Potter Christmas

Sisters




Every year around Christmas time we travel from one family to the next. This year we started at my parent’s house and then on Christmas day we drove down to Ohio to see Brandon's parents and family.
We arrived in Michigan on Sunday evening, and were very busy. We got to see a lot of snow while we were up there. Nala liked playing in it. She would bark at us inside because she just wanted to go out and play in the snow. However Brandon didn't like to play in the snow with her. While we were in MI we got to see Wicked. I love that play. A couple of years ago we went and saw the play in Chicago, but it was just us girls. This time I wanted Brandon to go and see it because it’s just so good. I think he enjoyed it. The first couple of days were hard because of Maddie, but when we were busy and our mind was preoccupied. Christmas morning was fun. We got up early and opened our presents, than had a big breakfast before we took off. Here are some pictures of a Potter Christmas!

Back to Reality

Its been almost a week since we took Maddie in, and sent her to heaven. On Dec 19th she wasn't feeling so good. Again she was bleeding inside. That morning I took her into the Vets, and I thought that that evening we were going to have to send her to heaven. When we went to pick her up from the Vets office she wanted to leave, although you could tell she wasn't feeling her greatest. But she greeted some people, was hungry to eat dinner and drink some water. Our Dr. Franks said it wasn't time. She still wanted to be around. So we took her home. Maddie wasn't 100% herself. We wanted her to be able to make it through Christmas. Ever since she came home though her breathing was at a faster pace, she did want to eat and at times she would bark. But you could tell she wasn't feeling the greatest. We were so concerned about her, we didn't want her to be in any pain. Dr. Franks said that it would be good for her to come home for Christmas, to be loved on by so many but that if something was to happen we needed to be ready. We took all her records, ex-rays and all her meds. The drive up to Michigan on Sunday wasn't the greatest. You could tell that at time she was uncomfortable. We stopped every two hours so that she could get out and get some fresh air. When we got to my parents house though she had life in her. She wanted to eat, she found every tennis ball she could in the house. By Monday afternoon she didn't really want to eat. We knew this wasn't a good sign. Then monday evening she was laying in the bathroom away from everyone. We were just hoping that she was just having a bad day. Monday night though, she didn't want to walk up the stairs, or lay in our room. She wanted to lay in the bathroom again. We toss and turned we didn't know what to do. We both didn't want her to suffer. Her breathing was still at a faster rate, and I was so scared that it would come to a point that I couldn't help her. So around 2:15 tuesday morning, I woke everyone up in the house and they all said their goodbyes. We took her into an emergency vet hospital and we knew that it was time to send her to heaven. They brought her into the room on a blanket. I layed down next to her on one side and Nala and Brandon on the other. We kissed her and loved on her. Her breathing started to get faster, so I went out to get the Doctor. As I left the room she rolled on her side and took about 3 deep breathes. The Doctor came in and said she was trying to leave on her own, but that we were just going to help her. Maddie fought until she knew that we were ok to let her go. I wouldn't say we were ok we just didn't want her to suffer any more. My Vet Dr. Franks said she didn't suffer. She was the best Dog that I ever had. She is very much missed. Yesterday was a hard day. We had to come back to reality. Driving home with one less in our family. Nala came into the house, we think she was looking for her but obviously she was no wear to be found. Our house is a little bit quit without her. We can't hear her snoring when she naps, or when she sleeps. Her little feet running on our hard woods, or any of the squeaky toys squeaking. Nala isn't into the tennis balls like Maddie, she rather have a bone. But we know that she isn't suffering, and that she got to have her first Christmas in Heaven. Running around and showing everyone how pretty she is when she runs. She was only 5, and that is what makes it hard. We think about her often, and she will always have a special place in our hearts because she was our first.

Weekend Update

This past weekend, my family came into town. This weekend had been planned since the summer so it was nice since it was around my surgery that they could come. My Dad helped Brandon all weekend in trying to finish up our bonus room upstairs. This project has been on going for over a year and a half. My dad came down in November as well to help us finish the project. When my Dad comes he doesn't stop. That weekend in November that Saturday we worked from 7am until 11pm. We only stopped for meals. We were so tired after he left, but we got a lot accomplished. This weekend we were hoping to have everything done, however with me going to the hospital things were put on hold. So this weekend my Dad and Brandon finished the drywall, trim and painted the room. All that is left to do is carpet and repaint the trim. We went out last night trying to find carpet, let me just say I hate that job. There is so many options out their, I just went around and felt all the samples. I based my decision on touch. Brandon was laughing at me. We did talk to someone who gave us good insight as to what to look for, but I really do hate picking out carpet. We haven't made up our mind yet, we are going to try and do it before we take off for Christmas so we will see. Anyway here are some pictures of my family helping paint this weekend.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let is Snow

Alright well it was about a week ago, but I can still ask for it to snow. We actually got 2 inches of snow last week. Now for some of you that live in the OH, IN, IL, and MI. you are not as excited about snow as we are in Nashville. I don't know if I would say we are excited but its nice to see. The main reason we wouldn't be excited is that we are not equip ed to handle the snow. I kind of live in the country and our roads never see anybody out taking care of the roads! But here is a picture of our house the night it snowed!

Then here is a picture of Maddie and Sarah in the background. My family came into town this weekend for a visit. I will post more about that later. But here is Maddie, if you could pray for her she is receiving her first round of chemo today. Pray that she doesn't feel bad, and that she will do well with the treatment. Nala is with her to help her feel better. I will let you know more when I find out how she is doing.

Just like the movies...

Last Sunday I got to go home from the hospital, and it was a great feeling to be able to come home. My in-laws came last weekend to help Brandon while I was in the hospital. It was so great to have them there to help him and me. All day Saturday while I was in the hospital and Brandon was driving Maddie to the vet, they cleaned my whole house!! What a relief, and a wonderful surprise. They also got all my Christmas decorations and put them up for us. Since we didn't have time before Thanksgiving to put up our tree, so while I was away that weekend they did just that. I was so excited to see everything done. It was kind of like in a movie, you are coming home from the hospital and stepping into your house and all the decorations were put up, the house was clean, the lights were on and things were rearranged! It was perfect. So Dave and Patty, thanks for all your help that weekend I was sick, and helping Brandon around the house. He was happy that he didn't have to wear black socks anymore as well!!!;-)

2nd Part Continued...

Sunday came and it was time for me to go home. However the Doctor wouldn't let me leave until I ate something. Since I hadn't all week. I didn't feel like eating, but I wanted to get home. I ordered oat bran muffins they were hard as a rock, then I ordered apples (I am a picky person and it was a red apple and I don't like them) but I ate two wedges. The last think I ordered was turkey sandwich. It actually wasn't too bad, but I didn't really want it. But I ate half of a half and I was free to go.
When I got home that evening though, I wasn't doing to good. I tried to eat some soup and that didn't stay. They were afraid that I might have to go back. But I went to bed, and nothing else happen and when I woke up Monday morning I felt 100% better. My incision is still soar and healing. I am tired more but I am getting better everyday. I am actually going to head back to work tomorrow for a half day. Then next week I will be back for good.
Maddie on the other hand is doing well. She is acting like her self, and doesn't seem like anything is wrong with her. Unfortunately we know that isn't the case. She has cancer in her liver and they said its spread to her limp nod. Now we are left at wondering what to do. It is a very hard decision. I am a huge dog lover, I love on everyone dog that I see. But Maddie is my baby. Some of you don't understand, but I believe some of you do. I hate it because she is only 5 she is to young to have this happen to her. I always thought she would be around and be able to see our kids. But who knows if that is going to happen. She loves kids; she would be great if we would have had one by now. The decision here is do we do chemo or not. Chemo on a dog is not as bad as it is on a person. But just like a human you don't know if it’s going to prolong her life, or help her cause. If we do decide to do chemo then I don't want to see her get sick like some of them do. It is so hard. So pray that we know what to do about this situation, pray that Maddie can make it through the holidays. It’s just been a bad 4 months. We have been strong through it all, but last night was a long night for me. I know that God would never put us in a situation that we cannot handle, and in 6 months or years down the road we will be able to see his plan unfolding at this time.

Just a bad fourth Quarter.

I am sure you are hearing it everywhere what a bad fourth quarter it has been on the financial sector, and the business world but it seems it did skip over the Hoop's house here in Tennessee.
Brandon started it all in late September, and then Maddie was next at the end of Oct, and beginning of November, and just recently as some of you know I was next to fall. Last Tuesday Dec. 2nd I think I woke up to lower abdominal pain. I told Brandon but we thought it was just a cyst that was bursting on my ovaries. So I got ready for work and away we all went. When I got to work the pain was just not getting any better, I even had to make a trip to the bathroom a couple of times. So I went back home. I tried to take some pain medicine but I was not keeping anything in. If I took two sips of water, up it went a few min. later. I started thinking to myself this might be something different, but again I have thought this before and all I was told was it’s my cysts. Finally around 12 I got up and made it to the bathroom and I was in so much pain I was crawling to the bed because I was in so much pain. This time I called Brandon and told him he needed to take me to the doctor. (One thing some of you don't know is that our insurance is kind of expensive if we need to anywhere, so I am always hesitant about going to the doctor) When he got home I couldn't bend over to put my sock on Brandon had to help me. We were off. We went to an urgent care, and he ran in and asked if they could help. They said I needed to go to the ER. So we did. It probably took about 45min to an hour before I was seen. The pain wasn't as strong but I was shivering and breaking a fever. They said they were going to be running some test; I had to have a CAT scan first and then an ultra sound. The CAT scan was the only way they were going to know if it was really my appendix. I had one of these before and they couldn't tell anything so I was thinking this isn't going to work. When I was wheeled back into the room, a little later they said it’s your appendix and you are going to have surgery. That was a big relief. Someone found the reason for this pain. So that night I had surgery.
They didn't find this out until surgery that it was already ruptured, so surgery was going to take longer and so was recovery. I was in the hospital from Tuesday until Sunday. It was not a fun experience. I am glad you only can have this happen once, if you are so lucky to have this happen. Most of my nurses were great! The night nurses were so sweet. Our family and friends were so thoughtful for sending all the flowers. Everyone would complement them when they walked in the room. It was nice to see something colorful.
Then some more sad news came when I was in the hospital. Maddie our boxer who is only 5 has more cancer in her body. Her liver is pretty bad as well as one of her limp nods. This was a very hard day in the hospital for me. There was nothing I could do, Brandon was off taking care of her and I just had to keep getting up and moving so I could get out of the hospital.
MORE TO COME.....

Another one bites the dust!

Hey Everyone,
This is Brandon and I know Rachel usually communicates our lives to you but yesterday Rachel was having severe stomach pains from her abdomen. In the afternoon we went to the ER and found out she had a bad appendix. About 10:45 last night we found out it had burst. She was in a lot of pain, and quite sore and exhausted today. Keep us in your prayers and keep praying for our family as we have been through a lot with my burns, maddie with her emergency surgery, and now Rachel. Nala is the only well one for now. I will try to keep everyone posted, she will hopefully get to go home on Friday sometime.

The Hoops

2 Months!

Our healthy girl Maddie

Now

now

A week after surgery!

Well today marks the 2 month mark, can't believe its only been two months. A lot of things have changed in our lives and so it seems like its been a lot longer.
First off some of you have asked about Maddie. Well we got some good news last week and the tumor was not cancerous!! Such good news. We were really scared because with a boxer you never know. Boxers are know to have cancer problems. So 4 pathologist checked it and all were in agreement that she didn't have cancer! Which was another blessing.
Brandon is healing nicely. The doctors last week released him to work. Kind of funny since he has been working for over a month now. They also said everything is looking good, and we actually don't have to go back for another 2.5 months now. They said he has good skin and its healing very well.
Just a side note, as you know our jobs are in construction and its all over the news how the construction industry is taking a huge hit. So keep us in your thought and prayers as we are not sure as to what will happen with our business.
Enjoy the recent pictures.

Garments!

This is Nala looking out of the Brandon's back window of the truck he is currently driving.

This is his body suit!
Well this week we took another step forward, Brandon received his compression garments. When he was at the doctor's office they made a comment that it kind of looked like a bra. So I asked him how it felt, and he said like a bra. Then I said how do you know what a bra feels like. Anyway this thing is so tight to put on that it takes us both to pull it on his arm area. His upper arm is still healing it has a couple of burst that are open soars, but they said its just healing. He asked if its because he has been doing a lot of things with it for work. They said are you working?? He said Yes I have been working for about a month now! They didn't like that. They said you weren't suppose to go back to work until you were released! Oh well. So next week he meets with the Doctor to get released to work! hahaha. The OT thought his graph was one of the best he has seen in a while. He said its like a 9 out of 10. So that was nice to hear. Nice to know that its going to look really good when its completely healed. His face is healing still, he just need to continue to wearing the silicon pieces on it when he can.
So here are some pictures of his pressure garment. Remember he could have gotten it made in any color. We picked the most natural one that would match his skin.

Big Sis is watching out

Last week after Maddie's surgery, Nala was so happy to see her when she got home. Maddie and Nala are hardly seperated, since we get to bring them both to work with us. So last week when Maddie was very sick, Nala was kind of depressed we think. That next day after Maddie was seperated again from Nala, she was resting on her blanket and we were both were busy in the kitchen and we looked over and this is what we saw. Nala was concerned and looking after her! How cute they are together.
Maddie is back to her normal self, she is still taking vitamins and antibiotics. She will probably have her staples removed at the end of this week it not at the beginning of next. We also haven't heard anything about her spleen. We pray that it comes back negative.
Enjoy the pictures.

Poor Maddie

After Surgery, was a sweet girl!

Trying to wake up after surgery.

Our Sweet Maddie on Tuesday night was acting really weird. She came home and all she wanted to do was lay down and sleep. She had no interest in eating or drinking, Brandon tried to take her to the bathroom and she didn't want to. So we knew something was wrong. I took her to the vet that morning and her temp was 95.5 and a dog's temp is supposed to be around 100. So immediate they took her into the exam room and put heating pads on her and blankets and towels. We had to wait until the Vet got their to do anything. When he walked in he could tell that she didn't look good. She was very pail and her she looked in shock. He felt around her abdomen and could tell that something was not right. She he took her back to get x-rays and blood work. The moment though he stuck a needle into her stomach he drew blood. So she was bleeding internally. So emergency surgery was a must. Her blood count was really low, so they had to get someone to donate blood. So they got the blood, and surgery was under way. They found out that she had a tumor on her spleen that ruptured. So they had to take the spleen out. Her tumor was the smaller than a softball, but bigger than a baseball. So that is going to be sent to the lab. We won't find anything out for 5 to 7 days. We are hoping for a good sign. After she woke up and was coming back around, she was ready to go. She was standing at the door and was looking at me and saying can we go now!!! I want to leave!
So just keep us in your thought, and keep our Maddie as well. She is 5 and I would love to see her live a lot longer.

Birthday Weekend

Brandon had a birthday this weekend. He turned 28! It was on saturday and his parents came down to help us celebrate. We went to a Japanese Steak house for his birthday, then came back and had cake that night. Everyone got some cake, even the girl got some frosting.

Nashville Services

This commercial is so funny. When you watch it you think is this really on TV? Well it is, it even aired during the Titans game. So here is something that will stick in your mind. All of us at work were talking about it this morning.

http://www.pdqdisposal.com/

Enjoy a good laugh!

Great SNL!!

We though John McCain did a great job, if you didn't get a chance to watch it here you go!

Something to Ponder

Quotes from Gerald Ford

"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have."

Enough Said!

Our Nala

Our Maddie

Doctor's Update

Notice the redness on his neck and behind his ear.


The dark spots are the dead skin that hasn't fallen off yet.






On Tuesday we went back to the doctor, everything is moving along just fine. His arm is healing the area that didn’t take the skin is closing. They hope that the next time what we go in which is the Friday of Halloween, that we won’t need any special gauze or ointments to put on it. One reason we had the appointment on Tuesday was because he had to get measure for his custom pressure garments. He is going to have to wear one from his wrist up to his neck, and it going to be like a vest. It will be like a scoop neck t-shirt on the top and hit below his ribs. It will even cover his other shoulder. It will have a zipper that will be in the front. Remember he has to wear this for 23 hours a day. Basically every hour of the day except when he is showering. We got in it tan, but believe me it was kind of funny. He could have gotten them in any color he wanted, even neon colors! But we stuck with the neutral colors for now. He will get two sets, so when he is wearing one the other is washing. Fun, fun, fun. Their will be lots of laundry to be done over the 2 years!! These only last 3 months, so maybe next time he will pick a different color!
One area that was looking good, and believe me you will think it looks good too but we are kind of concerned about is his neck. It started to get pretty red last week, and we need to watch this area. We are supposed to get a special silicone patch to go on this area to help the healing process. But lets just say workman’s comp is a little slow and is trying our patience. Hopefully we will get this soon. We don’t want this area to start bubbling because that could lead to scarring. So hopefully we will get what we need and the redness will calm down.
So just continue praying for that area, here are some pictures I took this week while we were at the doctors. I see it everyday but I think its best to update the pictures once a week so you can see the difference better!

Chicago in October

My sister learning how to milk a cow.


Just something that was interesting and hard to believe.


The Green House


My Parents at Gino's East.


Got to love Chicago Pizza!


This past weekend we went to Chicago for the weekend. We were curious if we should have gone, but this trip was planned in July. When we were in the doctor’s office we asked and they said they didn't see a problem with him going. So that was good. On Friday we took off and meet my parents at the hotel. When we dropped everything off and headed to Gino's East for pizza! We love Chicago Deep dish pizza. However though we are not Gino's East lovers we are more Giordano's. So we met Sarah their and had dinner. Then after we headed over to Sarah's place. Brandon has never seen her apartment and so we took him over there. He thought it was very nice, and a lot bigger than he thought it was going to be.
On Saturday we got up and got ready. We headed to the Science Museum to see the Green House. I don't know if some of you have seen this on Good Morning America, but it was a house built and its all out of green material and energy efficient. It was kind of funny though because usually when something is made out of green products and energy efficient its high dollar! The first thing they tell you about the house is that they don't know the cost of anything in the house. We thought that was humorous. We also weren't allowed to take any pictures of the house inside. But it was pretty amazing. The only picture we have is of the outside. It was actually outside of the museum. Let me just tell you the museum is huge. I would have taken us 2 plus days to get through it all. We only had time to do this one exhibit. So something we will have to go back to. Oh yeah I forgot we went to the farm exhibit. Where we got to Milk a cow, look at John Deere Tractors, we tried to get Brandon on one to take his picture but he said he could never sit on a john deer. John Deere is only for his friend Daniel.
I will post more later....

Thanks

A friend of ours was so kind to send us a package from Omaha Steaks, let me just tell you they are amazing. We had a couple of steaks last night and they were so good. We were talking last night about it and I said thanks but he has created a big problem!! I think I will have to order more when we can because they were the BEST!!! So if this person read this THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! And if anyone out they’re read this and wonder how they taste! They taste amazing!!

A little easier

Yesterday we went back to the hospital, we had a good report. His arm is healing as well as his leg. I am sure you will be able to tell by the pictures. The good news is that because it’s getting better, there is less stuff we have to do to the areas every morning. On his leg he is wearing a thing called Tubigrip, it’s like a big sock covering the areas. So every morning now we just have to but some think cream on and pull this tubigrip up over his thigh. The PT said he would have to wear this for a couple of months; it’s to help with healing the donor sight and decrease the redness. We also got a tubigrip for his forearm. Again we just have to do the same as the leg. This is a tight garment that goes over the area to reduce the scarring. His bicep and shoulder area though wasn't quit ready for the tubigrip. Because he has a 2 finger size section that hasn't healed yet. You can tell in the picture where this is at on his arm. So we have to continue to use Vaseline type gauze and wrap it in an ace bandage still. Hopefully next Tuesday that will see tubigrip as well. Next Tuesday we have our weekly appointment, and he will get measured for his custom pressure garments.

This weekend since Brandon is recuperating, I decided that I needed to paint. We have a room upstairs that we did some construction on and we are trying to match the paint. So attached is a picture of me painting, my partner decided he could take the pictures!!haha