Sunday, February 24, 2013

No more headaches!

My headaches seem to be gone.  They stopped a day or two after I started taking magnesium.  If I knew before that would do the trick I could have saved myself weeks of daily headaches and a trip to the ER! 

It snowed in Tucson on 2/20.  It came in two big waves.  Probably one of the biggest snowstorms in Tucson history.  Of course it did not stick for long and the temps have already started to rise, but it was a sight to see. 

I went to the Tucson Botanical Gardens on 2/22 to see the butterflies.  I love that exhibit.  First I met Paul for lunch at Olive Garden....Nathan was in school.  It was a great day.

Paul took Nathan to a U of A basketball game yesterday, 2/23.  They are still a little loud for Nathan so he did not enjoy it much, but they did have a dog show during half time that got his attention. 

Today we did not make it to church because Nathan has been sick the last few days.  He has a runny nose and a sore throat.  Of course he keeps saying he is not sick, but mommy and daddy know better!  We thought it would be best for him to stay home today.  I think Paul will be taking Bella to her training tonight.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Married for 10 years!

I took Nathan to the zoo on 2/7.  He behaved much better this time around. 

On 2/9, we took the dogs to the vet.  Their physical exams went well.  Tulla weighs 48 lbs and Bella weighs 83 lbs.  They said Tulla should weigh about 45 lbs and Bella should weigh about 75 lbs...they need to lose weight!  When we went to leave, there was a small dog outside the room.  Bella immediately ran up to it.  We were not sure what she was going to do so Paul tried to intercept.  Her collar came off so he ended up picking her up and taking her to the car.  We bought her a full body harness that day.  We tried it out and she did much better with it on.  We also scheduled them for their teeth to be cleaned on 3/2 because they had some tarter. 

On 2/10, we took Bella to her first training session.  As we were walking in to Petsmart she tried to get to another dog that was coming out.  The trainer was right there so with the harness and her help we got her to the training room.  She said that Bella has a mild case of aggression with other dogs.  Meaning she does not bark, growl or foam at the mouth.  She also did not bother the trainer at all when she tried to intervene.  Training went well and even Nathan got to help.  We got clickers and worked on getting her to sit and to look (at us in the eyes).  The trainer also mentioned that she does not think Bella will ever hurt Nathan.  She can tell that Bella loves him and does not seem to mind when he gets too rough (although we are working on him being nicer to the dogs and he is getting better). 

Bella turned 5 years old on 2/11!

I got a massage on 2/13!  It hurt like heck and he only concentrated on my neck, shoulders and back.  He did so because I was still having the daily headaches.  Even though it was painful I am sure it did some good.  I hope to go back once a month. 

Valentine's Day I lost a good friend.  She and I were friends since high school.  We were even roommates one year in college.  Never in those 20+ years did we ever have any fights or anything.  But, she recently joined facebook and her and I had a argument on facebook.  I made a post and she made what I and my friends interpreted to be very rude comments.  She ended up unfriending me that night and deleting all of her comments on my post.  I really was not going to take it that far.  I let her know that I was not happy with what she was saying to me, but I was not going to end our friendship over it.  It saddens me.  But, it is what it is so I just need to let it go.  I have become closer friends with "old" friends on facebook and they have been wonderful to me during this difficult time in my life.  So facebook and my overuse of it is not so bad and I feel truly blessed for the friends I do still have...just wish I could see them more because they all live far away (most back in the Chicago area). 

2/16 Paul took Nathan and out to Catalina BBQ for an early anniversary dinner. 

2/17 was our 10 year anniversary!  I can't believe it has been 10 years and that Paul has stuck with me this long!  We went to church.  After church we went to Boston Market for lunch.  That evening we went to Petsmart for Bella's 2nd dog training.  Unfortunately, the trainer did not show.  We found out that she went out of town for the weekend and must have forgotton about our appointment.  They were nice about it, though, and gave us two bags of free treats along with a bottle of water.  The trainer ended up calling yesterday and said she would give us an hour of free training, but I don't know if we will take her up on that.  Our first session was only supposed to be a half hour, but we kept her more like an hour.  While we were waiting there to see what was going on with the trainer, we tried to do a little training with Bella.  There were people walking by with small dogs so she was getting distracted and not really doing well with the training because of it.  However, she reacted better than we expected with the other dogs so close by.  One man even walked by with a bird on his shoulder.  It got her attention, but she was good.   

Paul ended up buying me sapphire earrings, a necklace and a ring for Valentine's Day and our anniversary.  He also bought me flowers.  He has been so good to me lately. 

Paul took yesterday, 2/18, off from work to celebrate our anniversary just the two of us.  Nathan went to school so Paul and I went to the Desert Museum.  The weather was perfect and we had a nice time.  We do not get many days like that to spend just the two of us.  Paul thinks he should take more half or full days off once in awhile on days when Nathan is at school so we can spend more time together. 

So, it has been busy....I also have still been dealing with the daily headaches.  Paul called his dr to reschedule an appointment and he asked them if they would accept me as a patient.  They said they would ask the dr and let him know.  They told me that the first time I called, too, but never called back.  As suspected, they have not called him back either.  However, my hairdresser gave me the name of a couple of drs that her family uses so I am going to look into them.  Surprisingly, I have not got a headache yet today, but lately these headaches seem to be happening later and later in the morning....so it may still hit.  I started taking magnesium yesterday per a friend's suggestion and I am taking my daily vitamin again...still drinking water, too...so I am hoping all of this helps.  I did my workout on the bike as well this morning.  I would love to be able to get rid of these headaches or at least figure out what is triggering them. 

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

What an exciting weekend

So the last week of January, following my flu, I started to get daily horrible headaches.  They happened multiple times a day and they became more and more intense.  On Friday, 2/1, I tried to call Paul's new doctor to get an appointment.  They told me they are not accepting new patients!  I asked if they would make an exception since my husband is a patient.  They took down the info and told me they would contact me if they accepted me.  It is now Tuesday and I have not heard back so I assume the answer is no.  I guess I should have called a long time ago when I was first referred to him, but I dread going to the dr and I never thought that he would not be accepting new patients, especially since Paul just saw him for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  On Saturday, I had another horrible headache early in the morning.  I ended up going to the ER.  They did a CT scan and it came back normal.  They concluded that these are tension headaches.  They prescribed me some medicine and so far it has been helping...I have avoided any major headaches.  The test will be when I stop taking the medicine, but since I broke that cyle of daily headaches I am hopeful that they won't get that bad again.  Somehow, though, I need to control my stress.  I have no idea how I am going to do that.

Sunday, Paul and Nathan took the dogs for a walk.  Our dogs were on a leash, but a smaller dog who was not on a leash came running up to Bella.  Bella went into defense mode and attacked the dog.  She had it in her mouth shaking it all around.  She would not listen to Paul to drop the dog.  He had to physically get her to let go of the dog.  It was traumatic for Paul.  We ended up going to Petsmart and talking to some people, particularly one of their dog trainers.  Our dog was not at fault.  She was leashed, the other dog was not and that dog approached her.  Furthermore, it could have been an isolated incident considering she had the disadvantage of being leashed when the other dog was not.  Still, it concerns us because we want to make sure she does not do this kind of thing again and that she never hurts any of us.  Nathan is often times picking on the dogs, but so far Bella has been really great with him.  Tulla seems more scared and often tries to get away from him because she is afraid he will hurt her.  So, we signed up for dog training at Petsmart, starting next Sunday, 2/10.  A friend of mine who works with dogs is worried about this trainer, particularly because she is talking about using a muzzle at first.  I hope this training does not backfire and actually make Bella more aggressive.  We are at least hoping that training will help us to get Bella to listen to us because right now she does not listen very well.  She seems like a great dog and I know moving in with a new family is an adjustment for us all so we are hopeful that this will all work out.  We really do not want to have to get rid of Bella and separate her and Tulla.  We also do not want Tulla to ever turn on Nathan because the trainer is telling us that it is usually the timid, scared ones who become more aggressive when provoked.  I don't know how much stock I put in that considering Tulla has much the same personality as Nina.  Nathan picked on Nina, too, but Nina never hurt Nathan and was a great dog her whole life with us.     

We found out that Bella and Tulla are not up to date on their shots like the previous owners told us.  Thus, we are getting them exams and vaccinations this Saturday, 2/9.  I also looked up Tulla's profile on petfinder.com and they have her listed as a shepherd/pit bull mix.  I think the previous owners were afraid to tell us that she was part pit bull.  It is probably a good thing because after taking Tulla home we realize that she is a real sweatheart.  She is timid and scared, though. 

To make matters worse, the trainer mentioned that Petsmart Hotel will not take a dog who does not get along with other dogs and they do not take pit bulls.  So, when we go to Chicago in May we may have a challenge with their boarding.  Hopefully, training with Bella will help her and we can get her to interact well with other dogs.  As for Tulla, we will just not mention to Petsmart Hotel that she may be part pit bull because to be completely honest we are not sure exactly what kind of mix she is.  Our other alternative is to find another boarding place and the trainer has recommended two or three different ones.  However, they will probably still have to be evaluated by those boarders before they accept them.