I am loving pinterest right now. I am learning so many little tricks and DIY ideas and I am enjoying every second of it! My latest conquest has been little crochet roses.

It was super easy! I just chained 20-30 stitches (depending on how big the flower would be) and then double crocheted all the way across and then squished it all together. Slapped the rose onto some green pipe cleaners and voila! To add a little more whimsy I grabbed a blue knitted block I'd done a while back and added it to the inside of the vase for the water!

I gave these to ricky's sisters for their birthday. Unlike real flowers these never have to be watered and will never die!

Pause

Sometimes I have to pause and remember to appreciate the beauty in my life. All the little things that weigh me down during the day are just that...... Little things.

My dog.....

As you can see, Bruce's favorite place to lay is in a pile of (previously) folded clean laundry...... Good thing he is squeaky clean otherwise he'd be in big trouble right now!!

Take Flight!

A couple days ago my company took us all to an undisclosed location for a re-branding presentation/celebration. Turns out the location was the Museum of Flight. I've never been but always wanted to and I got to go for free while I was being paid to "work" !! The only down side is we had guided tours around the main building and unfortunately our elderly tour guide wanted to share an hour of personal stories and why certain planes were her favorites. So I think I'll want to go back and actually explore.... But I got some really cool photos with my trusty iPhone!

Halloween!

This year, Ricky and I went to a Halloween party as Lucy & Ricky Ricardo! For limited resources I think we did really good! We also dressed Bruce Wayne up as a hot dog ..... Which he did NOT appreciate!!

Glitch!

I've just descovered that my blog posts have not been publishing correctly .... So please excuse the hiatus as I have many blog entries coming!

Rental Hopeful!

I just found an adorable little 2 bedroom house for rent right near the shipyard. So close in fact Ricky could walk to work! It's in our price range and dogs are allowed. It's a little older but I can work with that. I am loving the little porch and the fireplace? Yes please!

1 year ago.

One year ago I married my best friend and the love of my life. I am happier today being his wife than I have ever been and look forward to having babies and going through life with the best and most supportive partner I could have ever dreamed of.



Bruce did what?

Ricky recently picked up the new video game Gears of War III and he was stocked about it, His plan was to come home each day this week and play it, and i was cool with it and let ricky have his "man" time. This evening was the first time he actually had a chance to come home, veg out and play. I went into the bedroom, finished a baby scarf for my niece and caught up on some Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. I came out of the bedroom to tell Ricky good night and he was sitting the couch staring at the tv and Bruce. I asked him why he wasn't playing GoW anymore and he told me Bruce walked over to the xbox, shoved his nose onto the power button, holding it it just long enough to activate the button and turn it off and then looked back at Ricky like "what? I wanna play!!!" Man our dog cracks us up every single day and I am convinced dogs are alot smarter than people give them credit!!

C'mon Fall!

I love Fall. It's my very favorite season.

I love the changing colors... makes everything look like it's on fire with life.



Fall clothing... boots, tights, cardigans, scarves......Swoon!





And then there's the decorations...

Who doesn't love fall!!! I'm ready for it!

Sunday at the Park... with Bruce!

We took Bruce to Lions Feild and our puppy had the time of his life! Such a happy furbaby!



On another note.... I love my new camera.... just sayin!

Willpower

I have to say I am impressed with my willpower. I wanted some chicken teriyaki like it was going out of style tonight. When I say wanted it, it's like I could almost taste it in my mouth. But after talking to Ricky (who is not really sticking to the plan) I decided it's not worth it. So I fired up the blender and made a smoothie from juice of carrot,spinach, and celery blended with blueberries, black grapes, and organic peaches! I have discovered that the celery juice is really strong no matter what you put with it, so if you ever juice that, just beware.

Steady downhill grade!

I started a smoothie "diet" plan, which I kind of made up myself with the help of the documentary I mentioned in this post. I have a veggie/fruit smoothie for breakfast, a healthy lunch, and then another large smoothie for dinner.

In 3 days I've lost 6.4 pounds!

I am excited because not only is this really easy to do, but I can definitely see myself doing smoothies for a least 1 meal a day for a VERY long time. It's more of a lifestyle change and I am getting all the vitamins I need so it's quite healthy! I don't have a countdown on when I am going to stop this phase, just going until I get sick of it or I reach my goal, which is 80 lbs (big number I know). Whew!

Must See!

Anyone struggling to lose weight, be healthy, or want to watch an inspiring documentary, turn on your Netflix and watch Fat Sick & Nearly Dead. A man goes on a 60 day juice "fast" which is all fresh fruits and veggies and exercises, and loses a ton of weight and is able to get off all of the medication he has needed to take. He gets blood tests taken regularly to make sure nothing in his body is reacting negatively and it doesn't - in fact it is working better than it ever has! He shares his journey and inspires someone else and the results are nothing short of fantastic. They are also supervised by doctors and are not starving their body of anything and the doctors recommend it. I'll be starting my 60 days on the juice when I get back from California, and I am so excited!

Loss is always difficult.

I've decided I shouldn't neglect this little space on the web of mine anymore. So many things have happened during the past two months......the most dramatic and devastating event was the passing of Ricky's grandmother at the beginning of June. I am not going to go into detail about how she passed, just that it was an extremely unexpected and then long process, heart wrenching, emotionally tearing, and she will be missed a great deal by all who had the honor to know her while she was here on earth. She was one of the most kind women I have ever come to meet and I will truly miss the warm hugs and wonderful smile I was greeted with each and every time I saw her. She treated me as one of her own grandchildren and loved me just the same and I loved her as well.

Due to her passing, we ended up taking a 1.5 week trip to Houston for the burial and family time, which was wonderful because I hadn't met many of Ricky's family and it was also great to spend time with the ones I knew. More later on this trip.

R.I.P Grandma Dominguez. Heaven is sweeter with you in it.

Tugs @ The Heart #1

I haven't posted in awhile, and will update everyone on what has happened recently that has pretty much put everything on hold for the past 2 weeks a little later, but I would like to start something new on my blog. Taking cues from my dear friends Sarah & Sara, and the "series" posts they have been implementing on their own blogs, I have been inspired by wanting to share some of the stories I read often that don't get a ton of attention on the 5 pm news because, well, they are positive, heart warming, good deed types of stories. I'll share uplifting links, stories, posts, or anything else the "Tugs @ The Heart".

The first one I'll share is Alice's Bucket List. This is a 15 year old little girl who started her blog because she has terminal cancer and she had a list of things she wanted to do before she died. She said the blog was for family and friends to keep up on how she was and her journey and her first post was June 6, 2011. In 3 short days her blogs has been read by THOUSANDS of people, and by the generousity of people her bucket list is getting crossed off one by one. I am personally excited for her and am going to be following her journey.

I'm a cheater... and I'm kind of glad.

Today I didn't wake up and think to myself, "Today, I will cheat". But that's what I did. And to be honest, I don't necessarily feel all that bad about it. Let me explain.

I have been on the HCG diet for 20 days. For anyone who has ever been on this diet I think they will agree with me whole-heartedly when I say it is incredibly difficult. It's not the lack of calorie consumption but the very restricted meats, veggies, and fruits you are allowed. It leaves very little in the way of variety. I was in all honesty getting bored. I had gone 20 days without cheating a tiny bit, not even in seasonings. I have spent 20 days saying no to dinner invitations with family or coffee with friends because I have such a restricted diet it is impossible to go out. Today, my office decided to treat all of us to pizza for lunch. As soon as I got the OK to send in the order, something inside my head snapped and I decided I am going to have some pizza today. One meal, for me this time, will not be the be all end all of my diet. I was tired of feeling like I always have to say no. So, I had some pizza, and of course didn't feel all that great. It tasted good don't get me wrong, but I didn't physically feel great for the rest of the day. I was sleepy and all around blah.

Having that pizza actually made me realize even more than before that I am eating to live, not living to eat. 20 days ago, I would have eaten a ton of pizza, topped it off with soda and then had something fattening and nasty for dinner! Today I came home and am not hungry at all. Instead of laying on the couch, I got up and did some exercises games on the Kinect and then did a mile on the elliptical. Having that pizza made me realize that all of the fattening things I have been dreaming about being able to eat once I am off HCG are not worth it. They don't make my body feel good because there is nothing nutritional about them. All my cravings that have been in the back of my mind for the last 20 days are gone. I don't want the sugar, cheese, butter, or chocolate. Even the thought of soda is repulsing me right now. Experiencing how my body feels on healthy foods in a direct comparison with the unhealthy is a world of difference and such a wake up call. I have come to the realization that I am not depriving myself, I am allowing myself thrive instead.

For me, cheating today actually was a positive thing for me and my entire outlook on this weight loss journey. I have been saying "No thank you, I can't have that" and from now on I'll be saying " No thank you I would like to have a healthier option."

I do not regret doing this diet, and I know I have the will power behind me to finish these last 23 days and way beyond!

The big 2-0

I hit it! This morning my total tally weight loss on day 18 was a wonderful 20.2 lbs lost! I can actually say I am thrilled. I know it's a drop in the bucket compared to the 100 I would eventually like to lose but it's my first big milestone. With any other diet I've done I've quit by this point. Never have I made it 18 days on such a strict diet ( or even a relaxed diet for that matter) and not cheated at all. When I cook for other people ( mothers day or a dinner for others) I usually taste to make sure it has the right flavor but for 18 days I haven't even done that! I have cooked by smell and that's about it, not once sampling the meal.
I am really proud of myself and I can't wait to finish off these last 25 days and hopefully be 40 pounds lighter!

Yesterday's food
4oz chicken breast, sliced tomato, and apple for lunch
4oz lean 97% beef homemade patty and tomato for dinner
3+ liters of water through out the day, which I need more of.

HCG; Week Two

After today, I have completed week 2 on the HCG diet! I had a rough week and hit a substantial stall for a good part of the week. I do have to say even while I was stalling, I didn't cheat. Not one single time! It is much easier to stick to the restrictions when the weight is dropping at 2+ lbs a day, but I really overcame my worst day yet yesterday. I was moody, tired and just having a blah day and all I wanted was a pack of frosted zingers and a small bag of movie theater popcorn. All day long I craved it, badly. I made it through without those and stuck to it, and I was rewarded with a 1 lb weight loss this morning.

Today I discovered Shirataki Tofu noodles (which are allowed because they are basically nothing) and have had those with both meals today. YUM

In other news, Ricky has decided to join me on HCG. He has loaded the past two days and is currently preparing to start the VLCD (very low calorie diet) tomorrow.

Sorry this entry is so short, but In the next few days I will share some recipes I have found quite tasty, and HCG friendly, so stay tuned!

Here is to a fabulous upcoming week. This is the week I am going to up and over 20 lbs lost, I can feel it! 18 AND COUNTING!

HCG; Week #1

As I mentioned before, I have started the HCG diet.  For those of you that don't know what the HCG diet is, it's simply a very low calorie restrictive diet paired along with HCG, either in pill, drops, or injection form. Before everyone freaks out, I am not doing the injections, I am doing the oral drops.  I purchased them at Maxx Nutrition in Silverdale and they answered my questions for about 45 minutes and were very knowledgeable.

You stick to this diet and the HCG for a maximum of 43 days, and then you need to take a 3 week break and then can start another cycle if you have more weight you want to lose. I take 5 drops under my tongue 4 times a day for a total of 20 drops. Also, at the urging of the worker at Maxx Nutrition I purchased some "Green Zone" which is a powder that you add to water to make sure you are getting all of the vitamins you need no matter what.

I have tea for breakfast and then at about 9:30 am I drink the green zone stuff. The green "goop" as I call it is not exactly delicious looking, but it actually doesn't taste bad.

I'll take another set of drops around 11 am, and then at 11:30 am I'll have lunch. My lunch usually is the same as my dinner and consists of one 4 oz serving of protein, 1 serving of vegetable, and 1 serving of fruit. I have this twice daily and drink a ton of water. I have been sticking to kale and tomatoes as my vegetable and I can choose from an apple, orange or strawberries as my fruit serving.



These were my "chicken tacos" for May 5th.
I was attempting to be festive!

Overall, it has been hard to stick to the diet but for a week straight I have been seeing fantastic results. This morning when I weighed, I didn't lose anything which is the first time that's happened, but in 8 days I've lost a total of 15 POUNDS!

I know if sounds crazy and it kind of is, but I feel pretty much normal. I haven't had really any side effects and I know some of you consider this an incredibly risky diet. My response to that is, until you try it you have no idea how it is going to make you feel. I don't believe it is more risky to my health than staying the size I was. That weight is so unhealthy and is causing my body damage every single day. I feel great on this diet. Granted I am going to come off of it in 35 days, but when I do I will have a new habit of eating a veggie and fruit with each meal and I will be accustomed to leaner meats. I will still splurge occasionally but I will keep with my good eating habits.

So, my goal for 43 days was 40 lbs lost. I've lost 15, so I've got 25 more to go!

HCG

Today I bought HCG drops. I have been talking about it for a few weeks, then I had the episode with my back and then I was just downright procrastinating. Tomorrow is the day I start. May 2- June 13. Wish me luck!

Oh So Easy Mac & Cheesy

I love Mac & Cheese. I love the stuff out of the box just as I love the gourmet fancy stuff. Last night I made some baked mac & cheese and everyone in the house loved it. The beauty is - it was super easy!

I used only what I had left over from other dishes and I will be the first to let you know, it's probably not the best choice for a healthy dinner, but it is a little less fat and all the comfort!

Saturday in the Sun

Saturday was BEAUTIFUL. Not too hot, not too cold and glorious sunshine. We went over to Ricky's parents house, and because it was nice we thought we'd bring Mr. Bruce. The boys decided the weather warranted a game of Pop Fly Frisbee, and Bruce wanted to join.

Waiting for dad to throw the frisbee.




Running to the other side of the street trying to get
to the Frisbee before the other guys got it.

 

He decided when they guys got crazy, he'd just watch.

He got it once or twice, and then just stood on top of it.

He took a ton of breaks... his legs are little!!! :-)

Makes me pretty excited for summer!

Playing Pretend

I am not all that experienced at photography, but I do love it. If I could I would spend all day, everyday taking pictures of anything I could find. I was lucky enough to be able to take some photos for a friend of mine of her adorable son Desmond. Let me tell you even though he is shy, once he shows off those pearly whites, you melt a little inside! His momma better watch out - he is going to be a heart breaker! Here is a preview.

See I told you, HEART BREAKER.



Take 2

Well, my back as of tonight is doing better but I had quite the episode this morning. I decided that I was going back to work (had been out Tuesday &Wednesday) this morning and I had to drive in. I decided to hold off on taking the pain meds until I arrived in fear my driving would be "impaired". Turns out this was not such a good idea. By the time I arrived at work, I was in full on spasms and in tears when my co-workers got in. They were all very supportive and let me cry it out and not judge me (which they never do, I love those ladies!). My mom called to check up on me and I was in a ton of pain, which she could tell by my voice. She made me an appointment with her (and Ricky's) doctor for 10 AM to make sure it was nothing more than a severe back sprain/spasm. While in the waiting room I had a massive spasm and had to sit there and wait for it to pass until I could move again.

After a quick exam, everything but a "very nasty muscle strain" was ruled out. She sent me home with more pain pills and a physical therapy referral. The physical therapy was optional but she told me if I do that, it will probably heal more quickly.

I decided to go home instead of return to work because I was still in a ton of pain. I read somewhere that your muscles need TONS of "moisture" to heal, so I decided to drown my muscles to try and get them to heal faster. I have drank 3+ 1 liter bottles of smart water and intend to hopefully drink 3 more before bedtime. We'll see if that works!

I've fallen and I can't get up

My lower back has been nagging me with aches for the past 2 weeks. I think I somehow tweaked it doing laundry or some other household chore. I have just been popping some advil when it is really bothersome and going about my day. My loving husband scheduled me a massage for Monday night and I was looking forward to feeling normal again all day.

During the massage I could feel my muscles loosening and as far as I knew when it was over I was going to be good as new. To my surprise (and panic) when I tried to sit up and get off the table, I couldn't. I fell back down onto the table and thought, "ok that was weird, I'll just push through it I must be sore." Tried again and no luck. After several minutes I was able to seal crawl (that's the best way to describe it) to the bench. I was able to put my regular clothes back on for the most part but my whole body was shaking and my whole back felt like ripples of pain shooting through it. The massage therapist asked me if I was ok, and I told her to come in and let her know I couldn't move. After a couple more tries, I got back on the table and she placed an ice pack on my back. Ricky called me during this time and I told him he needed to come to where I was. When he got there, he basically had to force my body into the upright position and carry / drag me to the car. The pain was so intense just from that short distance I was squeezing his had so hard in the car that my whole left arm went numb and started to tingle. We drove straight to the ER and he put me into a wheelchair. I could sit to the side and lean over for the most part, but if I moved my back would start spasming.

After about an hour sitting in the same position, my back would spasm if i did nothing but breathe in deeply. Ricky's mom and brother were in the area and they came and kept Ricky and I company. It was nice of them to come and kept me semi distracted until I finally got a room. Julia (my mother in law) has had a lot of experience with pain management in the past and knew the questions to ask the nurse and the doctor. I eventually got a shot of Dilaudid while there and sent home with pain meds, muscle relaxers, and anti inflammatory meds. That shot basically knocked me out cold, physically and mentally. Once it kicked in fully I was home and trying to eat a piece of bread and I just couldn't do it. Trying to get my brain to tell my throat muscles to work just wasn't happening and I ended up almost choking twice. I started to drift into sleep but kept being woken up because my skin was extremely itchy.

As of now I am doing better. I have been in bed basically two days straight and am really looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow. I can walk, but very slowly and it's more of a shuffle than a full walk. I'm just going to have to take it easy for a few more days and if it's not better by Monday I have to get a referral for physical therapy.

The doctors still don't really know what happened besides just telling me they think that my muscles are just "angry". I am hoping they cheer up soon!!

Obsessive

I know, I changed the blog layout again. Sorry. I can't help it, it's a little problem I have and I become a little obsessed about it. I found this adorable spring layout, and considering mother nature has decided to make it winter again, I made it spring on my blog :-)

What a World.

In light of what is going on around the world, I have to look at my husband, family, and friends and realize I am truly blessed. I got to work this morning and read all about the newest earthquake (7.4 in case anyone hasn't heard) and tsunami warning that has just been issued for the very part of Japan that was demolished just a month ago. I have now heard about the large earthquake in Mexico today, as well as the shooting in Brazil. I could make this blog about everything bad that is going on in the world right now and run out of space to type.  

I have to remember to count my blessings while I still have them. At any moment something could happen to me or god forbid my husband, family, friends, or anyone for that matter. None of us know what the future holds and we sure as heck don't know when our number is up. I am going to try my hardest to live in the moment. I get caught up so easily in my day to day life figuring there will always be a tomorrow. With everything going on around the world, I have no idea if any of us will actually have a tomorrow. There are so many things far beyond our control. I don't know if I believe that the world is going to end December 12, but if it does, I want to be able to know I lived my life.

Travis! Travis! Travis!

Tonight my mom, my mom's friend Jill and my friend Holli are all going to have a girls night out. Travis Tritt is going to be at the Emerald Queen Casino in concert, and to be honest I think he better watch out for us crazy chics! I've loved his music since I was 9 or 10, and he has some great songs. Just for fun, this was one of his most memorable songs/videos. Sad, but so good!

Clear Creek Trail Opening!

 In the past couple of months, my mom and I have been going to Clear Creek Trail in Silverdale early Sunday mornings for an extended walk with the pups. Since we started going, most of the trail down by the skate park has been fenced off, so we have stayed on the shorter, one way, paved path. Much to my surprise when I went out there Friday after work with my friend Holli and her children, the fenced off portion was open and packed with families and dogs! We completed a one mile loop, which is definitely on the shorter side of the many loops and paths you can do but it felt nice to get some fresh air. Of course Bruce didn't get to make the journey this time, but when he is back to normal I think he will love the new territory to explore! I need to get out there more often considering I have a 4 mile run I need to get in shape for by July!

Some people find this ugly, I think it's beautiful.

When you are on the trail, you don't even realize you are in town!

Run Cailyn, run!

Hannah Montana went for a jog with us as well! ;-)

Update on Bruce

Here's a quick update for those of you who want to know about my baby Bruce Wayne.

He is feeling pretty well considering and the first evening home he wanted to be on us or on the couch next to us cuddling with anything that had a scent of home, which we were more than happy to let him do. We decide it was better for him to sleep in a crate for a while to keep him confined and out of trouble. My mom brought over the crate she had purchased for her dog a while and it was plenty big for Bruce to have room to wander around.

Sleepin' on the couch.

He was drugged out, scared, and upset that he was in this big box. I put the crate right next to the couch (where I would be sleeping for the night) with the TV on so he wouldn't think we were just shoving him out here alone, and that just didn't go well. He must have though since I was next to him if he cried enough I would let him out.

poor puppy - he HATES the cone of shame.

HOURS went by and his cries never lost steam. I tried putting a blanket over his crate at about 1 AM so that it was darker and he might just go to sleep. Imagine my relief when he did stop. I finally started to drift off at about 2 AM. Just as I felt myself falling asleep, the crying started up again. I climbed into bed at about 4:30 AM with earplugs to try and get a few hours of sleep.  

He was totally giving us dirty looks.

Wednesday I stayed home from work so I could monitor him. He was on medications which gave him a false sense of "everything is great!" and he was jumping up on the couch, running, standing, basically anything they tell you not to let them do, he was doing. It was a beautiful day and he loves the outside, so I let him out on his lead to enjoy the sunshine. It's a short lead so he can't really run or jump on anything out there.

He looks so funny with that cone. It's like a cheap lampshade!

By the end of the day, his incision was definitely agitated and swollen. We made the tough decision to keep him crated for 80% of the time, only coming out to get some extra lovin' if he stays calm, food/water, and potty. It's been pretty tough because he is definitely sad in there, but it is what's best. Yesterday (Thursday) afternoon, I looked at his incision and it was worlds away from what it was the night before, which thrilled us. Bruce doesn't understand why he is not given free range of the house like normal and doesn't understand why he can't stretch up and look at the window and to be honest I felt really bad for getting after him for things that normally wouldn't have been an issue. The crate has provided us with the sense of security and safety for him and us.

I realize he looks aggressive here, he wasn't. He just
doesn't photograph well I guess!

He was able to come out for a little while last night and wanted to play. I played with him very gently and just kind of let him "mouth" a toy ring without having him play tug of war or anything with it, and I think he really enjoyed the "play time" even if it was really subdued. He cuddled with the toy ring later that night in his crate :-).

The crying for the past 2 nights has subdued somewhat, I think mainly because he knows we are going to get him out through out the day, but it's still tough. He goes to the vet's office tomorrow to get his pain patch off his leg and they will check him out and make sure everything is healing as it should - fingers crossed!





Oh Bruce Wayne.

UPDATE-- Bruce is out of surgery is doing really good. They did tell me that they didn't find any additional objects besides the one he passed this morning, so Ricky and I are going to have some serious questions as to why they elected to do the surgery anyways. I've read up on the "exploratory adominal surgery" that apparently is quite common and most of the time comes back negative or inconclusive. The vets do it simply to err on the side of caution and to rule out other problems becuase if they dont and they miss something, it could easily cause death. We are frusterated that this whole thing is gonna cost us $1400 (or more, final cost is not in yet), and is causing lots of discomfort and pain for Bruce, and still didn't tell us anything. When it's all said and done, all I want is my furbaby back to normal, healthy, and back at home with us.

 -------------------------------------------------------------------

So, if you are friends with me on Facebook {if you aren't you should be!} I am sure you have noticed I've been posting about Bruce and his "emergency" trip to the vet. I've had a ton of people ask me what his status is, what happened, etc so I'll tell everyone here.



Yesterday morning, about 6 am I took him on a walk outside like normal. He vomited a little on his walk which sometimes he does if his belly is full of water and he runs around. I got him back to the house, and he continued to vomit off and on. Nothing he was throwing up was solid though, it was a white frothy/foamy liquid. He was walking really slowly and obviously did not feel good. We thought he just ate something that didn't agree with him and he would be fine. I went to work for a meeting I had to attend, and then asked to go home and check on my dog, which was fine by them. When I returned home, at first I couldn't find him. Usually he greets me at the door jumping up and down, but he wasn't there. I called for him and he didn't answer. My heart sank. 

This is how I found my baby.

I eventually found him in between the wall and the elliptical machine by the door. In the almost 3 hours since I had left he had gotten much worse. He was drooling like crazy (which he doesn't do at all normally) and from the small piles of foamy liquid all over the floor, he had not stopped throwing up.  I called the vet, they had an opening for 3 pm so I took it. During this time I tried to get him to drink water because I was pretty sure he was dehydrated and I made him plain rice and he wouldn't take anything, which is really unlike him. His condition worsened pretty rapidly and at about 12:30 pm, he was yelping every time he moved and then it turned into yelping while he wasn't moving too. I went to pick him up to hold him and felt his stomach was expanded and hard as a rock. When I held him in my arms he was basically completely limp, his upper body kind of hanging out of my arms like he had no strength to hold himself up. I grabbed my keys and ran out of the house immediately. I got Bruce in the car and he just laid on the backseat like he could care less where he was or what he was doing. I started crying of course because I thought, well this is it. He is gonna die. I drove to the vet's office and asked them where I should take him for an emergency visit because I thought he wasn't gonna make it to 3pm. They gave me a referral and I was gone. By the time I got back to the car Bruce was up on the armrest of the front seat staring at me. I sat in the car for a few minutes and watched him. He was walking around, still obviously sick, but would lay down in one spot for a few minutes, move and then lay there. He wasn't screaming out in pain anymore, so after talking with Ricky and my mom, I decided I was just gonna drive around with Bruce in the since he was more comfortable in here.

Laying on the front seat floor board.

My mom told me to go to Starbucks, get a coffee and wait it out, so I did. Bruce always wants to drink my coffee so I got a little cup of ice water for him. I let him see the cup with the lid on because I was trying to trick him into htinking he was getting something he normally would not. it worked and he started drinking the ice water.

He didn't drink a bunch, but he was drinking it. I decided to avoid a $3000+ emergency pet hospital bill and wait it out until 3, but keeping a close eye on him the entire time. I got to the vet about 2:30 and they took him right in. The vet pretty much knew right away that he probably had an obstruction of some sort, and they sent him for xrays.

The xrays showed he actually had two blockages, one in his small intestine and a larger one in his stomach. He needed surgery because of the risks of the foreign objects in his body and how sick he was.

We had to leave him overnight at the vet;s office so he could have an IV to get him hydrated as well as get some pain meds to make him more comfortable. I spoke with one of the nurses this morning right before 10 AM and she told me he actually did pass the object that was in his small intestine, but the large on in the stomach was not budging so they needed to take it out. We also elected to have him neutered at the same time to avoid anothoer surgery/recovery time.

I will update as soon as I hear he is OK. The vet told us yesterday it could take 3-4 hours and we are rapidly approaching hour number four. Needless to say my stomach is in knots.