The Blackburn Family

After 10 days of eye drops 3 times a day it looks like Tuscan’s eye is all better! Let’s just hope it doesn’t come back. I am so glad we don’t have to give him the drops anymore because it was not fun. Rabbits don’t really like being tipped over!

I spoke with Dr. Wendy on Tuesday and she didn’t feel it was necessary to do an ultrasound on JD since he has stopped throwing up for now. She didn’t mention doing the biopsy yet so hopefully we can put that off for awhile. We are going to start him on an antibiotic for three weeks and then do more blood work. There are a couple infectious diseases he could have picked up from fleas/ticks. He doesn’t go outside and I have only found one flea on him in 4 years, but I guess it is still possible. If his blood work doesn’t look better after the antibiotics we will try treating him for IBD for awhile and see if there is an improvement in his blood work. If neither works we are probably looking at a type of intestinal cancer. Dr. Wendy said if he had the most aggressive form he wouldn’t be here right now so we can rule that one out. His red blood count is good so that is a good sign it isn’t cancer, but we can’t rule it out just yet.

The last few weeks JD has started throwing up a lot more so I called the vet on Thursday to see if I should bring him in to be examined. They of course said yes, they always do. Since he had his surgery in November he hasn’t thrown up much and has had a lot more energy. Then I started to notice puke a lot…. probably 4-5 days a week, mostly in the morning. So Friday he spent the day at the vet and had x-rays taken. His stomach was full of food so they were concerned he had some kind of blockage. After having the vets at NC State examine his film the vet decided an emergency ultrasound wasn’t needed. Instead she asked us to fast him and bring him in Saturday morning for another x-ray. So yesterday morning we spent two hours at the vet. The food had left his stomach and appeared to be moving through his system, but it is hard to tell with x-rays. Then the vet went to review his blood work. It wasn’t good. Same problem he had in August of last year. I have no idea what is is or how to pronounce it, but at the time the vet was thinking it was some kind of tumor in his digestive track. She hoped the numbers were off because of the stones so we went ahead with his surgery. Maybe his blood work never got better. We didn’t do blood work after the surgery. So they are going to call me today with a plan. He probably is going to need an ultrasound and biopsy. I think they biopsy will require opening him up again. We may or may not go ahead with treatment. It is a hard decision because we don’t really know what is wrong with him or if it can be treated. I will update as we know more. Here a two pictures I took of him yesterday.

Sorry for the delay in posting, but Christmas is a busy time. Plus I have gotten hooked on a wii game that is occupying all my time. I had to set some limits for myself or nothing was going to get done. Now I understand why Casey plays every night! No, I am not playing WOW. I am hooked on Animal Crossing. I decided to rent it from Blockbuster before investing in the game and the first night I played it was a bit boring. Then I kept playing and I read a bit online about all the cool things I can do! Ever since then I have been glued to the TV playing. It is one of those games that never really ends. You sell things, buy things, go fishing, visit the city, go to friend’s towns, design clothes, get your hair done, you know fun girly things. Casey thinks it is ridiculous, but it is the EXACT same thing as his game except for girls.

Casey really wants me to mention that before Christmas he went to tour the Childress race facility. Here are the pictures he took while he was there. I let him take my camera even though I really didn’t want to! He didn’t break it.

I also put some pictures from Christmas on flickr here. For Christmas this year we gave Casey’s parents a new bathroom! The kids all went in together to remodel their hall bathroom. We took down the wallpaper, painted, cleaned the tile and added some new accessories. There are lots of pictures in the flickr album. We also played a lot of Mario Kart with the kids while we were down there. Karley and I usually worked as a team (me steering and her hitting the gas) and we always had to be the princess. Also, mom got the mink this year as a present from Sally and Kenny. I am pretty sure I mentioned the mink awhile back when she lived with us, but just in case here is the story. Mom found the mink when cleaning up Uncle Ned’s house (which is also the house she grew up in). The mink belonged to her grandmother so she decided all the descendants should care for the mink. I got it two years ago at Christmas and it was disgusting. It is an actual mink complete with toe nails and eyes. When you open it up (especially when you aren’t expecting it) it really freaks you out. Make sure to check out the pictures of mom’s face when she opened it. Here are the pictures from when the mink lived with us. Here are the ones dad took when I opened it.

We didn’t do anything special for New Year’s Eve, but I did manage to stay up until midnight. I am not sure why since all we did was watch them count down and then I went to bed. I might as well have just gone to bed at 10. New Year’s Day we cooked a special meal (per Casey’s instruction). We had black eyed peas (I think for luck), green beans (for money, I don’t eat any other greens), ham (no idea why) and sweet potatoes (also no idea why). Hopefully it will bring us luck and lots of money! I didn’t much like 2008 so I have high hopes for 2009. I feel like it will be a much better year than 2008. At least I am not turning 30 this year.

Okay, I think that is enough! I have a couple other things to do before I can play my game again!!

Here are a few pictures I took today of the bunnies and JD. They had a really hard day.

I think the drugs have worn off… and he seems to remember me taking him to the vet. He has been running away from me a lot more and he doesn’t like to come downstairs in the morning when I feed him. The day I took him to the vet I tricked him into coming downstairs by feeding him so he doesn’t seem to trust me yet. I have to take him for his followup tomorrow so his distrust of me will continue for awhile. Here are a few pictures of him from last week.

On another note I spent the weekend in Asheville with my friend Melanie. We spent Saturday and Sunday exploring Biltmore. I highly recommend going when the house is decorated for Christmas and you shouldn’t miss the house at night. We walked through the house during the day and also Saturday night for the candlelight tour. Then Sunday we went to the winery and farm. I just wish it wasn’t 4 hours away! Here are some pictures from our trip.

JD has been a bit out of it this week thanks to all his pain medicine. Extra loving and really sleepy (even more than usual). Well tonight Tuscan and Moose decided to check him out on the couch. Usually JD is scared of the bunnies and he freaks out if they get too close to him. He didn’t mind either of them sniffing his shaved back or walking all around him. Tuscan even gave him some nose kisses and stood in front of JD’s face for a long time sniffing at him. One time JD seemed like he was going to bop him on the head like he usually does, but he didn’t seem to have the energy or desire to do it. Those are some good drugs.

On another note, I cleaned downstairs tonight since Apple is gone. It is the first time in 1.5 years that I haven’t had bunnies downstairs and I don’t like it!! It is too empty down there without them.

Apple came to live with us a few days before Christmas last year as a short term foster. Unfortunately the family that was interested in him didn’t work out so he stayed here with us for almost a year. Everyone that came over and met him loved him. I have had 10 foster rabbits, 2 of my own rabbits and have worked with at least 30 rabbits at the SPCA over the years and none has been as special as Apple (don’t tell the others!). I know some of you don’t understand having a rabbit as a pet and it may seem strange to you, but they are wonderful pets with as much personality as any dog or cat. Apple is a very unique rabbit. He loves people and would always run over to get some love from anyone willing to pet him. He isn’t shy or scared of people like some rabbits. He always came running to greet me when I came home and would usually come when we called his name. I am so excited that he has such a wonderful new home, but I will really miss him.

JD is doing much better, but the drugs have him really out of it. He is extra loving while on his meds and extra sleepy. His fur isn’t growing in much yet, but no more diarrhea. He goes in next week for a check up and to check his urine. Hopefully the stones will stay away for awhile.

To see Apple’s flickr album click here.

I went to pick up JD today after work. He came home with lots of medications and not very happy. When I got him home we gave him his first round of medicine and gave him a bit to eat. He went to the litterbox about 20 times in 10 minutes to squeeze out a bit of pee. Then he went in and had some serious diarrhea. Luckily it was all in the litterbox and he didn’t get much of it on himself. So we had to put him in the sink to clean him up a bit and he seemed to be fine. He was on the couch with me for awhile and when I decided to come upstair for the night I set up the bedroom for him. After about 15 minutes we started to smell it…. Yep, he had another diarrhea attack downstairs. This time it was everywhere. In the litterbox, on the carpet outside of the litterbox, on the dining room floor and all over the carpet in the living room. The whole house smells like shit. So he is now locked in the bathroom. Poor little guy. I tried to clean him up, but he wasn’t too excited about it and I couldn’t get him very clean. It is going to be a long night.

I finally have all the trip pictures posted! Click here to see the Grand Tetons album. There are tons of pictures I didn’t post, but they tend to all look the same so I tried to pick the best.

JD is still at the vet. He did well during the surgery, but they had some issues when they tried to flush his system so he was under a bit longer than expected. I should be able to pick him up tomorrow after work. I went to visit him on Friday after work and he looked so pathetic. He was pretty doped up and is minus a lot of fur. I will get some pictures of the little patient when he gets home. He is still in a lot of pain and I figure he will be for awhile. When he had his teeth pulled he hid under the bed for several days. I am sure he won’t be too happy with us.

So my newest hobby is gardening. I have several books (thanks library!) and I seem to get more confused the more I read. Although I did go to Home Depot today to check out their plants and I actually recognized most of them! So maybe I am learning something. My newest problem is that I keep buying plants on sale and I don’t know where to put them. Or I plant them and then decided two weeks later to move them. The more I think about it and try to plan my beds the more confused I get about what to plant and where to put it all. I think I have too many hobbies…. I can’t really focus on any of them. There isn’t enough time! My latest hobbies include photography, gardening, yoga, jigsaw puzzles, the wii, the rabbit meetup, teaching/volunteering at the SPCA and investing. If only I was rich and didn’t have to work. I would have so much more time for my fun hobbies. There are several other hobbies that I used to do that I want to do again like playing the piano and scrapbooking (but I want to do them online instead of cutting out all the paper!). Not to mention my normal daily chores like cleaning, going to the grocery store, cooking dinner, making lunch and taking care of all the pets. I need more time! My goal is to focus on gardening before it gets really cold and then once it gets really cold I can do some of the indoor hobbies.

Here are some pictures from Jennifer’s wedding last weekend (Oct. 18th). I was the matron of honor and we had a great time! To see the flickr album of her wedding click here.

I took JD to the vet this morning for his follow up x-ray. He has been on the prescription diet for the last month in the hopes that his bladder stones would start to shrink. Well, it didn’t work for JD so he is going in for his surgery on Friday. I am not too happy about it and I don’t think he will be either. He will most likely spend the weekend at the vet so I will try to post an update on him next week.

JD was supposed to go in tomorrow for his surgery to remove the bladder stones. I talked with Dr. Simpson tonight and she just got home from a conference on urinary disease in cats. The speaker emphasized trying diet changes before cutting since the recovery from surgery is so difficult. Dr. Simpson said if it was her cat she would try the prescription diet first. So I am going tomorrow to pick up his new food. We will try the diet for a month and do another x-ray. If the stones are shrinking we will continue the diet and if not he will have surgery to remove them. I was really nervous about his surgery tomorrow so I am glad he doesn’t have to go under the knife just yet! I really hope the diet works!