Here We Go....

[Jennifer and Jack]

Next week is going to be super busy.... Doctors appointments, bringing Jack to my moms house and then I am off again... We leave for the Cleveland Clinic on Thursday for a Friday appointment and testing.

We are hoping to get all the testing done in one day... Not sure if they can or not, if not we will be at the hotel over the weekend and do the rest of the testing on Monday.

June 15th is the planned stop date of my IV antibiotics... I started IV antibiotics in September of last year, most days doing them 20 hours a day by the time all the infusions went it. I have not been able to take a normal shower, swim or a bath since last September...I have had to wrap myself in saran wrap.. or just take a bath.. not getting my IV site wet

Having 14 more days of IVs is both exciting and absolutely horrifying .... When I stop the antibiotic, this will be the test to see if my heart infection/blood infection and lungs are clear. We really won't know for up to six months after I stop... I will have to be watched weekly.. My blood work is all over the place now.. so I am not so sure the infection is gone but we will see. The plan is, if the infection shows up. I will be directly admitted to Cleveland Clinic for surgery to have the device removed... The closer I get to stopping the antibiotic the more edgy I am getting. 

Jack and I are doing well... minus a little skin injury he is just as happy as I have ever seen him....

I am so extremely overwhelmed at the outpouring of support... So many of you have donated to my fundraiser..the checks are still coming in... I don't know how to thank anyone.. Beautiful art work, checks, cards, crosses, notes of encouragement.. my heart is so full.... I am so incredibly blessed so happy.... I am at such a loss for words.. I keep asking myself and others how exactly it is that you thank someone for making it possible for you to get the medical care that you need that is saving your life? My surgeons here won't take my case.... thank God I have a place to go to help me.. THANK YOU GUYS for making it possible for me to go. I have not worked since November and yet I have my needs met.. Thank God and Thank you.... Thank you is just two small words and it doesn't seem enough. Though I knew my health was going to decline never did I imagine all this would happen... it is so humbling to be a semi functioning human being, working, meeting your own needs to where I ended up.. Yet I am still more blessed then the richest person, you just have to look at what you do have, not at what you don't.. and I have so much..

This has been the most trying time in my life that I can remember.. seeing my family so stressed is so hard but we have hope... we believe.. we trust and we are lifted up by so many people who love us.

Today, my breeder, who I love and adore and has became a dear friend of mine announced that she is naming her newest addition to her breeding program after me.. He is a cute little boy name Champy.. A Mini parti poodle.. Oh my gracious he is adorable...

On our fan club page, we always have a Paw Pad Doodle parent of the week.. This week it was my turn .. I wanted to share it here because it is about me.. not about my health but me, who I am as a person.... I am way more then my health and any disease...  so way more information then you need to know...but some of my story.....

. While my health issues have made me who I am today, I am not my health.. so I am purposely going to leave that out. I am 39 years old I was born and raised in New Jersey, I grew up going to the Jersey Shore every summer. My most favorite place in the world the world is the shore..that I now call the beach since no one is SC knows what the shore is. My very first job was at a Hot dog dump I mean Hot Dog Joint. I lied about my age so that they would hire me. I had to be 15 I was 14. I also worked in a food store as a cashier when I was a teenager, also a nursing assistant here and there. Most of my work before nursing had to do with children. I was a nanny, then I was a teacher for two year olds. As I grew older I became the director of a day care center for a hospital. Oddly enough when I was a very young adult I applied to this hospital for a nursing assistant position but was turned down. I remember loving the hospital so much, I prayed and asked God to please let me work there someday. As God would have it 12 years later I was hired as a nursing assistant, then as a Registered Nurse. It was years later that I remembered that prayer I said to God in my beat up little car as a young adult wanting a job. Who knew what was in store for me. That was my dream job come true.

Anyway, as a director of the daycare center for that hospital, I became friends with some of the nurses who kept telling me I should become a nurse because they thought my personality had what it took. I did not have as much confidence to think I could do schooling for nursing. I got a lot of input and it was all mostly NOT to do it, My doctors told me I would not be able to make it through, that my health was too bad, My dad did not want me to leave a stable job. Some encouraged me though. I applied to school and got it. School was tough on me. I was in the hospital quite a bit and I used to sneak out of the hospital where I was a patient and report for clinicals and then return to my bed when I was done for the morning. I drove my doctors crazy. I mean crazy. The more they told me I couldn't do it, the more I tried. I ending up graduating the top of my class with a 4.0 GPA, I was Class President, Lab Assistant and I tutored Nursing and Microbiology.. Want me to succeed in something? Just tell me I can't do it. So the young adult that prayed to God 12 years before not only got a job at the hospital I prayed to God for, I got my dream job and became an ER nurse. I worked as an RN there for a few years and decided it was time to buy a home. It was impossible for me to find one I could afford and still eat and actually get my hair cut more then once a year. I came to visit a dear friend in SC on vacation and pretty much .. no exactly purchased a piece of property in a newly developing development. Yup, I sure did. I knew I could get a job anywhere and in fact I was also hired on the same vacation by three Emergency Rooms.

Nothing like going home to tell your dad, your job, your best friends and an amazing job that you randomly purchased a home and you were moving across the country. I knew I had to do it. The cost of living here is so much less. I knew my disease would progress and that my ability to work full time would dwindle. I had to do it so that I could be assured I could take care of myself if had to... little did I know my health would decline so rapidly once I moved. I have been here six years now and I love it. I miss NJ in some ways. My old job was very, very good to me and when I told them I was moving.. They tried to do interventions with me to get me to stop from going. So many people offered for me to live with them. My boss told me I could live with her for free but to please not leave because she wanted to make sure I was okay. I left, actually the day I moved, I was discharged from the hospital and someone drove me here to my closing because I was too sick to drive myself.

I have always been blessed through some tough circumstances. My old boss had the hospital pay the COBRA on my insurance for an entire year and a half. They were afraid I would start a job and not have benefits. They paid the whole thing. No questions asked. I am a blessed women.

I moved into an ideal neighborhood with the best neighbors. God provided me with new bosses that took as good as care of me as my bosses in NJ did and to this day. They are still holding my position for me.

My favorite food is NY pizza
Favorite TV Little House on The Prairie.
I never ever liked dogs as a child or as an adult until Jack.. the rest of that is history as I am now a sold out dog lover.
I am a hopeless optimist and believe you should always assume and believe the best about people.
Always give the benefit of the doubt and for LOVE of God don't wait until someone is dead to tell them how much they mean to you

One thing that is so important to me is for people to know that I have my entire adult life always been blessed through the toughest of situations... It completely humbles me the amount of love that people give to me,  What I have been given can not be bought with money, with health or the best of anything in the world. God gave me His love and the love of people....

People always ask me how I don't end up feeling sorry for myself.. I would be mortified at the thought of doing that... not to say I don't have my days....but when I do start to think I am quickly reminded of the vast amount of love I have in my life.... Nothing beats that.. not even good health....

I will post as I can about Cleveland.. Keep praying, sending good thoughts and cross your crossables that this goes well...... One of the procedures they want to do on me is risky, it is just a test but with my airway being as bad as it is it is not ideal... to say the least.

Much love and Gratitude... I am going to post some of the amazing things, pictures, cards and crosses as soon as I can so you can see just how amazing all of you are...

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Good luck Jennifer! Always thinking of you and hoping for a fast recovery!

[Janie, Jackson and Jilly]

Good luck with the tests! Travel safe!

[Anna and Achilles]

Good Luck, I will be thinking of you and praying for you,

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

Hoping good things come from your trip to Cleveland. Will continue to send love and healing thoughts your way.

[Sharon & Monty]

Cleveland Clinic rocks,.  I have a friend that is diabetic, needed a new heart, NO ONE would touch him, he had reached out to all the famous hospitals.  Cleveland took him, he not only lived the surgery but is doing extremely well 3 years later.  I am confident you are going to where you need to be.  I think of you often and know that this is just another bump in the road for you,but then the road will become smooth again.  Take care Miss Jennifer!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Jennifer, I wish you all the best in Cleveland and hope this begins your road back to recovery. Keep safe and God bless you!

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

See you when dear Jennifer, if not in body in spirit! Good Luck!

[Diane, Baker & Oskar]

You are to be admired for your determination, accomplishments & wonderful attitude. May the doctors at the Cleveland Clinic reward you with exactly the care you need to return home soon to Jack better than before. As others have said, you really are amazing & I wish you the very best. Will be looking forward to updates as you can post them.

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

WOW, Jennifer!! You are such an amazing person and an inspiration to so many! We love you and are praying for you -- each and every day!

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

Jennifer, You are one amazing woman.  Keeping everything crossed for you for a good outcome at the Cleveland Clinic.