It's been awhile...

Wow, I can't believe that I haven't posted since May. Well, now for the update. We had a wonderful summer spending weekends RVing in NH and a week up in Perth. It was great to see my grand mother surounded by her grand children and great grand children. Kids are back in school and as happy as clams. Both are doing great. Dogs, Cats, Rats and Guinea Pig all happy and healthy.
Sarah and Max started hockey again this year and Sarah is in gymnastics. Randy continues to cycle. I'm waiting to hear if I've got a stress fracture in my left heal...Stay tuned.
Hopefully I will start to make it a habit of posting more regularly. Take care everyone...

Meet Lacy....

Heartbroken and suffering from insomnia, I found myself surfing the web at 1 am one morning in the week after we lost Violet. Of course I end up at Petfinder. I type in Pug...and lo and behold Lacy pops up.
She was found in a shelter by Pug Rescue of New England. She had ear and eye infections, she was dirty, smelly, and was "a bag of bones" according to her foster mom Karen, who didn't think Lacy would every be adopted out to a "forever home" because Lacy is already 8 years old and she is "visually" challenged. In other words, our new little puglet is blind.
The minute I saw her picture online I knew that *we* were her family. We met Lacy and took her home that day...She has intergrated beautifully into our busy household. She loves to snuggle and keep me company on the couch. She has pretty much memorized the entire first floor and rarely bumps into anything (unless of course we move the furniture around).
So as I write this, I am smilling and my heart is happy and full of love for this little pug who brings a smile to my face every time I look at her. She is lying next to me, snoring and snuffling contentedly as I type away. Welcome home Lacy...

Sad News

Yesterday at about 10:30 our beautiful pug Violet passed away quietly in my arms. The day before she woke up with the right side of her face very swollen and weeping. We took her to see Meg who gave her some pain meds and fluids and referred us to specialist in the same building as her oncologists. We were hopeful that it was an infection that could be treated but by early the next morning she was having breathing and as they intebated her they discovered a huge mass up over her palate and behing her eye. There was nothing more to do...
Randy and I were both with her as she slipped away. We told her what a good dog she had been to us, how much we loved her and how much we would all miss her.
The house seems very empty without her. The kids are sad, and poor Flint keeps looking for his playmate.
We are all so heartbroken...

Introducing Aphrodite...

Let me introduce you to Sarah's newest friend. She is a Dumbo Rat (notice the ears). Really very sweet. She spends most of her time perched on Sarah's shoulder, nuzlling her ears and hiding under her hair. Her sister peanut spends her time on my shoulder, nuzzling my ears and riding in the hood of my sweatshirt as I go about my daily household chores. Pictures of Peanut to follow soon...

Daisy

This is Daisy. As you can see, she has a hard life. When she isn't knocking over vases full of water, drinking water from the kitchen faucet or antagonizing Flint (the yorkie). She is napping. She is Max's cat. She sleeps with him, follows him around the house, and *helps* him with his homework...Apparently there is "something" about cats and boys with Asperger's. Tony Attwood spoke about it at the AANE (Asperger's Association of New England) conference last fall. After the conference I started noticing just how much time Daisy and Max spent together and they do have this incredible bond.

Life is good again...

Violet is doing great! The mass seems to have completely disappeared. She is all done with radiation and only has 2 more shots of her vaccine left.
Kids are also doing very well. Max succesfully compeleted his MCAS (standardized tests in MA)last week and also presented his Science Fair Project on Friday. What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time we were on the verge of looking for some sort of in patient program for Max, in daily contact with our attorney and the stress levels in the house were immense. Fast forward to today and Max is studying the rise and fall of Communisim in the Soviet Union and the sound of his giggling permiates the house. Sarah is a joy and bright ray of sunlight as she skips throughout the house searching for "faerie houses" and "enchanted" objects with her best friend Aviva.
Once again I am blessed to be able to enjoy my children growing up with some sense of "normalcy" each having a "best friend", playdates and school projects. Now, don't get me wrong, living life on the spectrum of autism is and will always be a challenge, but now the daily challenges we face deal are more of the internal workings of living with Asperger's, as opposed to the rights of my child to a fair and appropriate education and basic respect.

And now a word about Violet...

To continue the animal saga. Violet was diagnosed with Melanoma in January (during the infamous Flint vs the Costco Chicken dietary indiscretion). Two weeks ago they started her on an experimental xenogenic vaccine that has been promising and she had her first radiation treatment on Friday. She did great with both and will continue getting radiation once a week and the vaccine every two weeks. If any of this is going to help we should now in the next three weeks. Keeping our fingers crossed.
Oh, and I think I may have forgotten to mention that we have added to our household in the last few weeks.
It all started when I decided that Sarah was in need of something special. She is always very patient and understanding about being the "token neurotypical" child in most any given situation. She is a junior "buddy" at skating, and probably will be a baseball this spring. She is a good sport at bowling and all of the other "sibling" activities that she attends at Max's School. So I ask her "Sarahbean, you've been doing such a great job being helpful, what would you like that mommy could get you?" I am thinking, American Girl Doll, Spa Day, Girls Day, Day off of School for no reason....Noooo. She looks me straight in the eye and without missing a beat says, "Mommy - I want a RAT". Deep breath..."A rat?" "Yes, mom I want a rat. Max had a hamster when he was younger than me. Rat are smart and curious and they like to be with people - I want a Rat." So I do the old, "Well, that's a big responsibility caring for another little creature, we'll have to talk to Daddy about it, I don't know that that is something that we can do right now..." The next morning she comes skipping into the back parlour from the kitchen. "Daddy said yes, Daddy said yes, I can have a RAT!"
So now we have 2 rats (apparently they need the company). Aphrodite (named of course by Sarah because "she is beautiful, but she can be mischievous and can get herself into trouble" just like the goddess) and Peanut (named by Max, "'cause she's cute...")
Pictures to follow...

Oh how time flies...

I can't believe that it's March already. Here is an update on what's been going on in the Kay-Baker household. We last left you with the wonderful news of NO CANCER. Yippee! We had a quiet and uneventful Christmas holiday here at home. Then came January 3rd, a day which will forever be etched in our memories as "The day of the $7,000 Costco Chicken". My girlfriend Pam and I went shopping at Costco that day and I decided that I desperately wanted one of those rotisserie chicken. After wanting for what seemed like HOURS (ok, it was only 20 minutes) the chickens were ready and off we went. As usual we were cutting it close with getting home, unloading the groceries out of Pam's car, and making it on time to pick up the kids at school. So in my haste I left the chicken on the counter.

Well...I came home 15 minutes later to find Flint (the yorkie) madly devouring said chicken. Violet (the pug) was sound asleep, and because she is deaf, didn't hear the debacle that was taking place in the kitchen and missed on the foul ordeal. We call Meg (who is now a Vet) she says watch him closely. We do, the next day he is miserable. We bring him in, 2 x-rays later, he is in surgery having LARGE bones removed from his stomach that would have otherwise passed. While in surgery they realize just how bad all of this is. He has developed a severe case of pancreatitis and will require round the clock hospitalization to pull him through, the recommend Mass Vet Referral Hospital in Woburn.

So...I pick up Flint on Friday 5:30 pm rush hour to transport him to Mass Vet Ref. He is tucked into a laundry basket layered with towels and polartec blankets (remember it's January here) he is still very out of it since he has only been out of surgery an hour or two and still has all of his IV lines hooked up. He is in in the front passenger seat. All is well, I merge onto 93 north and we are crawling at about 20 miles an hour and then BAMB 3 car accident. I couldn't make this up if I tried. The guy in front of me gets out (who gets out in the middle of 93 during friday night rush hour I don't know, but he did) and starts swearing and yelling, and here I am - with FLINT next to me - who has somehow managed not to go flying into the windshield. I try to dial 911 - all circuit are busy. WHAT! Try again, same thing, finally third try and I get through. "Are you the car on fire?" the 911 operator asks me, "No" I answer, turns out about a half mile behind us there is a raging car fire.

Anyhoo, other than a bad bruise from the seat belt we were able to drive away. I delivered Flint to the hospital where he remained for a week, not getting any better. The costs were getting up there and we decided to take him home. Meg showed Randy how to give him sub q fluids and shots of anti nausea meds and pain meds. 3 days later he finally started to eat (boiled chicken no less) and has now made a complete recovery. He is back to chasing balls, barking obnoxiously, and being an all around complete, if not cute nudge...

Next installment - Violet goes to the oncologist