Knitting Therapy

As of late, my needles have been my therapy. It's been a tough run these last 2 months....hellish even. In spite of everything I know that I am blessed. And while I have not made the time to upload photos...just seems so hard to do at the moment....I have let the stix fly. It clears my head and evens me out, it slows my breathing to deep purposeful breaths. I can even at times make each stitch a prayer.

We thought we were losing Annie this weekend. Thought that this weekend was it. Thursday night around 11PM, Annie started having severe difficulty breathing. It sounded as if she was breathing through water. This was followed by vomiting. By the time we got to the puppy ER, her lungs were clear and her breathing easy. But she was still in obvious discomfort.

On Friday, she went to my parents while I was at work. My mom called around 5PM to tell me that Annie was having trouble walking. By the time I got her home, she could not even walk at all, her back right leg swollen and hanging limply. My brother and I used a blanket to carry her inside the house. Annie laid on her dog bed the rest of the night. I tried to adjust her position, which was next to impossible given her swollen abdomen. We carried her outside to her favorite spot to pee with no luck. It looked so very grime. I cried in the kitchen while I debated what to do. My mom came over to my house today to help with Annie while I went to work. She was going to give Annie a catheter. But Annie got up on her own! And for the first time in 10 hours did her business.

I am thankful for small miracles. I am thankful for helping family and friends. I am thankful for little blessings everywhere.

2 Weeks...

Somehow, I lost 2 weeks. I don't know where they went exactly... I think it is the rotating shifts getting to me again. Annie, the puppy seems stable for the moment but she is still retaining about 15 pounds of water in her abdominal cavity. It's so hard to see, yet she still has her spirit about her. I can't wait to see her chase her favorite ball again or wrestle the Forrest dog! We have hope again.

I found a homeopathic vet in Lynchburg VA who also practices standard veterinarian care. Given that Annie is a liver patient, there is very limited knowledge of treatment and available medications. Right now she is on a blood pressure medication that is supposed to have a diuretic affect. It has not really helped and causes her electrolytes to be out of whack. I have done countless hours of research online and in medical journals and wish that I knew half this info when we first found out about her condition in December.

We have an appointment with Dr. Sydney on Monday morning. I believe he is really going to work with us. So I am excited and have not lost hope.

As far as knitting news. I wore my Wicked sweater on January 19th to my Mom's birthday. She loved it so much that I am now going to make her one...after I finish a second one for me. I also still have Arisaig on the needles and just ordered yarn to make Tino an argyle vest. He's so excited about it. It took me forever to find just the right pattern. It had to be modern, able to cross in the realms of punk/metal...to be worn with his favorite band tees one day and dress pants the next. And after many runners up the winner is Hyland Argyle Vest by Tara Jon Manning.