The best thing to ever happen to our pets

I can't believe I forgot my post about this.  When I first started posting about the Colorado trip, I teased a post about our pet sitters.  We ran into them at breakfast last Sunday morning and I realized I never did one.  I have to share the story of Mike and Eddie.

I had mentioned that our vet really let us down by letting me know three days before we left that he was concerned about Zoe's health if we left her with them.  I was in such a state at work that day I really don't even remember it well.  I texted my mom friend Allyssa who had lived in our neighborhood and had posted in Facebook about her awesome pet sitters several times.  She got me their numbers with a little more background info, restating that they are AWESOME and hoped we could use them.  I spoke with them and told them my plight, and they agreed to come over that night to get more info.

When I started to lay out all the things I do to make sure I remembered them all, on paper I was seemingly certifiable.  I feed Zoe in tiny amounts so she won't throw up.  Three times before work, once when I get home from work, and three times at least in the evenings.  Bones has to be fed in the garage so Zoe won't eat his food, which would mess up her thyroid.  Plus Zoe can be shy and doesn't like strangers to the point where she might hide.  I thought to myself, "These guys are not going to want to take on this craziness."  But guess what?  They did.  They were so cool with it.  In fact, the visit that night was just a formality to get all the details down and see where they eat, etc.  We had initially thought we'd still send Tucker to the vet, but decided at the last minute that he would stay home too - making the situation at home even more normal to the cats.

Mike is tall, lanky and easy going, and obviously the people person.  Eddie is short and shy, but notices everything.  He is very quiet until he gets to know you  a little better.  By the time they left our house I felt like I'd known them my whole life.  They have been a couple for much longer than me and Jav and have that great way of completing each others' sentences.   They live close by and have been pet sitting for 7 years.  Their client list has grown to over 100 in the last few years.  We instantly liked and felt like we could trust them.

They set up their schedule:  They'd come by three times a day, walking Tucker for one visit, turning porch lights on and off, even agreeing to change water for our birdbaths, and watering a few plants that would need it if it got really hot.  They even gave us tips on restaurants and places to check out in Estes Park!  It turned out they travel extensively when they are not taking care of other people's pets.  I called the next morning to cancel the vet reservations.  They were fine with it and sounded relieved.  I started thinking more positively about the trip, and wondered why we hadn't tried this sooner.  I guess we had always thought about the security risks of letting total strangers into your house, and I have a hard time trusting people with the care of my four-legged babies.  But Mike and Eddie were so likable, I had at least one friend I trusted that had used them and loved them, and we were really worried about what might happen to Zoe if we left her at the vet's.  That fact totally changed my perspective and opinion in a very short time.

I kept sending last minute texts the night before, and a few as we were pulling out Saturday morning, probably confirming their opinion of me as the craziest OCD pet owner they've ever had to deal with.  I was still concerned, and really didn't want to have to turn around and come back if Zoe refused to come out and eat for them.  The second day, as we were driving through Denver and passing Mile High Stadium, Mike texted that Zoe was eating for them and it looked like everything would be fine.  He didn't want me to worry.  I broke down and cried right there in the car I was so relieved and thankful to had found these guys.  We contacted them a couple of times during the trip, to make sure everything was going smoothly.  They always wanted to know where we were and what we were doing that day.  And always had good travel tips for us.

When we got home, there were surprises waiting for us everywhere.  Some of them weren't even discovered right away.  First off, we noticed everyone looked healthy and well-fed.  Then we spotted a picture of Bones (which we later found out Eddie had taken), that was on the fridge.  Then we saw a magazine cover of a Dog Fancy magazine that they had photoshopped Tucker into.  It was framed and set up next to their invoices for the trip.  Later that evening I spotted another new pic on the fridge:  a stunning black and white of one of our tiny hummingbirds sitting on the wire that crosses our yard.  It is one of my favorite pictures.  It turns out that Eddie and Tucker bonded and he got walked twice a day, minimum.  (He probably wasn't even that glad to see us after that kind of doting attention!)  About a week later, Jav had been working from home and I discovered that the towel rack and toilet paper holder in our guest bathroom was no longer loose and in need of a molly bolt in the wall.  I was thrilled that Jav had finally fixed it and ran to thank him.  He stared with a blank look and had no idea what I was talking about.  We both realized it at the same time:  Our awesome pet sitters had even fixed our bathroom hardware!

Then later in the summer, they proved themselves the ultimate givers of customer service, going above and beyond the norm in a huge way.  My Uncle Dave passed away and we needed to travel to Fredericksburg for the funeral.  I called Mike to see if they might be able to help us for two nights.  He said they were actually on vacation, but that they would help us.  I tried to change his mind, and felt so bad that we intruded into their much-needed break.  But he insisted.  When I went to get our key back after we returned, I took a dozen homemade blueberry muffins.  Eddie came out with a huge jar of homemade strawberry jam for me.  When we saw them Sunday, it was so great to catch up with them.  Eddie showed us the wildlife pictures he'd taken that week and said that almost every client they had in Mistletoe Heights had become pregnant in the last eight weeks.  The only holdout had a husband who'd had a vasectomy and we laughed about how awkward it was going to be if it happened to her too.  They're just the best.  We are in the early stages of planning another big summer trip which I'll talk about more later, but it's so nice to know Mike and Eddie will be there for our old, needy cats and our sweet dog while we're gone.

The holidays and why they rocked this year

I have had more fun this holiday season then in any year I can remember.  I pondered this from time to time.  Was it because my kids are the perfect ages for really getting into it?  They are, and that was the reason for many joyful moments, but that wasn't it.  Was it because I was super organized with all of my holiday to-do lists done and everything spaced out perfectly this year?  I think I really planned well, but nope, that wasn't the reason.

The reason was simple.  I haven't been sick.  For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving and Christmas have been a time of year that I have had to "get through" instead of enjoy.  Because I have ALWAYS been stuffed up and coughing my lungs out with bronchitis.  I was usually taking strong antibiotics that messed up my stomach and meant I couldn't drink any alcohol.  And I had such little energy because of all of this that I'm not really sure how I have been getting it done year after year.  Pure adrenaline and a stubborn sensibility, I guess.  Last year between September and January I had three sinus infections, bronchitis and the flu.  

I switched to my current doctor, a ENT sinus specialist, last Spring.  After a couple of visits and an MRI, she determined I might be a candidate for balloon surgery.  She said the little ducts that are supposed to be draining under my eyes were not working right.  Of course I have wondered why countless doctors have not figured this out before.  She also wanted to clean out the areas just over each eyebrow and the bigger cavities under my eyes.  I have to say that the process itself was very, very unpleasant.  She had a team of four, and it felt like they all had prongs going up my sinuses even though I was numbed out.  The numbing stuff was the problem.  Your entire throat numbs out when it runs back down, and I couldn't swallow and felt like I was choking the whole time.  It was only supposed to take 20 minutes, but took around 45 because I kept having problems.  In fact it took so long that the numbing spray was starting to wear off once she got to the last cavity, but I just took the pain because I didn't want to have that choking sensation again.  Once I got back home I still had trouble with the choking sensation, but after an hour I finally felt like I might live.  Afterwards I was telling people to not even consider this surgery without being put totally under.  And I wondered why I put myself through something so horrible.  For two weeks when it got to be late in the day, every step I took I could feel in my head and jaw.

But then the side effects all wore off.  It was Halloween time, and still no sinus infection.  Thanksgiving quickly was approaching, and I kept waiting for the symptoms to start:  headache, scratchy throat, stuffed up head.  I had slight headaches and sore throats from time to time, but nothing lasted more than a day.  I started to feel downright giddy that it seemed I would make the whole holiday season without any trouble.  And I have.  I just recently have been having some worse symptoms, which I am not surprised by since I have not been getting enough sleep for the last three weeks.  My resistance is down, and I was a little lazy about doing my sinus rinse twice a day.  But now that Christmas is over I have time to get back on track and hope to fend off a full-blown infection of any kind.

One or both boys, and sometimes Jav, are also normally sick by now.  We have somehow dodged that bullet this year.  In a normal year, by the end of December we have probably visited a doctor at least 6 times (between all of us) and picked up at least 8 rounds of medicine.  I took Gabriel for his checkup in October.  That's all, other than my follow up with my ENT.  

I really can't be happier about the kids being healthier.  And I can't put into words what it's meant to find such a good doctor for me, to have her finally figure out and fix what's been wrong, and to have my quality of life back.