Athena has kept busy with this year’s school and driving. She was thrilled in October to have Pat, Sarah, Cora, and Drew come to visit from San Diego! It was a wonderful time with lots of talking and getting to know each other better, along with trips to Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake, Gardener Village, and watching the divers at the Mayan. We all have great memories from the trip. In other news, Athena’s health is stable right now. Her organs are functioning well, and she just saw the neurosurgeon this past week. Apparently the area of

the spine that needs surgery, but was not necessary yet is exactly the same as it was 18 months ago, meaning we can continue waiting! This was a relief, as she has been having increased pain and was worried how a major surgery would affect her autoimmune disease/organs. It turns out that the pain is a combination of things-arthritis, autoimmune joint pain, and a bone spur she has grown that is hitting one of the metal plates just below it. Another piece of good news is that Athena’s spine has fused with the metal plates, making a 3 vertebrae area one solid piece of bone and metal. Good news is nice to get! Even more good news from doctors: an ultrasound shows that Athena’s fibroid, previously about the size of a lemon, has shrunk to about the size of a lime! Along with that, her endometriosis is better as well! These improvements are due to hormone shots she gets every three months. We really loved all this good news! The only negative news we got was that Athena’s bladder that she had repaired about 10 years ago in Las Vegas has fallen again, needing to be repaired again. Apparently this is normal, they act like a face-lift and the work doesn’t last forever. This surgery is something that can be put off for a long time, or until it becomes a bigger problem. Thank you everyone for your prayers, they are obviously working with all her good news!
House news: Athena’s Christmas present from Jeff was an above-the-range microwave! We had a regular countertop one before. Jeff installed it, and it is working great! It looks much better than the low range hood we had there before. We lost one open cupboard, but it was worth it. The only other house news to report is a cracked pipe in the basement wall. The plumber had to cut from floor to ceiling, and then into the ceiling, to replace it. Since it was a stress fracture due to improper installation who knows when, our warranty company won’t cover it.
Iris had a rough couple of months. At the groomers in November (a new one we were trying out), her nail ripped out of her body as they were pulling her out of the cage. It wouldn’t stop bleeding, and they called us to come get her. We took her to an emergency vet next door, who put a pressure bandage on it and suggested we have him dremmel her nails the following week. Her nails grow extremely fast, and so the quick had grown out, which is why the dremmel would be good to cauterize the quick under anesthesia. We returned to have this done, and she came home and all seemed well. A few weeks went by, and she just wasn’t herself and kept licking the original missing nail area. We took her back to this same vet, and it turned out it was infected deep inside, with the base of the nail still in there. She had to have surgery to clean it out and drain it. She was bandaged and back on only three legs again for a few weeks, with lots of antibiotics. We have since found a new vet with their own groomer that we like,