On my way to Seabrook, I sent out a text to bdidde of Biggestron, since I knew that he was in New England and not too far from where I was going. I knew it was a long shot, since it’s really hard to drop everything you are doing to go to a local card room in a little amount of time. You see, I wasn’t planning on going to a poker room during my stay in New England, it just worked out that way. So I fired of a SMS before I left, plugged in the address in the GPS and took off.

About 40 minutes later, I got a reply from bdidde, saying that while the poker room was close, he was unable to make it. But he was very kind to offer the wife and I dinner at his house the next night with his family. Awesome. Of course, I had to check with the wife first, so a few SMS’s later, plans were made.

The next day, the wife and I made out way to Portsmouth, nh and had brunch at Friendly Toast. Friendly Toast has a very interesting decoration style, strange paintings, lamps made out of old KFC buckets, MGD cases and old school memorabilia. Best of all, the food was awesome. They make their own bread daily so they have a different assortment of breads to have with your meal. We took a loaf of Cayenne Pepper and Cheese home with us. The kick of the Cayenne comes after you swallow and has a slow build. It’s great! I had a very tasty omelet which was stuffed with different kinds of meats and veggies and the wife had a huge waffle and a side of eggs. IF you are ever in the area, check out Friendly Toast.

Friendly Toast
121 Congress St
Portsmouth, nh 03801

After the good eats we wondered around Portsmouth and visited a few of the shops, enjoying the weather and the views. A few years back, while we were on the East Coast, I had my right ear pierced after having my left ear pierced many, many years earlier. I thought it would be cool to have each ear pierced on either coast of the USA. So last time we were in Salem, MA I got my right ear pierced. Two and a half months later, it was still red and angry, when it should have been healed and ready to rock. So I took out the earring and let the beast heal. Flash forward a few years, we are in Portsmouth nh and we walk past a tattoo/piercing shop. 20 minutes later, I have both ears pierced again and so far so good.

After we spent most of the day in Portsmouth, we headed out to bdidde’s place. When we arrived it had started to sprinkle. After we all said ‘Hello’ to each other, b’s son started to give us a tour of the house. After the tour was over, we talked for a while and then the Wii was turned on. The game of choice? Wii Sports. There’s nothing like getting your ass handed to you by a kid. I got smoked at Tennis, Baseball, Boxing (we tied, one match a piece) and golf. I also learned about the practice modes and Super Bowling. The final level of Super Bowling is 91 pins. Yeah… 91 pins. You start off with the normal 10 pins and a row is added to the back of the pins each time. Awesome stuff.

After the Wii was turned off in favor of smooth jazz, the BBQ was started and a wonderful dinner of chicken, rice, vegetable skewers and homemade beers. bdidde is a great brewmaster. After dinner, we chatted for a little bit longer and unfortunately there was still a hour or so drive back to Portsmouth. Thank you so much bdidde and family for a great time!

As I’m sitting at home now, with 100+ degree weather outside, I’m day dreaming about the East Coast and more Lobster Rolls.. (see the moblog for my Lobster Roll-a-Day quest). I know that I will be back on the East Coast again.

tags: east coast, friends, lobster rolls, travel

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Sorry for the lack of updates… the non felt world has been kicking my ass.

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Sorry for the lack of updates… real life has been a bitch lately. I haven’t played a hand of poker in two weeks.

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You can totally hear the strong winds that were blowing. It’s very haunting hearing the trees moan when the sky is a dark orange.

So far we do not have to evacuate. The fire above is no longer an issue, but we are probably 50% surrounded by fires or areas that have already burned. If this keeps up, I don’t know if we will be home tonight.

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Pasiley has had a rough week. She had an ultrasound, to see if she did in fact have a liver shunt, which came back inconclusive. That was an expensive *shrug*. From there, the doctor wanted to have a transcolonic portal scintigraphy done so we were referred out to a third doctors office to get the procedure done. The next appointment we could get was a week later. My wife and myself had been on an emotional roller coaster for three weeks, so what’s one more week right? All this time Paisley is acting normal, playing with Widget, Ginger and Foo. I don’t think she knows that anything is wrong.

After the next week of waiting, we took Paisley back to LA and had the transcolonic portal scintigraphy procedure and the results came back with a perfectly normal liver. What a relief. But I did read somewhere that the high Alanine Aminotransferase levels could be from the liver reacting to a different organ’s failure. The second doctor gave the OK to get Paisley fixed and said we are pretty much in the clear… just waiting to see if any symptoms for anything else arise.

UPDATED:
Here is the image of the scan that the Dr’s performed:

Normal shunt ratio is less than 15-20% and Paisley clocked in at 28%, but they said it was a “Normal Study” and she is cleared for fixing. Yes!

tags: paisley, personal, unknown

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Well, the two weeks have come and gone and her Alanine Aminotransferase, or ALT, levels are now higher than before. Two weeks ago she was at 197, the high normal range is 95. On Tuesday her levels were at 302. The vet did a bile acid test, BAT, and had the results sent out and if they were bad, we would be referred out to a specialist. If the BAT is high, her liver isn’t doing the job that it should. I just found out that we were referred out to a specialist.

This sucks.

tags: paisley, personal, sadness

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.. and not with the bad foods. Paisley is a chihuahua and just about 5 lbs. She is an awesome dog.

Here is a copy of the letter that we sent the the breeders (who are awesome).

Brian and I wanted to let you know that we got some potentially upsetting news when we brought Paisley to the vet this morning to have her fixed. The doctor explained that he was unable to perform the procedure this morning because, after a blood test, he discovered moderately high levels of liver enzyme, which could be a sign of liver disease and/or a birth defect known as Congenital Portosystemic Shunt.

Obviously, this is heartbreaking news and we wanted to let you know immediately upon hearing the preliminary diagnosis. Please know, too, that this condition is not a result of the recent dog food recall that has been all over the news. None of our babies have had any of the foods that were/are causing liver disease and other fatalities. However, the doctor wants to treat her with antibiotics (she is being picked up from the vet and going home with Brian as we speak) and do a second test in two weeks to be certain.

We do not know yet whether we will be able to treat her medically or whether surgery will be introduced as we are unsure of the level of severity. We thought you would want to know in case other adopters from her litter come to you with this issue. Widget certainly is healthy and beautiful, as was Paisley as far as we knew up until this morning. Perhaps it is something isolated to just her, but it’s certainly not any easier on the heart or the mind to think that our sweet, tiny baby is sick and that it could be serious.

We will keep you posted as things develop.

I hope the medication fixes this.. we will find out in two weeks if the medication worked. This is going to be a long two weeks.

First my wife has degenerative disc disease, now Paisley may have Congenital Portosystemic Shunt. I don’t want to know what’s next in the bad news department. Unless it’s a one outer. I can handle that.

tags: paisley, personal, sadness

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Sorry about the lack of updates. This has been the weekend from hell. A quick run down.. Last friday my wife’s back went out again. In the past a trip to the chiropractor did the trick, so thats what we did saturday morning. Sunday night, she still had a lot of pain and monday morning @ 4am I had to call 911 to get her into the er. Found out this morning that she has degenerating discs. I’ll post more later.. I have to cook breakfast and get back to the hospital.

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