough or cold medicine could be fatal. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) encourages parents to avoid cough and cold medicines for children younger than age 2.

(via The Mayo Clinic)

After watching the video below, I have to wonder how these companies can get away with promoting this shit to parents with the knowledge that their products DON'T work. They have data that PROVES that these medicines DO NOT reduce cough or congestion in children that have colds. But these companies can still sell this stuff stating that it does work. WHY?

Below is a video from The Children's Hospital in Boston.

Sick and Tired...

After finding out that Eva had cancer last week, Mikayla started to get a cold. She seemed to have some sniffles on Saturday March 15, but nothing we were too worried about. Then Sunday came and we could tell that the cold took hold. This is her second cold and was different than her first one. Last time she was stuffed up with little nasal drainage. This time she was (is) like a faucet. We had to stop giving her solid foods because she would start to cough and then throw up everything she ate. I noticed on that Monday (when she was crying) that the back of her throat was red, so eating solids just irritated it.

So last week we took her to the doctor and found out that she had ear infections in both ears. We have started her on antibiotics to help with the infections, but now we have non-smelling poop. Why is this important? I have not been able to tell if she has gone to the bathroom like I used to.

So with Eva being sick and needing to go out a lot more than usual and Mikayla sick and needing more attention Mark and I are more tired than usual. I know that I am going to jinx us by saying this, but we have not gotten what Mikayla has/had so that has helped a great deal. What is happening now is both of us are doing school, taking care of Eva and Mikayla, trying to give as much attention to the other pups as well. So we are much more tired than ever.

The picture above is of Miss Mikayla during the worst part of this cold.

Breaking The Law...

John McCain's campaign spending is breaking the law. He elected for public funding when his campaign was having trouble. But now that he is the presumptive nominee, he is, by his campaign's own admission, around $4 million over his legal spending limit.

Why is this important? According to the FEC's law, McCain has broken the law and can be jailed for up to 5 years if convicted.

The DNC filed a complaint today with the FEC you can read here. But essentially, McCain signed a candidate agreement in August of 2007, seeking a certificate of eligibility for matching funds with the FEC. On December 20, the Commission announced it had certified McCain to receive federal matching funds. But checks for matching funds generally don't get written until February or March, and the cash strapped McCain campaign needed money before that.

So on January 31 2008, the McCain campaign disclosed that it had obtained a $4 million line

Eva...

Where to begin? Things with Eva are not going well. We had decided to do the prednisone treatment for the tumor. This would not make the cancer go away, it would help reduce the tumor site and maybe give Eva some relief. We started her on it on Friday night, but since then everything seemed to go down hill. She has not been eating. She is anemic and dehydrated. Our main gaol is for Eva to have a respectable quality of life in her last days. We know (no matter how hard it is) that she will not live forever and we don't want to have her live in pain.

Starting on Saturday, she had diarrhea which has not gone away. Furthermore, yesterday while I was babysitting, she needed to go out but Mark couldn't get to her in time and she had an accident on the floor of the kitchen. The problem being the accident had blood in it now. To this day she is still not eating anything that she can keep down except for some EVO dog food that I gave her this morning. Looking at her and petting her, you can tell she has lost some weight. You can feel every bone and her face looks very skinny.

Also this morning Mark noticed that when he took her out there was blood on the snow. She usually eats some snow when she goes out, but Mark couldn't find the source until they came back inside. She was now bleeding from the nose. Not a lot, but enough to scare us. The "talk" came around this morning as well. We know that the day will come that we have to make the decision to euthanize her, but was that day today?

We called the vet and talked with them to see what needed to be done next. We then took her in to get some fluids in her (along with some electrolytes, vitamin B, injectable Pepcid, and Benadryl). Hoping this would help her get her energy back as well as her hunger. When we weighed her at the vet, she was 70.5 lbs (she lost almost 12% of her body weight - not good). We were at the vets for more than 2 hours and during this time she had a small seizure. Scared the living shit out of me. She recovered from that and took the rest of the fluids like a champ. She started to relax and fall asleep.

We are home right now and she is sleeping in her favorite spot - the futon. She isn't eating and doesn't want any food. I am hoping that it's part of the morning adventure and she is just tired. Hopefully she will eat later today. Keep your fingers crossed.

The picture above is from a week ago after we had her incision looked at and re-wrapped.

800 Dogs Seized...

On March 12, a huge story broke in Tucson, Az. Around 800 small dogs were seized from a triple-wide mobile home of Wanda and Bill Jones. As with many hoarding cases, the dogs were kept in filthy living conditions. Some dogs were pregnant and giving birth as they were being transported to the shelter.

Jenny Rose, a spokeswoman for the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, said 96 dogs were removed from the house on Monday and about another 700 were taken out Wednesday. "This is twice the numbers that we've ever seen before, twice as big as our previous record-breaker," Rose said. "The home was definitely in very bad condition, urine and feces all over the home, in the kitchen and bedroom, with a very strong odor," she said. "Obviously, 800 dogs in a triple-wide mobile home, they were packed in there. That being said, they were in pretty good shape."

(via Pet-Abuse.com)

Along with the dogs, investigators also found 82 caged parrots. How do we let things get to this stage? Animal shelters and humane societies run on very little money as well as very little staff. There is a lot of bad in the world when it comes to animals and most shelters are trying to do it all themselves.

On the upside, there has been a huge turnout from the community to adopt these dogs.

In the days since local law enforcement and Humane Society of Southern Arizona officials rounded up 752 dogs from an Avra Valley breeder, scores of people have inundated the shelter seeking to adopt the animals. As of Monday, March 17, 460 dogs and cats taken from the property on the 12200 block of West Manville Road had found new homes, according to Humane Society spokeswoman Jenny Rose.

(via Pet-Abuse.com)

The couple started to raise these dogs and sell them to interested people. But as time progressed, they started to sell fewer and fewer until they became hoarders. So what is a hoarder, you ask?

An April 1, 2000, article in the Psychiatric Times refers to a study of animal hoarders, offering this definition: “… someone who accumulates a large number of animals; fails to provide minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation and veterinary care; and fails to act on the deteriorating condition of the animals …” An estimated 700 to 2,000 new cases of animal hoarding occur every year in the United States, according to the article.

(via Pet-Abuse.com)

Hoarders believe that they are the only people that can take care of the animals. They feel some unhealthy attachment to the animals and as a few become more and more, the owners become unable to properly care for them. The house fills with urine and feces as the owners fall deeper and deeper into the inability to care for the animals. There is a strong denial of the inability to provide this minimum care and this impacts the animals, the household, and human occupants of the dwelling.

Below is a picture of the "people of interest".

Hulu...

OK, the name sucks but it the name actually is rooted in a Mandarin proverb that refers to the ''hulu'' as the ''holder of precious things.'' And if you are a TV nut like I am, it is a very precious thing. Mark has mentioned that this was going to happen. Every bit of entertainment, he said, will one day be on the Internet. This is the start. Click on the Hulu image to go to their website.

Originally conceived as a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp, this is what every TV nut is waiting for. Hulu is a place that you can go to watch old and new TV shows. Some good and some that I have never heard of (of wish I had forgotten). Not only TV, but you can watch movies FREE. Well sort of. I will get to that part later.

So this little venture started out as Fancast (which is still out there but not as good) and then progressed into what Hulu is planning to become. When you want to watch a TV show you have a choice to ways to search. By title, most popular, recently added, popular clips, alphabetically, genre, or network. With movies you can search by popular movies, popular movie clips, alphabetically, genre, and studio. When this site is fully functioning it will be something else.

Why do I say when? Because, as I stated, this is a collaboration NBC and News Corp (Fox). This means that the majority of the TV shows that are on the site are from NBC and FOX. The other problem is that they don't have all the episodes for recent shows (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, House, Chuck, Bionic Women, etc.). They also don't have any episodes of some recent shows (SCRUBS, Heroes, etc.). So if I wanted to go back and catch up on a show I missed, they may not have all the episodes or may not have all the seasons. They are still adding new shows daily, but when are they going to be adding new (or all) the seasons. For an example: I Dream of Jeannie has episodes 25, 26, 27, 29, 30 from season two and missing episodes 2, 6, 14, 15, 23-27, 29-32 of season three. I hope they add them all on.

Although they have movies as well, they are not truly "free". You will have to watch some commercials throughout the movie. The positive thing I can say about this is that they actually do a great job of breaking up the movie for the commercial. Not like watching a movie on TV and they break right in the middle of a scene. They are also trying to get major advertisers to be the "main" ad that you see. This has happened to me three times. When you pick a movie or TV show, there may be a choice to watch one ad that may be two-three minutes long and then watch the show uninterrupted or pick to see short ads throughout the show. This choice was given in both TV and movies. I would rather watch a long ad at the beginning than have my entertainment chopped up.

The quality of the shows and movies are real good. Not HD quality, but good. Hulu also gives you the option to embed a show or a clip from the show. I have not done it yet, but from what I see you can crop part of a show or movie and embed it. You choose. I like that.

Hulu is in talks with other networks to bring more to the table, but in an Entertainment Weekly article, CBS is the only one that responded to request for an interview and they sounded optimistic about adding to the Hulu world.

Some of the good shows that Hulu has:
I Dream of Jeannie
Bewitched
Hart to Hart
The Bob Newhart Show
Mary Tyler Moore
McHale's Navy
And many more! I could just sit and watch all these old shows all day long.

Below is a promo from Hulu.

Taylor's Hello...

Well, hello thar! 8B

'Tis the niece of the blogger. Yeah, he asked me to be a part of the blog and to write about my life with diabetes and, well, random stuff in my life. Like the fact that I should be working on my art project (which is taking way too long for an impatient person like me XD) I might also put up some of my art that I actually like. I'm still kinda surprised that I was able to get off my lazy butt and write this as soon as I did. *laughs*

Well, then... on to business. *puts on cool MIB shades*
My day today's been quite interesting. It went just fine until me and my best friend stayed after school to work on stuffs and we missed the first shuttle bus (since the bus driver just had to be early and not wait for anyone DX ) to one out of three of the elementary schools. So, since she didn't have a ride, we decided to walk to the school to try and beat the buses, which, of course with our luck, happened to be leaving just as we got there. What are the odds of that? I mean, seriously?

Yeah... Well, I saw Horton Hears A Who on Saturday. It was AWESOME!!! \m/ Especially that little yellow hedgehog creature, Katie. "In my world, they're all ponies. And they eat rainbows and poop butterflies!" XD Classic.

For SSA choir, we went to a choral festival (which was so much fun, by the way) and me and Jazz kept telling people that we were half sisters. People actually believed us. XD THEN, she said I was an accident and the spawn of the milkman! D: That made me sad...

Wow... this entry is reeeeaaaallllyyyy long. |D Well, I like it 'cuz... well... I rock like that, m'kay?

Signing out,
Taylor

Taylor...

One of the things I wanted to bring to this Blog is a perspective from others. An insight that I can only empathize with, not really understand because it is not happening to me. For this, I have asked my niece to write some post about her life and her issues. This, I think, will be good for me because I will one day need o understand how my little girl is thinking, feeling, and most importantly how to talk with her.

Taylor is an amazing young women. She is very creative and shows it in a variety of forms. She plays the guitar, sings, draws amazing anime, and much more. Although she was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes when she was 4 years old, this disease was never the definition of Taylor. She didn't let it stop her or her ideas. So when I asked her to write here, it was in part to get an insight on a young persons acceptance of this, but not just that. I think she has a lot to say - I hope. I think she can help me (as a father of a daughter) get an idea of what hell my little girl will put me through.

With that said I will say no more. I will let Taylor do the talking.

Peep Show...

Since today is the day that some celebrate the re-birth of their savior, I decided that I would celebrate the day with a little peep show. This is how I celebrate this time of year. I like mine dry and hard. How about you? I hope you enjoy!!!