Blisters...

It's official. Brock DOES have hand, foot and mouth disease...YUCK! Even though it is called a "disease", it is a virus that he will get rid of. We had to take him back to the doctor yesterday for fear he was becoming dehydrated. It is hard to get anything down him. We may have gotten 2 cups of liquid down him yesterday. I hope it's a little better today. He was pitiful yesterday...crying, coughing, gagging. He didn't want to swallow his own spit. The doctor took one look in his throat and said, "oh yeah, it's hand foot and mouth." He has blisters all over the back of his throat. He called in a script called "Magic Mouthwash" and it numbs his mouth and throat. All he has to do is swish and spit. I put it in his mouth forcefully and told him to spit, which wouldn't normally have been a problem since he spits all medicine. I was saying "just spit it out, just spit it on the towel. He gagged and threw up. Ugh! POOR BABY! I feel so bad for him. Let's hope he drinks more today or it's off to the hospital for fluids. We keep telling him that if he doesn't drink, he will have to go to the hospital for a bad shot that will hurt really bad. That just seems to make him even more upset and then he coughs and gags until he throws up. The doctor said he seemed active and he wasn't worried about dehydration just yet. This all comes at such a terrible time. Greg and I are supposed to leave for Gatlinburg in the morning. The kids are staying with mom and I PRAY that they do well. Brock becomes very clingy to me when he is sick. Berkley got up this a.m. with a sporadic cough. I only hope she isn't getting it. We have been as careful as we can by washing our hands, not letting Brock get too close to her and making sure the passies are separate. That's all we can do really. If she is going to get it, she's going to get it I suppose.

Since we are going to be gone Sunday and part of Monday, we are celebrating my birthday this evening (it's really Monday) and also Father's Day. Just having a low key cookout at mom and dad's house.

Mom and dad had to put our dog Kane down yesterday. There is a wonderful vet in town that does house calls just to put animals down. It was time. Kane had stopped eating and drinking (unless you fed him and watered him by hand). The sarcoma had taken over his lungs and he was just in agony. She did it in a very peaceful way. She first put him to sleep with a medicine they would give an animal before surgery. The bad part of this was it took 3 shots to knock him out. She said that was enough to put down a full sized cow. Finally after the 3rd shot, he got sleepy and she let him go into his house which he loved so much. She unfortunately couldn't get a vein on him to use the euthanasia med and didn't have a needle long enough to inject the med into his heart so she injected it into his chest cavity. HORRIBLE I know. He was asleep though and was in no pain. He went very peacefully but all in all, it took 2 hours to put him down. From start to finish. The longest part was actually getting him to go to sleep. The euthanasia was fast. The vet stayed the whole time with mom and dad and was very loving and caring toward them and Kane. I called mom and she said they were burying him. They were both very upset. I cried too. It's so hard to have a pet for 8 years and to have them suffer and eventually have to be put down. When Marvin dies or has to be put down (he is already 12 and is in bad shape too) mom and dad aren't getting anymore dogs for a long time. Dad said he eventually wants to get a Beagle for the kids.

Anyhow, I need to get busy. Greg went and bought himself some outrageously expensive clothes yesterday ($89.50 for a shirt....85.00 for 3 pairs of shorts...EACH...and it goes on) so we are going to get me a few things today for our trip. For some reason, all Greg wants or can buy is Ralph Lauren clothes which is completely rediculous. Oh, wait...he got a pair of shorts at Old Navy...WOW! After all, I have 2 pairs of shorts that fit and only a few shirts....seriously. I may shop but I shop for the kiddos and never for myself. I think I need new clothes too.