A New Chapter

A few months ago Juju and I decided it was time to cut up the ol' plastic cards and rely solely on our debit cards or cash

Those of you who know me, know that i may or may not like to shop. I like shoes. I like purses. I like tops. I like bottoms. I like shinny things, i like big things, i like little things, i like things with price tags.

I shop when I'm happy, i shop when I'm sad, i shop when there's sales, i shop full retail, i shop for myself, i shop for juju, i shop for others, i shop alone, or i shop with the crowd.

Oh but you, you were always there by my side, my plastic little card. All 3.5 x 2 inches of your thousands of dollars worth of purchasing power. You never failed me, you never said no, you never cared how expensive anything was. You simply took each swipe with pride, knowing you were making me happy.

For the last few months you've been tucked away in that little compartment on the side of my purse. I know you're yearning to be brought out and get swiped, but instead, i reach beyond you all and grab the debit card. I know you all hate it- sitting there, with a smug look, knowing its getting all the action.

And today, after months and months of being in my purse, unused, I bring you out once again. Sadly, its to say goodbye. There is no point in keeping you all, It's not healthy, i don't want to lead you on to believing you will be used again.

But before i do the necessary-

                   

To you, my Express A-lister Credit Card:

You and I first met back in December of 2003. I had just turned 18 and for my birthday you got me a beautiful ($200 dollar) jacket. God, I will never forget that day. After that day, you and i were inseparable. You were my first credit card.You always kept me well dressed and never let me down. I will miss you the most.

xoxo,

Mrs.Juju

Halfway cutting though the express card, i felt it was appropriate to leave that one for last. So i started with library card, you know- just to ease in to it. I proceeded with Bank of America, then Chase, then....the rest. And this is what i was left with.

I could almost hear cash registers crying with each cut. Its quite sad, they had no idea it would end like this.

Sock-it-to-me (or cookie)

 We had to improvise, the knit stocking was way too lose. We needed something that would fit snugly around her face and neck to hold the gauze in place. This picture was taken last week Thursday i believe. You can still see how swollen her face looks. Her eye was doing better at this point as well, the swelling and tearing was going away. Its sad to look at her huh? She's got gauze, a sock and a cone on. My FIL said it looked like she had a toothache. =-/

My cooks is such a little soldier. After the attack Juju joked that cookie said " What? Oh this? Oh this is nothing! You should see the other guy"

Scaring Momma

Last week Tuesday my dearest cookie scared me yet once again. We woke up as usual, we took her out of her little makeshift confined bed to get her ready for her medicine. As you might recall here, I have reason to believe cookie might be a little escape artist in training. Juju picks her up to find that she has made her way out of her little net shirt. She's completely naked, her drain is hanging by her side and the fentanyl patch is complete exposed. I thought, ok, just put her shirt back on, no harm, no foul.... right?

We notice that cookie's face, neck and her shoulder blade is wet. We immediately thought she had pulled on her drain and it basically emptied out on her since we noticed there wasn't much fluid in the actual pump. So i grab a washcloth and clean her up as juju gets her back into her little net shirt. Im getting ready to give her her medications when i touch her neck and notice that its still wet. So i clean her up again, really just thinking i missed a spot and go back to her medicine. I pick her up and at this point i felt a watery substance roll onto my hand. I take a closer look at her face and i notice that under her jaw line, she is draining from the side of her face. You couldn't quite see a hole or a puncture, all you could see was a blood like fluid coming out. I put a towel over the area and it was soaked within minutes.

I started to panic, cookie had a hole on the side of her neck! Coincidentally enough, cookie was scheduled to have her drain pump removed that day, so i was taking the afternoon off to get that done. Since the draining wasn't stopping we decided it was best for me to take her in to see the Dr. in the morning instead of waiting until the afternoon.

The Dr. examined her and found that it was a bite wound that hadn't penetrated the skin. She said it most likely happened while cookie shook her head no, while trying to give her her medicine or simply shaking in her cone. So they had to drug her up once again, and partially sedate her because the Dr. was going to have to make a large incision where the bite mark was to clear out any bacteria and administer meds.

2.5 hours later cookie came out of her procedure. She was totally zoned out. At one point instead of resting her chin on the table, like she usually does, she had her nose directly on the table. I mean directly on it... making a "T" (as if she was smelling the table) with nothing but her head and the table. She looked quite pitiful because she was wear this knit sock like stocking on her head. She had an exposed incision of a little more than an inch in length, so we had to keep gauze on it to absorb the natural drainage.

That's the knit stocking on her head. The doctor cut out holes for her ears. As the time progressed the knit was becoming looser and looser ( It was all cotton, no lycra) But since she kept trying to shake it off i had to reinforce it, hence the drawstring bow. In the picture you can see her shaved neck, arm and 3x4 patch. Poor thing!

My Tough Cookie

*warning- picture attached below, not for the sensitive*

When cookie came home, she looked quite awful. Obviously not as bad as the day of the attack, but she was still in a lot of pain, she was very nervous and all stitched, bandaged, covered, and wrapped up.

The night of her surgery that Dr discovered that the pitbull has bitten and broken a piece of her eye socket bone off. She talked to me about placing the bone back and doing a type of reconstructive surgery that typically runs 4/5 thousand or she could try reinforcing the area with a ligament. The Dr. explained to us that if cookie were to get into another fight ( she made it sound as if my cooks was running around picking fights =-]) or while rough-housing with other dogs the chances of her eye physically coming out were high. She would also be more prone to bone infections because of the missing bone. We opted to reinforce the area with the ligament and we would cross any other bridges (complications) when we came to them in the future.

The next day we went to go visit her, in hopes that she might get discharged and would get to come home. The Dr. on shift explained what our responsibilities would be if we were to take her home. She was on 2 oral and one topical medications, plus she had a pump/drain going thru the back of her neck, under her chin and around her face to help drain any fluids and blood she was retaining, that we would have to 'pump and drain' a few times a day. She had not eaten anything since she arrived at the hospital. She was actually starting to feel lighter too. That too was a concern. Many times the patients ( dogs/cats) are so scared and nervous they wont eat, little less pee and poop. My heart was aching, i couldn't leave her there another night. So we took her home.

We had to make sure that Leche (my in-laws dog) didn't bother her or try licking her, so we let them see each other when she got home, but otherwise kept them apart. She slept, and slept, and after she was woken up to get her medicine, she fell back asleep. She was extremely drowsy, shaking, and moaning constantly. She still had no appetite.

This picture really doesnt show the extent of her injuries, really. You see the gauze around her neck? She has more stitches there. The bottom of the chin is all scrapped up, she broke a nail (she was very upset about that one) she had a cartilage injury on her left ear, her inner arms and legs were scrapped and cut up and she had multiple bite marks, these were only scrapes, they didnt break skin. You also can't see just how swollen her entire left side of the face is. That net shirt? ( not wearing it by choice) was holding her drain in place. They also shaved an area, about 4x3 on her back to place a fentanyl patch for a constant release of pain medicine for the next 3-5 days.

The next 72 hours after the attack were difficult. All she would do was sleep and softly cry because she was in so much pain. We never left her side. We had a hard time giving her the pain medication because it was so bitter. Not even hiding it in peanut butter would do. She would lick the peanut butter off of the pill and spit it back out.

At one point, while watching her sleep i asked Juju if he thought we did the right thing. Not only by bringing her home, but by putting her through surgery and now the recovery. I started crying, just thinking about what she had been through and now what was ahead of her. I started thinking that perhaps i was being selfish by keeping her here if her quality of life was going to be affected because of her injuries. Thankfully juju was there to see me through my little meltdown. Its just been so hard to see her in so much pain, then juju reminds me that its only been a few days since the attack. And then it all falls back into perspective.

My Cookie Was Crumbling

Friday has to have been one of the hardest days of my entire life. I got a call from my SIL, Sasha, who frantically told me that a dog had came into our yard, attacked my poor innocent cookie, and now cookie was no where to be found. My heart dropped to my knees immediately. I was still at work, not even done for the day, when i just got up and told my boss what was happening and told him i had to go.

I packed my belonging up and headed to my car. My mind was racing. I feared the worst. I started crying, and praying between sobs. I prayed and i prayed. My heart was beating so hard i could feel it in my head. I was shaking. I was a total mess. I managed to call sasha and told her not to give up looking for her, that i was on my way, just to not stop looking for her. 15 minutes later from the first phone call i received, I tried Sasha again. She answered and all i could hear on the other end was commotion. After a few seconds of trying to talk to sasha, She said- There she is! Come here Cookie, come here mama and the phone went dead.

A part of me was relieved to know that she had been found, but another part of me was terrified to know what the extent of her injuries would be. Sasha called and told me they were on their way to the hospital. I told her i would meet her there. Before we hung up, my MIL took the phone and told me she didn't look too bad, but her face was pretty bit up. I lost it. I couldn't get a word out. I sat in my car praying to God not to take my baby, I always thought, and hoped, that one day, when it would be Cookie's turn to go to doggie heaven- she would pass away in her sleep, in a beautiful dream. I prayed to God to not let her life be taken away because of the stupidity of others. If it was her time to meet Him, let it be because He called upon her. Not because someone was heartless enough to kill an innocent animal.

When she arrived at hospital i looked at her, i looked into her big beautiful brown eyes, and she looked so at peace. She wasn't crying, she wasn't whinnying, not even shaking. The Dr. immediately gave her pain medicine and we quickly discussed my options. I knew it was going to come with a hefty price tag. I didn't care. I counted all my nickels and dimes, and called upon every last one of my life lines and signed off on her surgery orders. I kissed her goodbye and washed all of her blood off my hands, literally not figuratively.

During all this time, Juju was at work. He had no clue what was going on. Sasha had called and left a few messages, but he hadn't yet listened to it. I, thinking he already listened to at least one of the messages, sent him a text saying "we were at the animal hospital, cookie is ok, she is going to need a very expensive surgery, but i can't put her down i cant''. Poor guy, i really freaked him out.

Once we got home we tried talking to all of the neighbors to get a better account of what happened. From everyones account this is what I've compiled:

Two boys, 10 & 12, opened our front fence, with a pitbull on a leash. Cookie and Leche were lounging outside like they usually do. The boys walked the pit up to Cookie and said "get her". Our next door neighbor saw the pit attack cookie and she started pounding on the window. The 2 boys started running out of our yard and out the back fence. The pithad Cookie in its mouth. Her boyfriend and another young man ran out of the house to chase after the boys. They were able to catch up to the boys in the alley, a few house down the road. At this point you could hear the struggle going on between Cookie, the pit and our neighbors. Ourneighbor across the street and his wife ran out, saw what was going onand started pounding on the windows outside of the kitchen asking my MIL for a bucket of hot water to throw on the pit. Meanwhile all of this is happening, Leche is barking and pushing on the door to get someones attention. At that point they tell my MIL that it was our dog, our dog was getting attacked, my MIL responded, "what?! what are you talking about? My dog is right here!" referring to Leche. He said "No, Its the other one, the chihuahua, Its Cookie" Our next door neighbor had to punch the pittbull 4/5 times in the head, while another tried choking in. Cookie was still in its mouth and they were doing everything they could to free her. Once they were able to get her out, she ran away and hid.

This is when I got a call from my SIL, Sasha, who frantically told me that a dog had came into our yard, attacked my poor innocent cookie, and now cookie was no where to be found.

Sasha eventually found her hiding across the street, in a neighbors garage. As the entire entire neighborhood was out looking for my little cooks, she had found refuge by sneaking into an open garage. When Sasha approached that particular neighbor she said that she would check her garage to see if cookie was hiding there since her cat seemed to be standing guard at the entrance. She go her garage door opener and sure enough cookie emerged from the dark corner.

And so i sit here today. With a heavy heart. Praying for her quick recovery.

The Greener The Better

I have recently been reading and researching information on mass food production, factory farms and how unhealthy they are for us. It sounds bad to say that i am easily persuaded, but truthfully, i watched a few movies/documentaries and stumbled upon research done on factory farms across America and i am beyond convinced by the evidence found. If you happen to have 50 mins to spare ( its 5 ten minute videos ) look up on google or YouTube "Factory Farming; A Report Card". Matter of fact, let me see if i can get some links for you. One sec...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKS0Z59f-Go&feature=youtube_gdata

That should work, i hope. There will be an immediate link to the next video at the end of the first one, second one, etc.

A few years ago ( i think) juju and i stopped eating meat for a few months. That was really his movement and i followed. This time around, though my suggestion wasn't to stop eating meat, I suggested we move more towards eating organic, free range, grass fed, cage free, non GMO foods. I know its a mouthful. This time its my movement and he's being more than supportive. I know we cant possibly change 100% of the things or way we eat, we are making a conscious effort towards it. We are getting rid of the unhealthy things in our pantry and we read every label on the things we buy.

I signed up to receive a weekly basket full of organic fruits and veggies from 'Growing Power', a local non profit organization that provides sustainably and justly grown food. You should check out their website, www.growingpower.org and find out more about how they are helping our communities. They actually sell fruits and veggies from 'growing power' farms at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Outpost. We recently visited Outpost and bought three bags full of groceries and spent what we would have spent on 9 bags at Pick n' Save. Yes it is more expensive than your local grocery store and someone brought up the question "What if you cant afford to eat that way?" to which juju responded "How can you afford not to? All the stuff we are putting in our mouths is making us sick" I love my husband, he is so supportive.