good to hear from you both! ((nora and DF)) no its not easy, and the firsts are really hard, does get easier as time goes on! Hope you have a good time with your family and travel safely!!! (((Breezy)) thanks for asking about us, it always seems like one or another is sick around here. the oldest DGD had walking pneumonia, DGS had souble ear infection, finished antibotic for that and now he has pneumonia in both lungs, still coughing but not running a fever now, so doing better. DH is still holding his own, although his lower back and hi/leg where he has the rod is giving him a lot of pain lately, so don't know if the cancer is rearing its ugly head more or not. He will have to mention it to the cancer dr when he's there on the 5th. he hates the thoughts of going back on any meds for the cancer, but we take it one day at a time!! our DD is in LPN classes, she's doing good in it, but having medical problems, still having gall bladder attacks, and now heart problems, they don't know if the GB is causing the heart to act up, or if its her heart itself. she had to wear a heart monitor for 24 hours, results were that she's having PVCs its not life threathening but can't live like that, the cardialigist said she is having to many at a time and she's feeling them with all the symptoms and thats not good. she goes the 5th of Dec for a stress test, if it comes back bad, she'll probably have to go to Erie for more testing. goes back to dr the 8th for those test results and has to have an echocardigram the 21st. so its always something around here. but i had my mammogram and physical and they come back OK, so thats good news, 3 1/2 yrs cancerfree! getting snow here and calling for more tomorrow. DSIL just got in off the roads, he's a truckdriver. hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, we have much to be thankful for.DianePA

I had years of UTI problems. I went from doctor after doctor who would give me medication to try to clear it up. Finally I got one to give me a referral to a specialist. He did the proper x rays and tests. Called me into his office and told me. My tumor was so large it took up my whole bladder and still he got it all. If I can be of any other help please do not hesitate to ask. I have been reading these forums for years but never felt compeled to speak up before. So if I can be of any help to someone I will. Having been through that experience was something I hope I never do again. Perhaps if I had asked for a referal sooner I wouldn't have been so bad off. By the way I quit smoking 3 years ago and he told me that was probably the sole reason for getting the cancer.

Wow, sounds like Sawyer is getting the whole kit and kaboodle! And it sounds like you have a LOT to do! Everything sounds good to me, except is she going to stop taking the bethanechol? With UMN bladder, she doesn't need it, as it tightens the urinary sphincter and that is already her problem. Also have you mastered the fine art of expressing her bladder? Sorry she has the more difficult problem to express, but I think you can handle anything that comes your way. The vet makes a good point about the rabies vaccine lasting longer than the legal 3 years. However, the duration of immunity is tested on young healthy animals who are challenged in a laboratory setting. Real life is often more complicated than what is replicated in the laboratory. Not all dogs are healthy when vaccinated, and we don't always know that they didn't mount an appropriate immune response to vaccination; the viral load in real life varies quite a bit from the lab; animals bit closer to the CNS are more likely to get the disease. My concern in your case is that you know Sawyer has a risk of being bitten, which is bad enough in and of itself, but rabid animals also tend to bite people. A couple of years ago, a properly vaccinated cat in NC savagely attacked several people in its family, and escaped through an open window. It was found later that day, and the family very reluctantly agreed to euthanize the cat and have it tested for rabies. It was positive. The parents said that if they had not found the cat, they would have never thought to seek treatment for rabies themselves or for their child who was also bit. They would have all died. And remember, this was a properly vaccinated cat. So while I am in total agreement that there are risks to vaccination which increase in some disease states, I am also very cautious about recommending against rabies vaccines because of the public health risk. Weird things happen, which is why the law (at least here in NC) is that all dogs and cats must be rabies vaccinated before 16 weeks, one year after that, and every 3 years thereafter. NC does not have a health exemption for rabies vaccines, but some states do. It would only protect you from a fine in case Sawyer was found wandering the streets and picked up by animal control. The pyrrosia14 is used for a variety of urinary tract problems including UTIs. I haven't heard of cord tablets; I'd be interested to learn what is in them. My Max (also a Lab) gets homemade food for his multitude of health issues- one kidney (the other one had to be removed due to an abscess), recurrent struvite bladder stones, mild heart disease, joint disease, food allergies. I can make 9 days worth of food in about 2 hours for him. He gets rice, chicken, eggs, mixed veggies, salmon oil, veggie oil, and a vitamin/mineral premix. His recipe came from a nutritionist because I was at a loss on what to feed him. My other 3 dogs are still on dog food (Solid Gold Wolf King) until I start making enough money to cook for them too. I do give them homemade food 1-2 times a week, plus they all get turkey necks or something raw 1-2 times a week as a treat. But I'd love to be able to cook for all of them. I like cooking, even for myself, though. How's Sawyer doing after her BIG day? Most pets get a little worse the first 1-2 days after their first couple of acupuncture-type treatments, but then get much better. I hope she is feeling better already.

I read that she was annoyed by screaming children running up and down the aisle in First Class. I would be annoyed by that, too. Mostly with the parents who were allowing it, then with the FAs who are probably too scared of the ruckus it would cause with those same parents if THEY tried to stop the unruly kids. I wouldn't expect that kind of atmosphere if I was sitting in First Class. I'm not excusing Trump's behavior, though, it sounds like she over-reacted. I think it's times like those when fellow passengers need to get slightly involved and shut those kids down, because the FAs can't be everywhere at once AND the FAs have to walk a really fine line between enforcement and diplomacy/customer service. For all they know, that situation could be a set-up by the airline to test their skills and see if the FAs perform to their liking. If the adults on board had simply blocked the aisles so the kids were unable to run back and forth, maybe then the parents could have settled them down and strapped them in. This is assuming all the children had seats assigned to them. I know up to a certain age, you can (ridiculously) hold them in your lap, on some airlines.