101 Things I Miss

Our 7 1/2 blissful years with you provided countless memories...so I'm listing just 101 of the things I miss most about you, Duke. 

1. How you chewed through EVERYTHING as a puppy...but you especially liked remote controls.
2. Slobbery puppy kisses
3. Having to spell words you knew like "W-A-L-K and P-A-R-K and F-R-I-S-B-E-E"
4. How hard you pulled on your leash no matter what we tried...you were always so excited
5. Rubbing your head on the floor or couch and the silly groans you made while you did it
6. Meeting us at the back door every day
7. Having to come home early from an anniversary get-away because you were so lonely and stressed out at doggy daycare
8. Leaps off the end of the dock at the lake
9. How you stole Segen's stuffed animals and carried them as far back in your mouth as you could possibly shove them
10. Endless rounds of Frisbee
11. How you re-rip rapped the shoreline at the lake by dragging all the rocks in with your front paws
12. Nibbling our socks off with your front teeth
13. Your snoring
14. Trying to find room in our bed with your massive 120 pound body
15. The clicking of your nails on our hardwood floors
16. How patient you were with the tail and hair pulls of little ones
17. Your deep, intimidating bark
18. Your human-like brown eyes and super expressive eyebrows
19. Trying to get you to stop licking the couch!
20. All of your fur around the house...I don't want to vacuum the last of it away
21. The sound of your ears flopping before you descended the stairs EVERY morning
22. How you hated cats
23. Watching you chase squirrels across the top of our fence in the back yard
24. Seeing you at the back of the truck on road trips
25. Giving you rawhide bones with gobs of peanut butter
26. You whining to go outside just to turn around and want to come in for a treat
27. How tidy you were...very careful not to pee on your paws, and when you did, how disappointed you were in yourself
28. Watching you run up and down the giant mound of snow across the street...which we lovingly named "Monkey Mountain"
29. All of your nicknames: Monkey, Stinky, Dukie, Monkers, Dukers
30. Watching you run in your sleep
31. How protective you were of your little brother and sister
32. Walks on warm summer nights...just the two of us
33. How you made me feel really safe
34. How everyone that saw you said: "WOW! That's a big, beautiful dog! Is he part horse?"
35. How you loved little dogs
36. How you thought your 120 pound body still allowed you to be a lap dog
37. Sharing ice cream with you
38. How you took the garbage out to the curb with me every Monday night
39. Seeing you peek through the gate when we pulled up in the driveway
40. When you went out to get the mail with me
41. Daddy feeding you off of his own fork
42. Finding tennis balls (and an occasional softball) when running by the courts
43. Long walks across the college campus and by the duck pond
44. You being afraid of my breast pump
45. Seeing the imprint of your giant body on the part of the couch you claimed as yours
46. Saying "Goodbye, Buddy!  We'll be right back!" every time I walk out the door
47. Filling your water dish 10 times a day
48. How loudly you lapped water from your dish
49. Your birthday parties and making you homemade birthday carrot cakes
50. How much you loved fruit and veggies...especially cantaloupe and carrots
51. Changing your collars to match each season
52. "Dog Shows" with daddy
53. Picking you up from doggy daycare and how you were so excited, you crashed into the gate with your enormous paws...every time
54.Your head resting on my pregnant belly
55. How you practically mauled us and jumped all over us with excitement at the mention of a walk
56. Watching you try to bark under the water at the lake
57. Pontoon rides with you at the helm
58. How you stole all of the balls from Segen's ball pit
59. How you looked so sad whenever you saw me cry
60. Your giant paw prints in the new snow
61. Taking your picture by the Christmas tree every year
62. How you barked at the pizza delivery guy
63. How incredibly STRONG you were
64. All of your scars from the surgeries you endured
65. Rubbing my forehead against the top of your head
66. The smell of your ears and your paws
67. How you would wedge your giant body between daddy and I when he gave me hugs (you always protected your mommy!)
68. How you loved to eat sticks
69. How you always managed to find giant branches and insist on carrying them around
70. How patient you were when we tried to dress you in human clothes
71. You running around in your big blue winter coat
72. You laying under our dinner table
73. How you loved to drink from our bathroom faucet
74. How you sniffed and licked the tile in our shower
75. Your wading pool in our back yard (which you so kindly shared with your brother!)
76. Sitting on the porch with you and watching the cars drive by
77. Seeing you in the back yard when I stand at the sink
78. How your tail would whap the walls of the entry way when we came home
79. How your tail would flip-flop when we approached you on the couch
80. How everyone that met you, instantly loved you
81. How you could snap a fly out of mid-air
82. How you thought you were human
83. Your gentle spirit
84. How you loved us no matter how crabby we were
85. Watching you play tug-of-war with your brother Rex
86. The goofy noise you made when you yawned
87. Your cold, wet nose sniffing in my ear
88. How you loved to eat snow
89.Your bright, white teeth and smile
90. How you whapped your nose on the ground every time you sneezed
91. How much you hated when I had to clean your ears
92. Tossing snacks and watching you grab them out of the air
93. Your nose whistling
94. How you waited at the back steps and let me wipe your paws before coming in the house
95. How you like your butt scratched
96. All the intense sessions of fur brushing and the mess that it made
97. How you hated toys with squeakers...and tore all the stuffing from them to find and destroy it!
98. Cooking you hamburger and rice when you had a sick tummy
99. How you always found new ways to make me laugh
100. The bald spot on your belly
101. How you stood faithful to the very end...showing us your love and trust even in the very last moments of your life

"...Grieve not, nor speak of me with tears, but laugh and talk of me as if I were beside you...I loved you so, 'twas Heaven here with you."

-Isla Paschal Richardson

In Loving Memory of Our Duke

July 2nd, 2004-March 3rd, 2012

Saying Goodbye

Maybe non-pet owners won't understand our sadness...but anyone who has ever loved a dog (or animal of any sort, really) know that they quickly become one of the family. The gaping hole that will be left when we have to say the final goodbyes to our "first-born son" makes me have to hold back big, gasping sobs. 

Our beloved 7 year-old Duke was diagnosed with an agressive form of canine bone cancer (an osteosarcoma at his right front ankle joint) in early January of this year.  For the time being, he is at home with us and on pain meds to keep him comfortable.  His limp gets more noticible every day and he doesn't attempt the stairs much any more.  His days of running and frisbee are over.  We may have just a few short days left to enjoy his big brown eyes and slobbery puppy kisses.  It is obvious that he's aware he's hurting and it breaks my heart. 

Would you please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we grieve the inevitable loss of this vital part of our family? I really can't imagine our family without him.

Duke's Big Day

Happy 5th Birthday, Duke! We didn't forget about you! (Ok...well...we kinda did!) But of course, our furry little boy is still ready to party!

Duke VS. The Bump

Duke has NO idea what's about to hit him...absolutely NO idea.

(Please disregard the multiple bruises and mini-bandaids from my Hepa.rin shots.)

And my noticeably bigger 33 week 4 day bump...

Currently 34 weeks and 4 days pregnant and all is quiet...for now!

It's Double Digits, Baby!

99 days until my due date. Where has the time gone?!

I had my 25 week appointment last Friday and passed my glucose tolerance test with flying colors! I think my glucose level 1 hour post-test was like 81. Good job body! In my opinion, the secret to passing the screening is to eat a bag of jelly beans over the course of 2-3 days before you have to take your test. After jellybean sugar overload, my body LAUGHED at the 50g of glucose in the drink!

Baby Pat's nursery transition is in full-swing. Walls have been painted light blue. Furniture arrived. New ceiling fan has been hung. There are still a million little details that need attending to...things like trim painting, new window treatments, side table and lamp...but all-in-all it's really starting to look more like a little boy's room and less like this room I talked about in a post here. I'll have some fun before and after pictures to share once things are in place.

Two of the guys in my life (C. and Duke) are sick right now, and I think I'm catching whatever it is that C. is battling. It's been puke, sneeze and snot central at our house for the past week. Yummy, huh?! We've made two trips to the vet with Dukie, and at this point all we can determine is that he picked-up some type of a bacterial infection in his GI tract. We get to give him 5 pills in the AM, 2 at noon and another 5 in the PM. Poor little guy. We see the vet again tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully we're told he's on the road to recovery. I hate not knowing how to make him feel better...if only our furry friends could talk to us, right?

(Duke is keeping all corn and corn-based products far away from me. I still get violently ill when I eat them. What a good gaurd doggy!)

A Hot Mess

Overnight low: -29 degrees. Temperature with Wind Chill: -47 degrees. High so far today: -16 degrees. Brrrrrrr! I know I ask myself this every winter...but why do we live here? The only member of the family who doesn't seem to mind the cold (for the few moments that we let him outside) is Duke.

Duke is going stir-crazy, and so is mommy. I've been home from work with the stomach flu for the past two days. Poor baby Pat. My stomach sounds like I've swallowed angry kitties. That's gotta be loud in-utero. C. has also been pulling 24 hour shifts at work, so I haven't had much adult/human interaction or conversation in the past 48 hours. Help me!

I have a new found respect for anyone that has ever been a bed-rester. I've been on my back (actually my left side) for a little over two days and I've already lost the will to shower. Yup. I'm a hot mess.

Just what the doctor ordered...

A weekend away. Not too far away. But just far enough away from all of the memories floating around the house and feelings mulling around in my head that remind me of what we’re dealing with right now.

With all of the doctor’s appointments and long hours at work, C. and I haven’t taken the time we usually do during the summer months to go and enjoy the lake. We’re fortunate enough to share a summer place with C.’s brother and his family. This weekend, we said to heck with the mounds laundry and to heck with the lawn mowing for now…we’re packing up the dog and retreating to the lake.

The weather was perfect. I laid in the sun, took long walks with C. and Duke, ate really yummy (read *naughty*) food, napped, spent all day Saturday out on the lake and gave myself permission to NOT think about upcoming tests and appointments and all of the unknowns that seem to wash over me every waking hour when I’m at home.

C. was relaxed, loving and attentive. Growing up, his family would retreat to this cabin every weekend and being there gives him permission to regress back to those carefree days of swimming, boating and family…days before he even thought of who he’d marry…days before jobs and babies and a mortgage.

And Duke…he’s another story. He’s EXHAUSTING at the lake. He would dive off the dock after his “fris” all day and night if we’d allow it. He woke us up every 2-3 hours Saturday night with his infamous “nose whistling” technique, as if to say: “Is it morning yet? Huh? Huh? Mom? Dad? Can we go play? Huh? Huh? Can we? Can we?” Finally, at 8 am, we relented, and the swimming, diving and fris-tossing began.

It was a wonderful weekend, and I’m eternally grateful to my mom for sneaking over while we were away and tackling the piles of laundry that we had put-off. I love you, moomoo!

Finally, a very warm, heartfelt thanks to everyone who took time to comment on my questions about Factor V Leiden. It was a blessing to hear stories of women who, with proper treatment and care, have gone on to have healthy pregnancies and babies…even with this diagnosis. Thank you!