Heart4Ash (Skwig)

Baby it is cold outside are the words that best describe this past week. When it gets snowy and cold, I get excited for the holidays. I love to see the frosted trees, everyone bundled up and the change of everything that surrounds us. It is beautiful even though sometimes I don't like it. Ever since moving to Boise I have said my morning prayers on Friday I did my usual and off to work I went. It was snowing and my windshield wiper was being a pill, so while I was driving I decided to roll down my window and flick my wiper in order for me to see better. As I was trying to see better I noticed that I was merging into a semi next to me. I quickly grabbed the wheel and corrected myself, I began swerving out of control. I was able to get my car back in control. Simply by me saying my morning prayers that morning and asking Heavenly Father to bless me to be alert and safe on the roads, I made it safely to work. I am so very grateful that anyone of us can bow our head and fol...

This past week has been a good week. We got snow here in Boise then frozen rain and more raining. Today is a beautiful day the sun is out and shining. Tonight we are suppose to get some more snow. With all this moisture we are receiving it has been tough to train Wrigley. Yesterday Steve dropped off Wrigley and I at our laundry mat that we do our laundry at and I was able to train him for a little bit. Wrigley does so well indoors, but outdoors is another story. There are so many distractions outside like squirrels, smells, cars and other dogs. He is getting it down, but still want to eat other dogs. We are able to get him in control easier from the training he got at Ty the dog guy. This past week I have been seeing which day it is for Light the World. My thoughts about each day have been good, but have I followed through with my thoughts ... No! I was thinking about what I do each in everyday of my week and thought I am being  like Jesus by treating my patients with charit...

This whole past week I was so excited to see my Wrigley. We went to pick him up on Friday in Salt Lake and he was just as excited to see us. Steve and I learned a whole lot of stuff that we were doing wrong. Two of the most important things that we both learn was first Wrigley is a dog not a human and second Wrigley will be as good as the weakest leader, so that means we are all a team. The language that the trainers at boot camp used to help Wrigley behave better is very clear and we are getting it down as each of us are critiquing each other. We are taking it in strides. We know that this transition stage we are going to make mistakes, but Wrigley is doing good which is making me smile.  Before heading down to Salt Lake to get Wrigley I had to go and check my liver function. My liver function has been a little bit lower, so they told me to stop taking my pravastatin medication which helps with my cholesterol and reduces the risk of heart attack and str...

I hope all y'all had a happy Thanksgiving and everyone had a fun time spending time with family. I sure did. We headed down to Salt Lake Wednesday afternoon. This year my thoughts about Thanksgiving was different. Ever since moving here to Boise and traveling to Caldwell for work each morning I have been listening to the Book of Mormon on my ride and before I head up I bow my head and say a little prayer. I have noticed a willingness and giving of myself to others around me more. I am incredibly grateful for the Savior and for his love for each in every one of us and for His emulating power. "If life gets too hard to stand, kneel." This quote was in my room as I was growing up and still has an impact on my to this day. Through the words of the scriptures I try to listen to each morning there are many examples of everyday life of trials and happiness, but if we all simply come unto  Christ, He is waiting there for each of us. It was fun being down in Salt Lake this weeke...

Another week without my man and our little W, but I made it and oh so happy that Steve is home. We are still missing our 4 legged kiddo though. :( We have gotten some updates on how well he is doing mingling with other dogs , which makes my heart happy. It is exciting for us to watch and see how his attitude towards other dogs is changing. We are looking forward to taking him places without worrying as much. Only 2 more week !  We have decided to get my eggs retrieved on January 3rd and our surrogate is going on a vacation in Febuary and then she will begin the process of tricking her body to carry a baby. :) There are other things that have to come together for example the legal stuff and more stuff, but it is crazy to think we are getting there. Our surrogate met with her attorney and everything went well. It is nuts all the different kinds of things that we can have our surrogate do during the pregnancy. We are going to meet up with our attorney and decide...

First week without my boys. I stayed busy, busy, busy so it wasn't that bad, but at night time it was little hard to fall asleep. I had a doctors appointment with one of my doctor's in Salt Lake and I got to meet the doctor here in Boise, his name is Dr. Chai. It is great that my heart transplant doctor's in Salt Lake communicate with Dr. Chai here. There are 13 other LVAD or transplant patients that Dr. Chai and his nurse practitioner's are in charge of here in Boise. Every time I have a doctors appointment here I know who I am going to be seeing and that is exactly what I wanted. This appointment was just a clinic visit and to meet Dr. Chai and his staff. My prograf  level was a little low, so they bumped me up. Now I am taking 3 mg of prograf  in the morning and 2 mg at night. I am going to retest my levels on Wednesday this coming week. My liver enzymes were slightly elevated, so they retested that and it went back down. I also discussed with my doctors about the...

This past week we had to make some decisions and with these decisions, there was a lot of back and forth. First decision, Wrigley has had some training with his aggression problem towards dogs. We have kept up on some of the items that we learned, but we have been slightly  leanient  with him. For the next 2 weeks Steve is going to be down in Salt Lake packing everything up, moving it into storage and doing yard work. We are praying that the buyer closes on our house right before Thanksgiving week. Since we have been slacking with Wrigley and laying down the law, we decided to send him to a training program in Salt Lake that helps with aggression for 3 weeks and Steve is going to be down in there too just in case. Today the boys left for Salt Lake and I am still here holding the fort. Coming to this conclusion of decisions wasn't easy because we had two different programs that worked with dogs, but the duration of each program was different. Before making the de...