Rough Day for Maddie

This afternoon I decided to go for a four wheeler ride. It was a beautiful day and I had been cooped up in Chemistry labs all day, so I wanted to get out and burn off some steam. Maddie gets so excited when she sees me load up the four wheeler, she knew exactly what we were about to do. For the last 5 months, everytime we would ride Maddie would be right behind us, having a blast. Well today was different, about half way through our ride I noticed that Maddie wasn't staying as close as she normally does. Didn't think much about it until after we were done riding. I noticed some blood on the ground, and then I say that she was favoring her front legs. After closer inspection, I realized that she had completely torn off her "pads" on the bottom of her feet. She had been used to running on "soft" ground up in Arkansas, lots of grass, dirt, mud, etc. Texas has a lot more rocks and "rough" terrain, and her feet took a beating. I felt horrible. We took her to the Vet, and they had to sedate her and then perform minor surgery to remove the damaged pads, so that they could heal properly. She has these huge bandages on her front paws, but the Vet said her pads should grow back in a couple weeks. While we were at the Vet, we discovered that she is also having a false pregnancy! Basically her body thinks that she is pregnant, when she actually isn't. We noticed that her "mammory glands" had become enlarged, but knew she wasn't pregnant because she had no interaction with any male dogs while she was in heat. Once again didnt think much of it until the Vet started "milking" her on the table. She told us that we needed to get her spayed ASAP, because she would not be able to handle true pregnancy. She said that she would carry the litter full term but the pups would be dead at birth, and Maddie would become very susceptible to getting cancer. Trisha and I had been planning on bredding her next month. We were obviously dissappointed but we dont want to do anything to risk losing Maddie. We also found out that she is having an allergic reaction to something down here in Texas, and it is causing her hair to start falling out. So long story short, Maddie had a rough day. She has all kinds of medication to take over the next week, so hopefully she will get better. She is sedated, so she cant feel any pain. I felt bad about her feet but I am glad that we found out about the false pregancy and skin reaction, because the long term effects of both could have been worse. The Vet said they had the same problem with their lab, so they put "booties"(a.k.a. doggie shoes) on her feet and she has done much better. Pray for Maddie over the next couple days she is going to need it. Hope all is well, see ya soon.

(Maddie sedated, Lilly wondering what is going on.)


(Lilly winking for the camera.)

First week of work

Hey guys. Just wanted to let you know that Trisha started her job (Dillard's Corporate) this week and she absolutely loves it. She has an incredible boss and she loves the work that she is doing. I know that lots of you have been praying that everything will go smoothly this week, and it has. Thanks for all of the prayers.

Summer Time!!

We'll sorry it has taken so long for the latest post. We had a blast on our cruise. If anyone has not had the experience of going on a cruise I highly recommend you do! I was not affected by the "motion of the ocean" you hardly even felt the movement. You are treated like kings and queens for an entire week. Everything is paid for up front. You put your dirty towels in the floor and when you come back clean ones are hanging up in the bathroom. 3 course meals every night at dinner, all you can eat buffetts for breakfast and lunch. Live entertainment nightly and then of course pools and sun decks to lay out and relax. It was one of the best vacations I have ever been on and Trisha and I are already planning our next cruise.

The last few weeks have been really busy, I started summer school and Trisha has been trying to get as much done in her last week before she starts work. We absolutely love being back in Fort Worth, and being so close to our family. I am playing on the Pleasant Ridge Softball team this summer with Caleb. We had our first game tonight, we absolutely smoked the other team. It started pouring about the fifth inning, and didnt stop until the game was over. Trisha and Audria were the only "true fans", all the other wifes left early but the troopers stayed until the end. It has rained on and off for the past two weeks, I barely had enough time to get everyone's yard mowed. I guess we are still considered to be in a drought so we need all the rain we can get...it just gets depressing after two weeks of very limited sunshine. Here are some pictures from the cruise. Hope all is well.

Here is our picture from formal night.

We liked the cruise ship with the State of Texas.

Here is us with our sunburned faces.

Here is a random picture I found on our camera but I thought it was cute.