get to know me questions...

I always love reading these question and answer surveys on other blogs, so thought I would do the answering this time! :)

1. sweet or salty? salty

2. favorite color? PINK!

3. favorite animal? anyone that knows me in real life knows that I am a flamingo lover through and through!!

4. if you were given/won a million dollars, how would you spend it? both of my kids are in college (well, my son will be in 35 days) so the easy first answer is TUITION! :)

5. any tattoos or piercings? I have a flamingo (see number 3!) tattoo on my foot and I have my ears double pierced. nothing exotic over here! an interesting tidbit is that I rarely wear earrings in my bottom holes, but always wear the same earrings in my top holes-diamonds from my grandma's wedding ring.

6. are you a morning or a night person? hmmm…tough question! I don't stay up late but I do tend to wake up early. this is not by my choice and I don't really enjoy it, but sleeping in seems to be a thing of the past.

7. are you a collector of anything? I LOVE globes and have lots in various rooms of our house. I also have a precious moments collection in my grandpa and grandma's hutch, haven't added to that collection in awhile, but I do dust them periodically! :)

8. any bad habits? cracking my knuckles. so hard to break that habit, too.

9. favorite drink? I love a good fountain dr. pepper. preferably from mcdonalds. I don't like their food, but their pop is the bomb!

10.favorite song at the moment? happy by pharrell williams! and I have to really turn it up and sing along. :) that's a great visual, isn't it? you're welcome.

11. do you untie your shoes when you take them off? YES! it is a must!

12. favorite cereal? I don't eat it regularly, but I do like lucky charms!

13. do you still have your tonsils? (really?!) nope…I had those taken out when I was five. :)

14. mountain hideaway or beach house? definitely beach house.

15. what movie could you watch over and over and still love? easy…pretty in pink. my very favorite movie of all time. pretty woman is a close second.

want to play along? let me know you did so in the comments! :)

a tate update…..

a couple of weeks after tate suffered his stroke, he was pretty much back to 'normal'. that all changed on monday night. I let him out before bed, as usual, but he just circled on the top step and wouldn't go down. the minute I lifted him up, I could just feel his equilibrium was all out of whack. he couldn't walk back up the steps and just wasn't 'with' it.

tuesday afternoon, we took him to our local vet. he told us it was probably the blockage from the stroke growing and there really wasn't much else we could do. (a 5 minute $38 appointment)

wednesday was just a horrible day. tate was VERY unsteady on his feet and just wasn't himself AT ALL. at one point in the day, I am not sure he knew who he was, where he was or who I was. it was VERY hard. he was literally bouncing off the walls and running into everything.

on thursday, our old tate returned! he had a fantastic day-no wobbling, went up and down steps and was perfectly normal!

he wakes up this morning and is swaying in his kennel. I open the door, and he can't take a step over the cushion to walk out. I know then that I need to call for a second opinion. 2 hours and $297 later, we have a couple of possibilities. tate has all of the symptoms of vestibular disease, which is a 'short' in the nerve that connects the brain to the inner ear and is not life threatening. it affects equilibrium, causes a head tilt (which had been non existent for the last week or so, but is back) and causes the eyes to 'jump', making it hard to focus and hard to walk. it is the equivalent of vertigo in humans. Dr. MacLellan also believes that tate may have a tumor that is pressing on that nerve and that is what is causing the same symptoms. another reason she is suspecting a tumor is his late onset of 'seizures', which may have been signs of the tumor and not really seizures.

so where do we go from here? well, we are trying prednisone and an antibiotic for a week to see if there is improvement and will recheck with her next friday. if it is the vestibular disease, he will show improvement within a week or two. if it is a tumor, he may show improvement since the prednisone will help to reduce the swelling on the nerve. if the prednisone doesn't help, it will be time to make some major, not-so-fun decisions for our furry child.

thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers.