:/

Lots has been going on since last I wrote, and I don't really want to go into much detail now. Pene came down with some respiratory crap 11 days ago and hasn't done well. She's lost four pounds since we got her because she has no appetite (except for the occasional peanut butter blob or piece of turkey) and she's extremely congested. Oh, and she had tapeworms a while back, which are thankfully gone. She just went back to the vet last week and got on stronger antibiotics but they didn't do a thing. So this morning she was hospitalized and is receiving IV fluids, two kinds of antibiotics, breathing treatments, and hopefully lots of TLC. They are testing her for distemper and we'll know in a few days what the results are - keep your fingers crossed for 'negative' because otherwise she doesn't have much of a chance. Now that this info is up on my blog I'm somewhat obligated to keep my readers informed on the outcome, so I'll post what we learn when we learn it.

And the other thing going on right now is that grandmother Carolyn had to be hospitalized August 13 for pancreatitis. Enlighten yourself on the condition here. The doctor said something like "people stay hospitalized for pancreatitis to keep them from blowing their brains out because of the pain." It was really hard to see Carolyn hurting so much, and it was touch and go for a while. Cousin Lisa came up from Austin with Miles to help me and Mom and Dad take care of her, and Uncle Mike and Eric drove up a couple days later. After spending the night with Carolyn at the hospital, the stress and lack of sleep made me sick - I had to puke in my purse to avoid vomitifying Lisa's car but I got better. And luckily, so did Carolyn. After nine days in Presbyterian Hospital, she moved to a rehab/nursing care facility to regain her strength, and we're hoping she will get to go home soon.

So yeah, now you all know why I haven't posted too much lately. Blogging is fun most of the time but not really when all sorts of crappy stuff is going on.

I have some bright points to focus on, though. Leslie is coming to Dallas tonight for a visit, staying until Thursday, and Lisa and Miles return to Dallas for a much more laid back trip themselves on Wednesday. Now that Carolyn's feeling better we can enjoy each other's company rather than just wearily lean on each other for support.