Guest tedsmom Posted June 1, 2003 Share Posted June 1, 2003 hi all--i have not ben to this site much since i lost ted--and i will probably be flamed for making a return appearance--i just want to give those who have an interest an update-- it has been one month, 10 days since my sweet boy left me and i think of him constantly. i have, however, quit listening for the click of his nails on the ceramic tiles in the kitchen and no longer expect the thwap thwap thwap against the door in the morning as he was waiting to be let out. alex, my youngest son, and i planted asyllum (sp?) in purple, lavendar, and white on his grave yesterday and when it starts blooming will grow into a carpet of low small flowers and planted tulip bulbs for the spring and have started a fuschia plant (looks like a bleeding heart plant but with larger blooms) in a bold red that will be put on a plant hanger by him as soon as it is established and blooming (have not found the perfect plant hanger yet but still am searching) as much as the other dogs love to dig and destroy anything that was purposely planted (they leave weeds alone) they have left this part of the yard alone--i think they know. i just try to remember he is at peace and knows how much we miss and love him. britty is still not bouncing back as i would have liked her to. she has a uti (man trying to get a sample by chasing her around the 3 + acre yard with a cool whip container was quite the job) and dr tripp seems to think it was brought on by the stress of losing ted combined with her eatting strike-evidently change in appetite/food can bring them on as well. she just lays on her bed or in the grass and stares into space--poor girl--i wish she could talk. but healthwise other than the uti, she is well. she will get another heartworm test in 8 weeks for a count to see how the treatment knowcked doned the heartworms. she has lost weight which she so desperatley needed to do and has lost the little-head-big-body look. she is going into the doggie spa this week for another haircut/wash to help with her allergies and make her feel beautiful. dr tripp says poor britty cant win for losing but her will is what has carried her thru everything she has been thru. every now and then as i am driving i see a corn crib similar to the one she was found in and i shake my head and tears come to my eyes as i think of her forging for food, scared, and alone in one of them. aero's progress has been astounding--this past week we have ridden about 15 miles, which is fbulous for a horse that was once deemed unridable due to medical issues and headed for a kill ot since he could no longer jump the 4 foot fences. my vet just shakes her head and cannot believe it---thru other owners she has cared for him for many years and watched his health go on a downward slide and says she has never seen him look as good as he does and cannot believe i had the pateince to bring him this far. he is still a bit under weight but trying to put weight on a 1700 lb animal is tough! a 100 pounds on an average horse goes a lot further than that of a beast his size! i takes about 209 minutes a night to prepare his food with all of the supplements, grinding, mixing etc but it seems to be working. as my luck with greyhounds seems to fail, i have been working with a variety of horse rescues. canter usa did start a group in mn but was shut out by the track, so i have been helping with other canter groups around the country by promoting horses off the track for sale, literature, promotion, donations, etc. as well as helping a small farm in oklahoma that has personally taken on rescue...she recectly took on a horse with major medical issues and the cost of vet wrap alone for this one horse will be well over $200 so i have talked all of my horse friends into sending a single roll of vet wrap to them---not much, but every little bit helps--things of that nature. and finally, some brightness has been brought ito our lives after the losses of lovey, dusty, and ted....oggie, my roommates mare, gave birth on thursday. it was a surprise as she was not due, or so we thought, until the 4th of july. but as i came home from work thursday night and did my usual visual scan of the pasture, there stood oggie with a new wee one! i was very concerned because i thought "oh no, not a preemie foal" but this fal is very much full term --i slammed my car into park, ran for the barn for some grain, and went running into the pasture in heels and a suit, trying to coax oggie and her little one into the barn all while keeping the other 5 nosey horses away. she is a rare little one--2 blue eyes, 4 white socks, and cremello coloring--not quite what cathy was expecting and we suspect a friends stud might have "serviced" her over the fence and she was not in fact bred to the stud she was intended for--blood typing will tell us who the daddy is. but while her markings and color is not what we had hoped for, i have never ever met a foal that is as friendly as she is. we have named her "crem de la crem" and hope the name is not taken in the TWH registry but for short we call her ursula and even when she was just a few hours old, she walked right up to us and rubbed her little head against us...she has such a gentle sweet spirit. she is fiesty as most foals are, but very friendly and affectionate. i like to thiknk the spirits of dusty, her unborn foal, ted, lovey, and stetson have come back to earth with her because she has all of their tempermants....maybe not, but i like to think so. so it looks like the light of good luck has finally shined upon us---britty survived the heartworm treatment so far, aero has made a miraculous recovery, and oggie gave us a beautiful survive. i hope everyones hounds are doing well and that none of you have to go thru what we have gone thru. molly and the boys in mn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gosia Posted June 1, 2003 Share Posted June 1, 2003 Molly I am so sorry ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CannonsMom Posted June 1, 2003 Share Posted June 1, 2003 glad to hear all is going well after ted. you are making great strides. nice story , i enjoyed reading about the other animals in your world =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lurker Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 wow--I just read all the threads concerning "ed as I am new to this board...I cannot imagine such heartache, pain, and loss...I don't know what I would do without my Flash-boy...my heart goes out to you and your family. It's nice to read that you are continuing to help animals, greys or others. kristin and flash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shirl Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 Glad Aero is still coming on in leaps and bounds Good to hear all about your horses, sounds like you have your hands full Hopefully Britty will continue to improve to being her usual self soon I hope at some point you will consider another greyhound but I know it may be a long time before your wounds heal but we are all here for you no matter how you feel, please always remember that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelopesslave Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 We would never flame you for taking some much needed time to grieve your sad losses. I am so glad to hear about all your other animals and say thank you to you from them. You obviously have a huge heart and great compassion. I hope you heal soon and that the scars, while never gone, will not be too large to bear. Much light going out to you, Britty, Odie, and the little foal. Quote Melissa, Penelope (LC's Wild Rose) Missing sweet Bell (EMK Bolivar Bell). I'll never forget you. "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain {image removed, taller than 150px} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cindysmom Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 I'm glad to hear things are going better for you emotionally and otherwise. I love hearing about your other animals. I'm sorry that things got the way they did on the message boards for you and hope that you can find your way back to a greyhound and a member of the messages. There's nothing like new life in the spring time to help one see the Light. Take care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_David Posted June 4, 2003 Share Posted June 4, 2003 Edit: Deleted Inappropriate Message from unregistered Guest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tedsmom Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 hello all again--i just wanted to share this story--i think some of you will appreciate it. alex, my 7 year old son, has almost become with teds death. he decorates teds graave with dandelions, weeds he has picked, stuffies, etc. i think it his own way of grieving. we were in the car the other day and he wanted to know if we would ever get another ted dog. i told him no because we just didnt have good luck with "ted dogs" and he got a confused look and said "but ted loved us and we loved ted so why dont we get another one?" he asked me if ted was in heaven with grandpa. i said "yes i liked to think so." he then said "well, how did ted get to heaven--did the angels come get him like they did grandpa?" (i was choking on sobs by that point in time) i said that pets are special because when go to heaven they go across a bridge that is called the rainbow bridge. he got quiet and a few minutes later he said "mom i think ted is coming back to us." and i smiled and said "really, why do you think that?" and he pointed to the east and said "because there is the rainbow bridge right there". it had been raining and the sun came out and lo and behold he was right--there sat a perfect rainbow. out of the mouths of babes.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cindysmom Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 Just a gentle observation here, and I really do mean it in the kindest way. There was a word left out when describing your son's attitude toward Ted's passing. I am thinking it was "obsessed?" Correct me if I'm wrong. Children pick almost everything up from their parents. How he sees you handling Ted's passing is probably how he is going to handle it. I know Ted meant a great deal to you. Believe me, we all know this because our hounds also are our heart companions. But, children should be taught that death is a part of life and is a natural progression. I'm not saying you and your son shouldn't grieve. I grieve with you, but sometimes, for our children, we must help them to see the "circle of life," if you will. This truly isn't a criticism of you. I'm just wondering if your son is picking up your "obsession?" Now, please don't take offense, because I'm not judging, especially since I'm not there in the day to day happenings of your life, and maybe I'm misunderstanding your meaning of the message. If so, please forgive me. I just would be sad to see anyone, you or your son become "obsessed" with Ted's death. Grief, yes. Obsessed, no. Just wondering... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tedsmom Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 <sigh> why do i have such a hard time communicating on this board--- alex is obsessed--yes--that is the word i forgot to put in---with lots of things---his grandfather died a year and a half ago and he still frets over that and grandpas death and his grave etc---i think alex sees adults decorating graves and thinks that is right. but alex also obsesses over whether brittys food dish in the right spot, how his shoes are tied, and everything else in the world--asnd no he did not test positive for true blue ocd, which surprised me. maybe it would help if you knew alex is only up here on the weekends as he goes to school during the week in iowa and when he is there, no one knows ted and therefore no one to talk to about ted. i myself dont like to talk about it as it makes me sad but evidently alex needs to so i give him that option my whole point of my post was i guess to say that without alex and his little fretting i never would have seen the rainbow and missed it---and how even if i would haveseen it i never would have seen it in the context alex did.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SkinnyLegDogLover Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 Molly, I think that story of the rainbow was beautiful. Sometimes I think children see things much more clearly than we "grown-ups" do. I lost a grey in 2001, and another in 2002. Both died in May, so you can imagine what a nervous wreck I was last month. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I turned the calendar to June this year, with my remaining babies still here. My point is, grief is very personal and unpredictable. It affects everyone differently, but no way is wrong. I know you will all feel better with time. Hopefully, you might even open your heart to a new "ted dog". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cindysmom Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 (edited) I see your point, Tedsmom. I didn't mean to cause you any frustration. I'm glad you both got to see the rainbow and its significance. I also didn't mean to tell you how to grieve; that wasn't my intent. Forgive me... I also understand that DS needs to be able to express himself and didn't know he wasn't around to be able to do that on a natural basis. Edited June 6, 2003 by cindysmom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tedsmom Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 I know you will all feel better with time. Hopefully, you might even open your heart to a new "ted dog". no i do not think we will ever had another "ted dog"---i have not had good greyhound experiences and as some have made it very clear, i am thought of as being "volitile, instable, etc" and am sure i have been blackballed by the entire greyhound community here--so no, i do not wish to get involved in that again. i am just concerntrating my efforts with the horses now and trying to keep britty and aero healthy--but thank you for the vote of confidence! molly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilliesMom Posted June 7, 2003 Share Posted June 7, 2003 Your wounds are still fresh, and it's very difficult even for kids who don't have tendencies toward OCD. Yes, we're greyhound lovers, but does that mean other dogs simply can't compare? That they don't need loving homes? I've had equal numbers of purebreds and Heinz 57s, and I've loved them all. There are so many wonderful dogs out there, and they all need forever homes. I love greys because tempermentally, we're well-suited, but that doesn't mean that I don't think goldens or labs or Australian Shepherds or wolfhounds or standard poodles or the best of them all aren't splendid, too. Give yourself time to grieve. It's nearly been 10 months since Millie passed, and I feel as though I'm just getting over the hump. I still cry at times, but it's been a tremendous loss. Her pictures are still on the fridge, her bag of food is still on the floor, her toothbrush is still in the bathroom. Time will heal but only you know if and when and what type of pooch you should have next. One thing that has really helped me (besides the passage of time) has been watching That's My Baby on Animal Planet. It's really reminded me of the circle of life. I've also had a good time with AP's Pet Star. (Those Australian Shepherds are so smart that it's scary.) In other words, it's opened my eyes again to the incredible joy that our companions can bring. Take it easy. It will get better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marnie Posted June 12, 2003 Share Posted June 12, 2003 How are you feeling? You had posted that after Ted died you were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. I hope the medications are helping your wrist/hand feel better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tedsmom Posted June 12, 2003 Share Posted June 12, 2003 hi marni-thanks for asking about the RA----a gazillion blood tests later and my doctor is baffled---no inflamation markers, nor RA markers--nothing--so my dr thinks it was either a reaction to being exposed to the horses with strangles, which is also strp and strep can do weird things to a body, or it was brought on by stress....geez stress...whats that? lol but right now i am good and feeling pretty ok...for now! molly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marnie Posted June 12, 2003 Share Posted June 12, 2003 hi marni-thanks for asking about the RA----a gazillion blood tests later and my doctor is baffled---no inflamation markers, nor RA markers--nothing--so my dr thinks it was either a reaction to being exposed to the horses with strangles, which is also strp and strep can do weird things to a body, or it was brought on by stress....geez stress...whats that? lol but right now i am good and feeling pretty ok...for now! molly God knows you have been through some stress lately. I hope that it turns out to not be RA and that you and your animals are all feeling well soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.