Ethan’s Journey

 Paul and I were having coffee. It is the first time we have actually had a meaningful chat since the middle of January with schedules, snowmobiling, work and illness. He started complaining about certain male genitalia ads he was getting on his phone. He was pissed because he keeps seeing more and more of them and he was wondering out loud why he was getting these ads.  I shared that when he leaves his phone laying around I often say phrases around it to see if I can influence the ads he gets. IT WORKED! He started laughing and said “unbelievable”. I told him if I ever stop playing pranks on him it means I don’t love him anymore and he should be thankful. Ha! He wasn’t upset and now when he sees those ads, he will appreciate the effort I have been putting in behind the scenes. I didn’t sleep well last night and was up for several hours thinking. Occasionally this happens. My anxiety medications helps significantly with this, but last night I think I was over stimulated with t...

 Happy Birthday to Ethan! 22 years ago he officially grew our family. He has offered us laughter, sadness, anger and lots and lots of learning opportunities. Ethan woke up feeling much better this morning. He wanted to go to work (eye roll). He is an adult and in charge of his own choices. Paul felt like crap and came home mid day. I didn’t want to be around him so I bailed and went upstairs. I worked in Avery’s bedroom with the door shut and less “sick” in the air. Ethan’s transplant team strongly urged him to get bloodwork, chest Xray and a trip to urgent care. I strongly encouraged Ethan to go.  I did some research to see if there was an urgent care with a lab and X-ray within the urgent care. I found one close by. Turns out, all the other sick people found it too.  When we arrived there were about 10 people in front of us. We had our masks on but the “sick” air was DENSE and I didn’t want to touch anything. Nothing says “You are an adult” like working on your birthday...

 I don’t think we give “natural light” enough credit. Since I bought myself a standing portable desk, I find I am naturally drawn to working in my living-room, with the big window and endless supply of light. Natural light helps us increase the serotonin levels in the brain to help with the wintery seasonal “blues”. I am finding since I got SUCH a boost of sunshine and vitamin D last week, this week has left me a little blah. Nothing terrible, just need to motivate myself to complete tasks. I drank as much water as I could today. I try to measure how much water I drink and aim for a goal of 72 oz in a day. However, according to the Mayo Clinic, it is recommended that adult women intake 91.3 oz per day. Man, I better up my game. Why did I look that up? Why is being healthy so hard but so simple? Drinking water helps with mood, cushions joints, stabilizes your temperature, helps your tissues and aids in digestion. Drinking water and exposing yourself to natural light are essential to...

 Paul was moving slow today. He has been in Old Forge from Tuesday to Saturday and rode over 500 miles, pair that with a cold and he is sore and stuffy. I made him take a handful of pills this morning to help him feel better. For now he is sleeping on the couch. I don’t want his funk.  My back was slightly better today. I did some icing, stretching and strengthening to see if it would help. I was careful not to bend or lift (except when I trimmed all 16 paws worth of toenails.) Trimming nails isn’t too hard. I flip the littles over on their back and dremel the nails after clipping so they aren’t sharp.  Moe tried to fight today and he lost that battle. He didn’t mind losing though, there were treats involved. I was able to get some documents together for taxes and submit bills to be reimbursed by the 529 plan. Super boring and adult-ish things. I did some prep work for my meetings tomorrow, so I can appear to have my “stuff” together. Ethan has a nasty cough but he is fee...

 Ethan was really pushing himself this week. Today he allowed for some time to heal. I could almost hear his body sighing with the chance to recharge. He fell sleep on the couch mid day. He was snuggled under the blanket with Jiminy, with the fire going in the other room. He NEEDED that nap! Our mailbox was on the ground this morning. Boo! It was not damaged. Paul thinks it just needs to be securely attached. The car that went off the road yesterday was still in our field at dusk tonight. It looks a lot like my van. Paul was not home last night. I texted him a picture of the van and told him it was mine. I wanted to see how he responded. He passed the test and didn’t flip out. Then told him I was just messing with him. He is used to it. It was cold out, but I decided to take Moe for a quick run. He had SO much energy built up. We went back in the field and he just ran and ran. Once he showed me his feet were cold, we headed in. He was so happy. He doesn’t mind the cold weather. He ...

 First day back to normalcy. The back was NOT happy today. I was moving at a snails pace and was feeling pretty stiff.  Ethan’s cough doesn’t sound very good. He still has no fever. We did beef up his toolbox for combatting cold symptoms. I told him that I was going to make him a container of “safe” medicine.  His throat is sore from post nasal drip. His head has pressure in it. Tomorrow he is laying low and resting. I am going to drug him up. He is pushing the fluids which is good. I gave Moe his new toy today. It is a heavy duty. It is round and screws together. The middle is hallow but has a lattice type layer over the top of the toy. You can place room temperature treats made by the company OR you can freeze treats in a container that forms it to the shape of the toy. You unscrew the toy, place the treat in and screw it back together. It’s made by a company called Woof. The treats I made consist of Moe’s dog food and water. Boom! Freeze it. This kept him busy for a wh...

  This is leaving the sunshine                               This is arriving home. Last night a terrible tragedy happened with American Airline Flight 5342. The families and friends of all these people. Ugh! I can’t even imagine how terrible this is for them. It didn’t affect how I was feeling about flying. Everytime I fly, I think “would I be happy with my life if it all ended today?” I have gotten the privilege of having a great family, friends that are also family and gotten to see some cool places. I was thinking if it ended today, I can would be satisfied with how things have gone so far. Obviously the ultimate goal is not dying. We had a bit of a turbulent flight back, but not too bad. Heather snored herself awake and that made me laugh.  I was working throughout the day at the airport.  Ethan picked us up. He has a nasty sounding cough. He hasn’t been feeling too good this week. No fever th...