Sparrow is 5

Sparrow isn't a fan of the birthday hat.

Sparrow turned five last week! I'd had Ellie for several months and it was clear she needed a friend. Ellie was very needy, full of energy, and never left me alone. I loved my puppy but I didn't have the energy to constantly entertain her. When I saw Sparrow, I knew she was perfect! I took Ellie with me to meet this possible new family member and the puppy chased Ellie all over the yard. I hadn't planned to get a puppy that day but I took her home any way.

I named her Sparrow because cavaliers are supposed to have patches over both of their eyes but she has one. I love pirates so I named her after Captain Jack Sparrow. Both girls are very different and it's easy for me to tell them apart, however, Sparrow's eye patch is the first thing I point out to strangers that think they're twins. Sparrow is also thicker, likes people, and snorts.

Sparrow has a short snout and always snores. She's always vocal with her grunts and snorts and I love it! She has a cowlick on the back of her neck, like her dad did. His was worse (so was his snorting). Sparrow licks incessantly and nothing I've done can make her stop. I hate being licked so I have trained her to stop then she licks the air instead. She loves to go outside and is always excited when I say we're going for a ride, even though he hates riding in the car. I think she looks like the Joker when she breaths with her mouth open, which is most of the time. One of her favorite things is belly rubs. She goes completely limp like a rag doll.

Sparrow and Ellie are best friends, as I knew they would be. When we brought Cedric home, Sparrow and Cedric became immediate friends. They still chase each other and wrestle. The hair on one of Sparrow's ears is shorter than the other because Cedric chews on it when they play.

Picture time!!

My puppies together.

Sparrow is always happy!

She used to cuddle when she was little.

You can see her cows lick here.

Yin and Yang. Best friends.

Sparrow loved Brandt right away.

Pretty puppy!

Sparrow likes to "suffocate" people she loves.

Sparrow really loves Brandt.

The girls waiting for Brandt to come over.

Belly rubs!

She can be a little creepy...

Always cuddling together.

Brandt loves the girls too.

Sparrow is terrified of my brother's dog so she hid in our
mom's plants. Notice, she's still smiling!

Brandt's Battle With His Gallbladder

Sorry for the delay about Brandt's negative experience with his disfunctioning gallbladder. It's been an insane week and I'm writing this post as quickly as I can. Please excuse any incoherent portions.

Recently, Brandt was experiencing stabbing pain in his stomach. He started experiencing small bouts after eating certain foods, which some times included throwing up and fighting pain all night. Just before Thanksgiving, his pain was so terrible that he couldn't eat. He visited an emergency care clinic and the doctor diagnosed him with indigestion. All the doctor did was give him lidocaine and Malox. When Brandt couldn't feel the pain any longer, the doctor deduced it was heart burn. Brandt knew he was wrong but filled the prescription for heartburn medicine and ate any way. Turns out, it wasn't heart burn.

Brandt's insides. He had a gallstone blocking his
"Vader" and needed the gallbladder removed too.

He correctly diagnosed himself via the internet, with gallstones. After speaking with his mom, he found out many members of his family had their gallbladders removed, which helped confirm his self-diagnosis. Immediately after eating, Brandt had another attack and went back to emergency care and saw a different doctor. This doctor knew what the problem was and sent him to the ER. At the ER, the doctor drew the amazing picture to the left. Brandt had a gallstone blocking his ampulla of Vater (AKA an Angry Vader) and would also need his gallbladder removed to prevent any further stones from causing problems.

Brandt wouldn't let me help him into his
gown, despite the sign in the ER.

It was the day before Thanksgiving and the ER rooms were full. They hooked him up to an IV and he got a room four or five hours later in the children's ER. We didn't have to wait much more than 30 minutes to admit Brandt and he got a private room on the 8th floor.

Brandt's description of his Angry Vader.

They scheduled a procedure to remove the gallstones blocking his "Angry Vader" for Thanksgiving day. That morning, we learned that only one operating room was open and only available for emergency cases. Brandt spent another night at the hospital and enjoyed his pain killers and fluid diet. He said it was almost like a vacation in a hotel room, except for the interruptions every hour or two to check vitals or take blood. We spent Thanksgiving hanging out in the hospital and then I went to work at 5 p.m., because Target opened at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day... that's a different rant for another day.

Thanksgiving view from the 8th floor.

They removed Brandt's gallstone via a tube through his throat, through his stomach, and back up into the duct leading to his gallbladder and liver. They successfully removed one stone but another was impacted. They inserted a stint and plan to go back at the end of the month to remove the stone. Brandt immediately felt better (besides the weird sensation of feeling the path the tube took inside of him.) They had to wait at least 12 hours before removing his gallbladder to allow the swelling to go down. His surgery was scheduled for 9 a.m. the following morning.

A rare sunny shot after Brandt's surgery.

Of course, his surgery started late but that was because there was another surgery before his. They took him in at about 9:30 and I spent the next few hours sleeping on a couch in the waiting room. His surgery was supposed to end at 11 a.m. and I had both of his parents' numbers so I could text and let them know how it went. I woke up at 11 but thought the surgery went late. This is where things went awry. The surgeon didn't go to the information desk after the surgery so my pager was never activated.  I ended up having terrible dreams but was awoken by a call from Brandt's cell phone. He was back in his room and more than a little upset. I rushed upstairs. He was stressed that I wasn't there and his phone had been blowing up since I left it in the room. I told Brandt what happened and that helped make him feel better. His surgery went well and his gallbladder was gone. They performed it laproscopically so he had three bandages on his side and one in his belly button.

I made Brandt a sign to welcome him home!

Brandt stayed in the hospital one more night and then I was able to bring him home! More miscommunication at the hospital happened the entire last day of his stay. The gastroenteritis never came to see Brandt but made notes about her "visit" with him in his file. We never ended up seeing her before we left either. Brandt couldn't be released until the surgeon completed his paperwork. We finally had a tentative time set for 7 p.m. The last surgery went late but the intern was able to make it in and finish the paperwork by 7:30, which quite surprised me he was able to finish that quickly.

I also got Brandt a grabber.

Brandt has been in a lot of pain but doing better each day. He is able to take the dogs out when I'm not home and we went to the store two days ago and even that walking around left him in slight pain. He also drove his car to the mailboxes yesterday. I wasn't thrilled about that but it turns out he hadn't had a pain pill in seven hours, so he was OK to drive. Brandt can't lift more than 20 lbs and should be able to go back to work in another week.