Lake Rabun

A few weeks ago we spent a long weekend at my Grandmother's lake house on Lake Rabun. We had a grand time and I think these pictures show it.


Will and my cousin Watts

Stacy and Will swimming laps

Classic... kid doesn't like new food

Very tired kid after swimming

Andy and Will

Ellis and Will

Eskew family

Family tradition of bathing on the deck in a pan

4 generations (Lib, Carol, Andy, Will)

Grandmother Carol and Will

In loving memory of Ike

Ike was a great dog. We all loved him so much and are going to miss his happy, mischievious personality terribly. We were able to spend a wonderful day at the lake (his favorite place in the world) yesterday and he seemed quite content to be with all of us. It was pretty unlikely for the clot to dissolve at that point though and rather let him be frustrated that he couldn't feel (or walk well on) his back legs or worse that they hurt we made the really hard decision to let him go run carefree in the fields with Tigger and Mosie and Rascal and many of his and our other doggy friends last night. He brought lots of happiness to lots of people and the memories of him running "fast" kicking the sand up on the beach, sleeping on the couch on top of me, wrestling with Lincoln, destroying any toy he could find to see what was inside, wandering out the door to greet whoever opened the garage door, cruising around in the lake and digging for rocks, showing respect to the horses while running full speed through their field, sitting on the couch crossing his back legs because he thought it was comfier will continue to make us smile for years to come.
We love you, Ike.

Update on Ike...

Ike seemed to be comfortable at home (though a little sedated from the drugs) until about 2am when he started whining with a little bit of crying. We didn't have anything else to give him for pain at home so he went back to the emergency vet and spent the night there. They hooked him back up to IV Fentanyl and he was quite comfy (and sleepy) again. I visited him a couple of times today and he seemed to be doing okay...they've swapped him over to a different medicine that we can bring him home on so we're going to try again tomorrow morning. He's still not able to stand/walk on his hind legs :-( but as long as he's comfy we'll give the clot a couple more days to dissolve.

Please say a little prayer for Ike...

So yesterday Ike was frisky and happy when I left the house around 1:30. When I got back at 5:30 he was in the middle of the floor crying, wheelbarrow walked to the garage and collapsed. I got a friend (thanks Kelby) to help me get him in the car and took him to our vet. By the time we got there he was walking (though abnormally) on his right back leg, but his toes were still curled under on the left. After the exam and discussing that he needed to be seen by the neurologist, I decided to take him home rather than make him spend the night in the kennel. He still seemed anxious, but I'd given him some pain meds left over from one of his other ailments, so he didn't seem to be hurting too much anymore. When we got home he tried to jump out of the car and walked into the house on both legs! However, about 30 minutes later he was whining and crying and couldn't get comfortable and wasn't walking on either leg again and really seemed miserable. Andy was home by then so we took him to the emergency vet (Carolina Vet. Specialists - Dr. Smith was great!!) After he examined him, he gave him so valium which really seemed to take the edge off and hooked him up to a Fentanyl (kind of like morphine, but stronger) IV drip - so Ike was feeling quite comfy. He even started walking on his right leg again and could move his left one. It seemed very strange to everyone that his symptoms were coming and going, but he was comfy and the neurologist would see him in the morning unless he got worse again over night. This morning they put him under anesthesia to do a MRI expecting to find a slipped disc or perhaps a tumor or cartilaginous emboli, but instead they found a big clot in his aorta - the big artery the supplies his legs with blood. There's really not much they can do for a dog with this since the surgery to take it out is generally fatal and even if successful wouldn't fix the underlying problem of why the clot formed in the first place (which we don't know and probably never will.) So they were kind enough to give him a fentanyl patch (that will give him the drug through his skin) and some valium to take the edge off and let us take him home...The neurologist was pretty pessimistic about him having much of a recovery, but thought it was reasonable for us to take him home as long as we could keep him comfortable. The Emergency Medicine vet was a bit more hopeful that his body might dissolve the clot. So only time will tell at this point...

Half a year

Wow it has now been over a half a year since Will was born. My how things have flown by. I am sure the next 6 months will fly by just as fast.

Some pictures of me...

I spend lots of time practicing my push ups these days...

I love this new game Mommy found from one of her "Mommy emails." The Fisher Price people have it on their website and animals pop out and make noises when I push the keys. It's so funny!

Lincoln let me ride him! Sort of...

Jon's haircut

Our friend Jon promised the kids in his elementary school class he'd cut his hair in the manner chosen by one of them as a good behavior reward...so after group on Sunday we watched as he got a "doughnut" haircut...The kid wanted it cut on the top and bottom with a ring left around the sides...

His wife Lexi is doing the cutting
Definitely shorter on top!!

And on the bottom!

We added some color for good measure!

Hopefully, it will be a big hit tomorrow! You're a good sport, Jon!