What next??

Have you ever had a day where you thought if you walked outside you might get struck by lightning, get hit by a Mack Truck, and get snake bit? Just one of those really, really bad days where everything seems to go wrong; and you are left feeling the need to climb in the nearest hole and hide? Really, I’m not Vista-bound, y’all. But thank goodness Friday is over and done with. It was a truly bad day.

I had been dreading yesterday since Wednesday. My mama had another doctor’s appointment, our Kenzie Mae was having an operation, and I was set to go to a going-away party to someone near and dear to my heart.

I won’t go into all the stuff with mama, considering she’s pretty private. She is in good hands and the tests came back ok. They’re just going to do further testing. The horrible thing about cancer is the fact that even when it’s done, and you think that you or a loved one is finished with all the treatments…there is always stuff that can come up. So, anytime mama goes to the doctor, I (being the worry-wart that I am) feel like I have to hold my breath and brace myself.

Now onto the heartbreaking news of Kenzie Mae (a/k/a Kenzer Mae). Kenzie Mae is my sister’s 1-year old chocolate lab. She hasn’t been doing very well the last few months. She has been losing weight and just mopes around. Dad has taken her to the vet and also had talked to numerous “dog people” about her. The vet (that I would like to throw something at) that is in Williston checked her out a few months ago and diagnosed her with a false pregnancy w/o really checking her out (without really doing anything but collecting a check, but I digress…). We took it at that and continued on. She continued losing weight this summer, which began to concern us even more. We took her back to the vet (Suwannee Valley Vets, which are awesome, if you ever are in need of one) and they found that she had a large tumor inside of her that was pressing against her stomach, liver, intestines, etc. They said that they could do exploratory surgery and see if they could remove it, but the odds weren’t really in Kenzie’s favor. This was risky, considering that she wasn’t in great shape as it was…but it was one of those things where if you didn’t you might always wonder if you could’ve saved her. They started the operation at around 3. Unfortunately, the tumor was too large, and it involved too many blood vessels. The vet said that she had had it for a while, but by the time it would’ve really made itself noticeable, it would’ve already been far too late to do anything about it. I would just like to say this about the vet that did the surgery yesterday-- You know that you have an awesome vet when she calls crying with the news that she couldn’t remove the tumor. She told my mama that she had prayed about the surgery and Kenzie all day, and that she was really upset about it too…she had just recently lost a dog herself. That blessed my heart. Kenzie Mae is very much a part of our family, and it’s heartbreaking to know that we can’t save her. But my philosophy is this: We need to give our loved ones (family, friends, pets, etc.) the best life we possibly can. We’re never guaranteed tomorrow with them. If we know that we’ve done our best and loved them as much as possible, that is going to be a great comfort to us when they are gone. The vet put Kenzie on steroids to see if that would help shrink the tumor. Maybe that will help so that she will be able to have better digestion. They said that she wasn’t in any pain because of it, so they didn’t feel a need to put her down right away. I’m praying the steroids will help her.

I’m going to post a separate blog (hopefully tomorrow) about saying goodbye to the Weave. He was an awesome boss and a good friend to me. It’s been like a band-aid slowly ripping off since Wednesday when I found out that he was leaving. I made breakfast for the Hitchcock’s crew yesterday morning: sausage and cheese biscuits, French puffs, fruit salad, and I also baked an Ooh-la-la Chocolate cake for him. While I was busy preparing all the food, my mind was busy and not really thinking of what yesterday would bring. It hit me as soon as I went in the Hitchcock’s doors yesterday morning. It hurt my heart. Things just won’t be the same at the store, that’s for sure. More about that later, though.

AND to top yesterday off. We got a call at 4 a.m. yesterday morning from my Aunt. She was rushing my grandma to the ER. They were afraid that it was her heart, but it wound up being a gall bladder attack. She’s had her surgery now and is recuperating as we speak.

I Yi Yi. What a day it was yesterday. It was tough, for sure. I’m glad it is over. But I would like to look at the positive here. 1. My mama’s doctor seemed to think that it wasn’t anything super serious. 2. Kenzie Mae is still with us. 3. Spending time at Hitchcock’s yesterday reminded me of all the good times that we all shared there. 4. My grandma’s situation turned out a lot better than it could’ve been. And 5. I was able to have a great dinner with a friend last night and get out all my thoughts and catch up on all the latest gossip AND share a great laugh or two. Thank God for getting us through it.