Hello Happy Pitbulls

Happy Birthday Twitter!

Happy Birthday Twitter!,
originally uploaded by YiyingLu.

I love YiyingLu's artwork, but even more, I <3 Twitter. Happy Birthday!

Carlo's Dog Blog: 4th of July Fun (by: Carlo)

via carlothedog.blogspot.com

I love stories of my favorite working/work dogs :)

Posted via web from @marlinex = geek girl

Time to update your HHP subscription

The end of an era is here.  I have moved my blog over to Wordpress.  I'm still at www.hellohappypitbulls.com, but it you are subscribed to my RSS feed, time to update.  Thanks for visiting.

Standby...

With the digital tv switch occurring yesterday, I decided to have a switch of my own.  I am in the process of converting my Typepad blog which I have had since September 2005 to a Wordpress blog.

Part of this is an effort to gain some new skills with dealing with both Wordpress and Linux, and the other part is about economics.  It's just cheaper to host it on GoDaddy and use a free tool.

Now, for the catch:

I can't configure the new blog until my domain forwarding is reset.  So, while I am still seeing my blog when I got to www.hellohappypitbulls.com, you may be seeing a Hello World post.  So standby.

Herding the Flock

Has anyone tried to use Flock for a browser?  Billed as a social web browser, my husband encouraged me to check it out.

In one browser, I can monitor twitter and facebook, blog directly to my typepad account, and who knows what else.  Just discovered it, so I'll play this weekend.

If you've used it, let me know what you think and how you use it.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: flock, socialbrowser

iPhone Report: 3 weeks out

I bought my iPhone at the beginning of the month, knowing that I'd have plenty of time to play with it while recovering from surgery.

Those of you who have been following my iPhone envy for the past year know that I have been torn about whether to get an iPhone.  I had the opportunity to tamper with a few people's phones and got frustrated with the keyboard (or lack thereof) and my inability to type on the damn thing.  Yet, I was still drawn to it.

Everyone I know who had one raved about how they love their iPhone.  I knew I was missing something.

So here's the verdict:

I love it!  I love everything about it.  Well, I still suck at typing, but that's getting better.  I love the apps. I love that it's my iPod. I love the screen. I love the browsing.  I love the camera.  I love that I can play Mafia Wars on it.  I love that I can get my Netflix, Typepad, Twitter, MLB live games, and more.

Okay, so it's not all true love. Other than the typing, the battery life leaves a bit to be desired, but fortunately, I'm usually around a USB jack or a car charger, so I think I'll be just fine.

Do you have an iPhone? Do you want one?  Recommend any favorite apps? Let me hear from you.

Happy Memorial Day

Every Memorial Day, my neighbor Reid decorates his lawn with his handmade ducks and flags to commemorate this day of remembrance. As a World
War II vet, Reid served in Italy and Northern Africa. He has amazing stories and he freqeuntly participates in memorial services in town. He's a great American.

Thanks to Reid and the men and women who are currently serving, have served or have sacrificed their lives while serving this country.

Tweeting through Recovery

Before I had my ankle surgery, someone suggested via Twitter that I would be dealing with a different type of "recovery.gov" -- a bit of Government 2.0 humor which made me laugh, but I wonder if most people were as amused as I am.

First, an ankle update
I guess we're on day 5 or so, and things are going well.  I'm still having some incision pain that the vicodin and ice are doing a good job of handling, so that's good.  This time around, I haven't been spending a lot of time in the boot, since I have my ankle wrapped up pretty good.  I went to the doctor yesterday and had all the dressing removed and the big reveal showed a clean incision, much shorter than the one on the right, and hardly any swelling or bruising.  Again, I am a total rule follower.  Ice, elevation, medication, and this time - coumadin.

Have any of you ever taken blood thinners before?  I guess this is a new protocol for foot and ankle surgeries due to the frequency of blood clots. I am taking coumadin daily and have to go in to the doctor to have my blood clotting factors monitored weekly, at least until I am up and running around again.  Comes with lots of warnings, including the fact that if I get a bloody nose I have to go to the ER.  Crazy.  No papercuts for me!

So the surgery went really well and overall, there was less issues with my tendons on this foot than on my right foot.  This one had more of the issue with the extra freaky muscle.  They removed 3 cm from that muscle to give my tendons more room to move and then fixed the subluxation so I don't have the snapping over my ankle bone any more.  Depending on how things progress, I'll probably be able to start getting back to weight bearing in about 3 weeks, rather than the 6 weeks originally thought.  This is good! 

I am trying to be careful not to overdo it.  Just because I have been through this before and it's a bit easier this time, doesn't mean it's smooth sailing, so I am trying to take it easy this week.

Next, Gov 2.0 Update
I had the extreme pleasure and honor of appearing on Government 2.0 Radio on Blog Talk Radio with Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist.  First of all, this was Sunday, and I was very hoarse from the anesthesia and groggy from my painkillers, but I was doing my best to stay in the conversation.  Craig is an amazing supporter of the new open government initiatives in the Obama Administration and is looking for cues on how to help promote transparency in Government.  You can see from his blog that this has become a recent focus.  If you have some time to spare, check out the show from Sunday, then listen for future shows.  Host Adriel Hampton is a real mover and shaker in the Government 2.0 community, as well as a candidate for US Congress in California District 10.  He's doing great work in bringing government to citizens of the web and I have a lot of respect for the work he's doing!

More later when I'm less foggy.  Enjoy.

Wide awake

So now that I have slept pretty much through the weekend, I am wide awake at 3:30 in the morning on Sunday.  I am wiped out, but also wide awake.

Even though I have slept all day, Mike insists it's time I sleep now, so he put the TV remote over on his nightstand where I can't reach it.  Which is kind of silly since I'm going to wake him up to ask him for it once I get irritated with Robot Chicken or some other Adult Swim show that's on.

I'm still having a lot of pain along what I think is the incision on my ankle.  As much as possible, I am keeping my foot outside of the boot, unless I start moving around.  We'll see whether I end up in a cast on Tuesday or Wednesday.

So...time to try to sleep again.  Mike's snoring and that's going to be enough to irritate me if I don't fall asleep soon.

Day 2: Foggy

So time for post-party wrap up from my surgery. Here I am...made it through.

I was scheduled to report at 9:30 yesterday and when I got there, I found out there were running 30 minutes late.  They came and got me pretty quick after we arrived and asked me a slew of questions, including the ones about whether I feel safe at home or if I have any domestic issues.  No, she wasn't asked about whether I could cook or not.  After the questions were over, we got sent back out to the waiting room and were told that the case before me was an hour behind.

It wasn't until about 11:30 that I actually got called back to get all changed into my hospital gown and prepped for surgery.  They started an IV and then my doctor came over to talk to me.  Mike and I were taking all kinds of pictures while we waited, killing time with the iPhone.  I actually ended up with the same anesthesiologist from the first surgery (Dr. Hughes) which rocked, because I came out of that one with no nausea.

Eventually they wheeled me back to the OR and they had me participate in the whole physics about how they were going to position me on the table and all that good stuff.  Then I got to hear how Dr. Starkweather almost failed his poetry class and how he was the only guy in the class and how he took it because it was easy.  I was a little too stressed out to follow where that whole conversation came from or was going, but then suddenly I felt that sting in my hand and they put me under.  Thankfully, I missed the rest of the conversation.

Next thing I knew, I was in recovery and my husband was on his way to pick me up. I don't remember talking to Dr. Starkweather at the hospital, but I know I did.

They literally poured me into the car about a half an hour later and then I was home.  I crawled into bed. Mike put an ice pack on my ankle and I popped a couple of vicodin, had some mac & cheese, then fell asleep.  I haven't really slept straight for any long period, kind of drifting in and out of sleep.

Today I am in a lot more pain, probably because they numbed my foot during surgery and it just wore off.  So, I am icing, and vicodining.

The other thing is that I have to take coumadin because they have new protocols for foot and ankle surgery to prevent blood clots.  Not sure if it's the vicodin or the coumadin, but something is making me really itchy.  What I wouldn't give for a nice hot shower.

It's gonna be a few more days before I get that lucky.

More later.  And pix coming to flicker shortly :)

Countdown to Surgery: T-minus 12 hours and counting

I guess it's official.  I have a time to report for my surgery tomorrow morning at 9:30.

I'm trying to remember all the things I did now over a year ago when preparing for my first ankle surgery.  I actually went back to my blog posts from a year ago and it all came rushing back.  The first few days were pretty rough.  I stocked up on snacks, ginger ale, applesauce and all the good stuff for coming off of anesthesia.

It's ironic that my dad is having surgery at the same time (although his is in the hospital and mine is in the surgery center). For those of you wishing me luck, send some luck to my dad.  This is his second surgery this week!  He's been having issues with his dialysis access.  Poor guy.

I will try to keep this blog current with news of my ankle angst, so stay tuned.

Frankendog: a new chapter

Zero post surgery,
originally uploaded by marlinex.

On Tuesday, Zero dog had surgery to remove a golf ball sized tumor of goo from his thyroid. It's preliminarily been deemed to be cancer, but the final labs won't be back for a couple weeks.

Poor boy!

The good news is that the tumor was encapsulated and less vascular than suspected which meant for easier removal and less risk for bleeding. He's been home for the past 6 hours and seems to be resting pretty well (thank goodness for drugs!).

He's the best boy ever. Stay tuned and keep the good thoughts for the boy being rid of the evil c-word.

Welcome home Zero pup!

I give up, fix me.

With my left ankle now going through the same thing my right ankle did just over a year ago, I've decided it's time to fix it.  I have been hobbling around for the past month or so, and the last two weeks back in Das Booty.  It's not getting any better.

I have an appointment wiht Dr. Starkweather at Woodland Health Care on Wednesday to schedule a surgery date.  Today the weather was in the 90s, so the thought of spending the next few months in a boot is not all that pleasant, but I'd prefer that than not being able to walk.

Zero's surgery is scheduled for April 27th, so we'll know more about his situation shortly too.

Happy Pitbull Update

We have some good news back on Zero.  Additional tests confirmed thyroid cancer, but also confirmed that he's in pretty good shape with no signs of spread to his lungs.  We're waiting to hear from the soft tissue surgery folks at UC Davis to schedule a surgery to remove the tumor on his thyroid.

Fifi's news isn't complete, but so far the oncology department has determined her biopsy is probably not cancer, but the samples are being passed around to various pathologists and dermatologists because they don't quite know what it is.  But I'm not worried about the Fifi dog any more.  She seems to be okay.

As for me, I'm going back to my foot surgeon on Wednesday of next week to figure out when I want to get sliced and diced.  Hopefully sooner than later as the boot is gonna be hot when it gets into the 90s this weekend!

A new chapter for frankenankle and the Happy Pitbulls

It's time to reopen the story of my ankle angst.  For the past couple of months, my left ankle has been bugging me.  It started when I was training for the Shamrock'n Half Marathon, about 9 months out from my ankle reconstruction for peroneal tendon subluxation.  The familiar pain started up in my left ankle and kind of came and went.  I have to admit I think my Wii may have not helped.  It's really been hurting the past few weeks.  Oh no!  I have a Wii injury!  How embarrassing!

I went to the doctor today and he could feel the subluxation and he feels pretty confident that the tendon is split like it was on my right ankle.  So, I am back in das booty, which is not exactly fresh and new anymore, but I'm going to see if I can get the pain to calm down between now and the end of the month.  At some point I have to figure out when to get it fixed.

Now, as for the Happy Pitbulls,we're on pins and needles.  Fifi developed two patches where her fur started falling out and upon closer inspection, we found a couple of ominous looking dark patches.  You can see one here.  We took her to UC Davis for a check up and to have them checked out.  She tested negative for fungus and ringworm and mange and that type of stuff so they recommended we do a biopsy on each site.  We're still waiting for the results.

Now Zero, also due for his check up, had another squishy spot that we found on his neck.  We thought it was just another lypoma (a benign fatty tumor that we're familiar with from our old dogs), but they found some suspicious cells on closer examination.  They decided to take some larger samples and send them to their oncology department.

The next day, we received an email and a voicemail telling us that Zero most likely had thyroid cancer.  Now I can tell you from experience that I know it's a teaching hospital and all, and I know UC Davis has an amazing reputation for complex medical cases, but this is not the kind of news you want to get via email.  Next steps are to do more test to see whether this has spread to his lungs and to make sure he's okay to go under surgery to remove it.

No results back for Fifi.

Not what we expected at all. 

This blog was started with the passing of the original happy pitbull, Blauser.  And so the story continues.  Keep Fifi and Zero in your prayers.