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In: Chronic Illness
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Life has been rough the past few weeks.  As allergy season began with the blooming of the trees and flowers, I had the typical allergy reactions I have every year.  They aren’t fun, but are usually tolerable for the most part.  This year, they moved into my chest and I developed bronchitis.  A visit to the doctor after a week of misery, coughing, and not breathing and I had some medication that got me to feeling better. Then suddenly I developed other symptoms – a return of my fever and fainting.  Concerned, I returned to the doctor to get things checked out.  The fever couldRead More →

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In: Cavies
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My guinea pigs get treats regularly, which they love.  When they hear the rustle of a bag, they wheek, in hopes that the bag might contain something special for them. Today, I was passing out molasses, raisin, and oatmeal horse treats.  They come as three circles together as a triangle and I usually break them apart so each pig gets one section. Sometimes when I pass out the treats, sometimes one pig is concentrating so hard on his neighbor getting a treat that he misses when I drop a treat into his cage. Because he is worried about what his neighbor has, he misses outRead More →

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In: Chronic Illness, Chronic Pain
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General Information The rare disease I live with is Stickler’s Syndrome, Type III (formerly hereditary arthro-ophthalmopathy) as a result of a mutation of the COL11A2 gene. Because of a genetic flaw, my collagen strand is weaker than normal.  This affects hearing, vision, facial development, and joints. Stickler Syndrome is so rare that it doesn’t even have it’s own diagnostic code, it is billed under the same code as many other rare genetic disorders or billed by symptom (sensorineural hearing loss, joint pain, etc.). Aside from the geneticist who diagnosed me and the genetic ophthalmologist who saw me at Cleveland Clinic, I have never met a doctor who has heardRead More →

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In: Chronic Illness
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About a year ago, I was diagnosed with Stickler Syndrome. Stickler Syndrome is a common, but rarely diagnosed progressive genetic disorder that causes severe myopia (nearsightedness), blindness, loss of hearing, facial development problems, hypermobility, and joint pain. I am finally to the point of acceptance that I’m willing to talk about it and be more open about it, and I’m looking forward to Rare Genetic Disease Day celebrated on February 28 this year (traditionally February 29). Throughout the rest of the month, expect to see more information in posts and on my blog.Read More →

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In: Dogs
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This week’s theme is feets, and I decided to show another of Maigee’s favorite tasks (well part of a task).  She does paws up either on my lap or on my stomach for a variety of tasks.  She also does it when I want to give her a good scratch behind the ears without bending over.  I thought it would be appropriate to show a picture of her paws in a paws up position for this week’s photo challenge.Read More →

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In: Dogs
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Five years ago, I first met an adorable dog at the Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control and she came home with me.  At the time, I had no idea what a huge part she’d play in my life – both as a companion and eventually as a service dog.  I decided to take a journey down memory lane with pictures from the past five years.  They aren’t really in any particular order though.Read More →

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In: Dogs, Pets
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The change in Maigee from off-duty to on-duty is incredible and never ceases to amaze me.  Sure, she still has occasional moments when she messes up, but overall, her behavior is superb.  She can be so serious and yet her tail is usually wagging as she loves her job.  I thought a picture of her working would be appropriate to fit this week’s theme of “This is My Serious Face.” I took my camera along on a doctor appointment and snapped a shot of her waiting patiently under my chair.  Her attention is off to the side, as she watches cars come and go fromRead More →

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In: Cats, Dogs, Pets, Rabbits
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My sock collection has grown quite a bit since last year! The theme for this week’s dog photo challenge is “Favorite Toy,” which is perfect timing because one of Maigee’s favorite toys is socks and today is Crazy Sock Day! You can visit last year’s post to read a bit more about crazy sock day, or you can go to the Facebook event for the 3rd Annual Crazy Sock Day or like the Crazy Sock Day page. I first discovered Maigee’s love for socks after I brought her home. I would take my socks off and leave them on the floor and next thing IRead More →

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In: Dogs, Pets
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This week’s theme was nearly as difficult, but for a very different reason than last week.  The theme was to catch a picture of your dog napping.  Though it sounds quite simple, it is difficult when you have a dog who pretty much wakes up any time you move.  She has to be very sound asleep to not hear me moving around to get a picture of her, so I’m making due with the closest thing I could get, a picture of her seconds after she heard me grab the camera and woke up.  Before this, she had her nose tucked neatly under her fluffyRead More →

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In: Dogs, Pets
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I’m running behind on my photos for the week because I spent most of last week trying various Photoshop techniques to try to eliminate the creepy eyes that tend to show up when I take pictures of Maigee.  I finally got a picture for this week’s theme, which is to take a portrait of your dog, but I’m really not happy with it.Read More →