My Doggie is Sick and Honduras Stuff

Roxie is not well. Here she is in my car going to the Doctor.

At Christmas time, she was not well either. The good Doctor John, at Morton's Small Animal Clinic, took X-rays and diagnosed her with back problems. Her little spinal disks were bowed out, causing the pain.

Some anti-inflammatory and an attempt at restricting her leaping onto the bed was the medicine. She got better.

But over the weekend, she started exhibiting symptoms again: No appetite, whimpering, shaking from pain, hiding in my closet, etc.

I took her back to the Doctor this morning. More X-rays and even a complete workup on her blood didn't really show anything alarming. At least we ruled out alot of diseases. He thinks she just needs to take it easy, do the course of anti-inflammatory drugs again, and hope for the best. If she doesn't get better, he recommends a Specialist to look at her spine.

Yikes. That sounds expensive to me.

Roxie, if you're reading this.... Please get better soon!

Honduras Update:

Yesterday, while Roxie hid in my closet in pain, I went with some friends to Allen. We joined some other fellow House of Hope friends in loading a Container shipment bound for Honduras.

Several times a year, a truck like this takes off from Allen. It goes to the coast and is shipped via boat to Honduras. It takes a couple of months to get there. I'm not really sure what happens once it gets there, but it eventually finds the way to the House of Hope.

Dr Tom Brian, founder of the House of Hope, has devoted years to this project. He has a huge storage building behind his house where supplies are collected. He tirelessly works to arrange the details on loading it up and sending it off. Mattresses, medical supplies, exam tables, bicycles, office supplies, plumbing supplies, building material, baby clothes, diapers and formula were some of the things I saw being loaded up.

This particular excursion was extremely enlightening for me. The address for donations to the House of Hope is in Allen, and I've heard about the big container shipments leaving from this location.... but to see it with my own eyes was exciting!

Most exciting, however, was visiting with others who have been to serve at the HofH. Several people have been numerous times... we swapped stories and asked questions about particular children. It wasn't uncommon for our conversations to start off like this: "Were the twins there when you were there?" or "Isn't that Chalma a hoot?" or "Let me tell you about little Rodrigo and how he's grown!"

Sharing a common bond with strangers is heart-warming. Here we were, on a 100+ degree day, practically melting undr the sun. Many of us strangers to each other, and yet there was no separation, because we have a common love and a common goal.

And that's pretty cool. Even on the hottest day of the year.