The one where Cocoa had surgery. Then surgery. Then surgery. Then one more surgery.

Our sweet little old lady.
The CocoaBean
The Cocoa-Nator
The Cocoa-Loco.

Back when she was less gray...

The dog with 19 lives.

A while ago we found that she had a few cysts, lumps/bumps, tumors.
This is what Boxers do; they grow things on their bodies....it's their Jam.

The Doc took a sample from one and decided it must be removed because it appeared that it could be cancerous.

No biggie.

The Coach drops her off early on a Monday morning and he picks her up later that day.
I like for him to drop her off therefore she's mad at him and I'm not on her sh*t list.

The Doc sent her home with some pain meds and instructions.

That girl was groggy.
Anesthesia will do that to you.

On her list of instructions, it said that if she tries to lick/clean the area, to put a cone of shame on her to protect the sutures.

No biggie. We have a cone in our arsenal because of all the things Ozzie had to endure back in the day.

But, ya'll she was not messing with her sutures.

Until she did.

Thursday morning it looked like the scene of a crime.

That dog.

I took her to the vet and they cleaned her up, restitched her and added in some staples.

We dusted off the cone and put it on her as if she was the star of her very own freak show.

All is well. Back on track.

ON Friday night around 10:15 PM, Cocoa remembered that she was a contortionist in her past life who could bend her body in half and get her mouth around the cone of shame to the stitches/staples at the very back of her back leg.

Another bloody mess with her wound wide open. I now have CSI on speed dial.

At one point, we put a Led Zepplin T-shirt on her to try and keep the blood from being deposited all over the house.

Coach took her to the vet as soon as they opened at 7:30 on Saturday morning as we were supposed to leave for Miami at 9am for my Uncles memorial service.

Sadly, the vet didn't arrive until 9. So, Coach and I left and Lolo had to stay back and get her back and forth for another round of stitches/staples and a MUCH BIGGER CONE.

That dog.

The bigger cone seems to do the trick as she can't get to the wounds OR even see where she is headed.
I needed shin guards.
The bruises ya'll.

Fast forward another week while I'm merrily enjoying myself on my surprise weekend away with my girlfriends.

The Coach texts me on Sunday morning that he's gonna let her have some time without the cone; she's been leaving it alone and it seems to be healing.

I warned him that she's only 8 days post-op and she can't be trusted.
He assured me that he'd keep an eye on her.

But ya'll. He's a busy man with lots of projects going on.
He walked away from the family room where she was sleeping with no cone and 10 minutes later....
yep....

Call CSI. 

He felt horrible.
Terribly horrible.

Now it's a Sunday morning, so he had to take her to the Emergency vet who also happens to be a specialty vet office. (I've had both Ozzie and Cocoa there in the past)

The emergency Doc said she needs the wound to be re-opened (larger now) and to be restitched and much tighter now.
The Coach feels the Doc is confident in her skills even though she appears to be 25 years old.

Surgery #4.

The emergency Doc did a much better job than our regular vet; much tighter.
So much tighter that they insisted she be crated or (almost) sedated for 2 weeks so she can't over-stretch the leg and rip open the stitches. Sadly, with a cone this large, she can't really fit in the crate.

It's been a rough road. She's kinda groggy most of the time from the meds, but still seems to have moments where she wants to play/box.

She's almost 13.
In boxer years that makes her 497 years old.

Callie isn't bothered by Cocoa's uncomfortable-ness.

Every day I keep giving her the countdown till she gets the cone off and the stitches out.
As of this morning, she has 4 more days.

I think I'll be as happy to have it over with as she will come Sunday morning.

That time we visited Philly. **Our Pack Up + Go experience**

Remember last week when I said my friends and I were flying off to a surprise destination.....hey, it wasn't that long ago.

We swore that by the clues that we were going to NYC, Boston or Chicago. I love Chicago and I've only been to Boston once so I would have enjoyed another visit there.

NYC? Well, that is not my favorite place to visit.

But, in the voice of Gomer Pyle, SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE, they sent us to Philadelphia.

**playing Elton John's Philadelphia Freedom in the background**

I couldn't have been more surprised if I'd woke up with my hair stapled to the carpet.

But ya'll, we were excited and it was a great choice on the part of Pack Up + Go!

I didn't even know I wanted to visit Philadelphia until we were in the air!

We were mailed a full envelope of all our trip details; hotel, some scheduled items, and lots of suggestions; we opened this in the parking garage of the airport just to see where we were going. Then we read more of the details once we were on the plane.

We went with a fairly big budget (2k each-we wanted to assure we had nice accommodations) for our weekend (you choose this when you make your initial reservations) I believe you can spend less and still have an amazing adventure.

So, they booked us two rooms at the Ritz Carlton in Philly. I know, we pretty much slummed it.

We had a $200 gift card for Uber, dinner reservations for our first night and a $300 gift card towards it at Estia. (absolutely amazing food and service) We had tickets to the Museum of Art, pre-paid spa reservations for a facial and massage, and a walking food tour booked on Saturday.

And in the middle of all that, we walked the city and ate at a few of the recommended spots by PU+GO; all of their suggestions were awesome.

Yo, Adriaannnnnn!

Our Saturday was wet. It rained from sun up to sun down....and honestly, I'm exaggerating because the sun never came out that day. BUT, we had a great time nonetheless!

City Hall at night with the spooky fog rolling in.
William Penn is up there somewhere....

 I highly recommend this type of surprise trip to anyone who likes a bit of adventure and surprise in their life. (BTW: speaking of surprises, if I see one more gender reveal party clip, I'm gonna take my eye out with both a pink and a blue spoon)

We travel quite a bit and sometimes it becomes a chore to make plans; this was so nice as I didn't have to plan anything aside from the date we preferred.

City Hall during the day when it's not.so.scary. 

Did PU+GO ask me to review them? NO WAY JOSE. But I'm a giver and I love to share good things with my friends or anyone else that will listen to me.

Have a great day! Has anyone been on a surprise trip before? 

The Coach surprised me years ago with a trip to NYC and it was so darn sweet....well until I realized I'm not really a fan of NYC. See, he can't win, can he?

XOXO

I'm surprised that the anticipation is killing me

We've been having a week or two with our Cocoa and some health issues. *heavy sigh* 
I'll have to update soon, but right now, she is stable. 

***

Thank you for all your sweet words and condolences regarding my very special Uncle Alan.  We got through his memorial service. I was terrified to get up and speak, but I felt I needed to do this for him; it was actually a beautiful day with family remembering a wonderful man. 

***

Kelly and I have talked for years about taking a girls trip together. The boys don't have an issue planning a weekend away; car shows, ATV trips, more car shows...they always have a good time and we knew we'd have fun as well if ONLY we could just plan something.

But we couldn't decide.

We chose to have a surprise trip.
We chose for strangers to plan the trip because we couldn't choose a destination ourselves.

We found Pack Up and Go.

Our friend Marcia said she wanted to go on a girls trip too.
Then our friend Michelle said she'd love to join us.

So, we're about to pack up and go this Friday morning.

WHERE?

WE DON'T KNOW!
That's the beauty of it. They plan your trip; flights, hotel, (loose) itinerary.

We've had some clues of things to pack and weather that we may encounter, but other than that....we're clueless.
Being clueless is something I excel at.

We'll find out our destination when we arrive at the AIRPORT on Friday morning.

Really. 
For reals. 

We're really excited. We may end up in Jonestown, OH. (that's the Coach's guess)
But hey, I've never been to Ohio.
No matter where we end up, we'll have a good time.

I'll let you know next week where they send us...and I'm sure there will be a lot of laughs.

Wishing you a good surprise or two this weekend.


XOXO

The family is dwindling

This past weekend my Uncle Alan passed away; he was my Dad's younger (and only) sibling. He's always been pretty special to me.
He was essentially the caretaker of my G'ma ever since I can remember....even when she really didn't need a caretaker, but she liked having someone in the house with her. He was always kind, sweet, pleasant and goofy. You know the type; never had a bad thing to say about anyone or anything, but could tell fart jokes on the hour.

 He was an amazing bowler and honestly, he lived such a simple life. He played on many leagues and was in the newspaper countless times for his 'perfect' games. He worked in a grocery store, bowled, attened chuch, loved his kids and grandkids and enjoyed watching sports. No internet. No cell phone. No drama.

He loved to pick on me, especially about all the silly things I did as a kid. Which I really only did one or two things as I was nearly perfect.

Suz and Uncle Alan circa late 80's. 

 Some of my longtime readers may recall that he got married almost 5 years ago to his Junior High sweetheart. Wait, does anyone still read my blog? Anyhoo....my heart breaks for his widow.

My Dad, Suz, and sweet Uncle Alan. Going to church circa 80's.

He was the last of my Dad's family for that generation. My uncle has two sons, my cousins that are a bit younger than I am. But, I'm getting this weird feeling that a huge part of my family history is gone now.

Of course, the first person I wanted to call after I found out after he'd passed was my Mom.
*damn*

He was still living in the house that he grew up in, the same house (Miami) that I spent countless summers at with my Grandparents. Those were some of the best moments of my childhood. He and my Dad were total opposites. Alan was kind, quiet and easy going. Total opposites.

I'll forever miss him and I'll forever always remember his silly laugh and his oh-so-corny jokes.

God speed Uncle Alan.
XOXO

That time I almost bought things that I don't need, enjoying May and all my friends are turning 50.

I hopped in my car from the gym the other day and dropped my phone in the seat next to my lap. When I arrived at my destination, I picked up my phone just in time to verify which address I wanted the 14 Amazon echo Dot's that I'd ordered to be delivered to.
What the what?
Yeah, my thigh thought we needed those.
*that was a close one*
Smartphones might be a little to easy to work where my leg is concerned.

It's May! Well, it's actually May 4th.
I always enjoy May; it brings Mother's day and our wedding anniversary.
And this May, we have a weekend with our besties planned, then I have a 'surprise destination' trip with girlfriends and we also have a date with Billy Currington. All.GOOD.STUFF.


This week one of my favorite friends turned 50 and boy oh boy, does she make 50 look good. She claims that 'stress' will do that to you! Gosh do I love her and I so wish she had less stress in her life.

2018

Here we are on my 40th birthday almost 11 years ago. 

We've been friends for around 20 years; and dare I say, I think we look better now!

2007

Have a fantastic weekend doing whatever it is that you do on the weekend. If you need me, I'll be enjoying friends, the Coach and perhaps a margarita. Cinco De Mayo baby!

XOXO