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