when it rains, it pours.

...seems that phrase has been going on around here for, say... a month now? This is in case you're wondering, or might find yourself wondering. An update on my house:

You may know by now that my husband, Doug, broke his leg playing weekend softball at a charity event - out of work for at least 6 weeks. Just found out from his MRI that after that he'll probably need surgery for a torn miniscus - another 6-8 weeks. We're looking at his return to work as sometime in December, all this now his own sick time.

We came home from camping early bc Mom & I spent the day in the e.r. with McKenna, who developed a weird limp overnight. We came home to go to peds, to go for bloodwork; we're waiting on those results (of course, over a holiday wknd), and she has a peds ortho appt next week as well (remember her hip problem as a little baby?) We just can't narrow down what this is, but Motrin works. Even today, she's needed three doses of Motrin just to get her to walk comfortably. No idea what this is or even where the pain is coming from, other than her right leg, calf/knee/thigh area. Could be anything from an infection in the joint, lime, recurring hip problem, or just a sprain or muscle strain. Let's just hope for the latter.

On top of that, I had to take Toby (our Boxer dog) to the vet yest because he's had a tiny bit of a personality change - eating habits, activity, pale in his mouth. Between our vet and the emergency vet, they gave him 12-72 hours left to live. Shock. He's not even 3 and he's so severly anemic, they don't know if they can keep up. They recommended blood transfusions and hospitalizations, which we wouldn't have hesitated had Doug not been out of work. Without overtime and him being able to work with the plumbing business, and me having trouble getting to work bc Doug's home and can't care after the 2yo, we just can't afford all that. It's killing us that we can't do everything we need to for Toby. They're treating him aggresively with antibiotics, prednizone and an injected steroid, as they used to treat anemic dogs before they could do transfusions. His #s are so low, tho, they're not even sure the transfusions would work. He's now survived 24 hours since diagnosis, I'll keep you updated.

I'm just mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted. Wondering how much more I can take. Trying to relieve stress by walking and being outside as much as possible, but I really want my life, my healthy family and my sanity back. It could be a long rest of the year. Prayers welcomed. and needed.

lk