Focht Family Blog

So… scouting is done for the summer. My mom had a bit of an issue with her camper that we noticed as we left Boston in June. One of the corners where the tie down system connects was tearing off. Here are some pictures of it…

We tried stopping by a RV dealership that was listed as a repair place for her camper manufacturer. They sent the pictures in to see if it would be covered and we were told by the dealership that it looked like water damage. The manufacturer said it looked like we had hit a speed bump??? I am pretty sure that a truck camper is supposed to be able to go over a speed bump! It was looking as if mom was going to have to spend a few thousand dollars repairing it. We decided to continue back to PA and call the manufacturer back.

Apparently mom had been speaking with the wrong person. The person she spoke with the next time told her that if she could get the camper to Winchester, VA that they would take care of it. Winchester is where they used to make the trailers on the east coast. Now they are just made in Oregon but they still have facilities and people who can repair in Virginia. She scheduled a service visit for August 17 (see… I am almost caught up). It ended up that we needed to go to Vermont for work so we left a little early so we could do some touristy visiting on the way to Vermont.

Misty was getting worse so we drove back to Statesboro early. We took her into our vet in Savannah on Friday, February 27, 2009. We showed our vet the x-rays hoping she would tell us something different but the best option she gave us was that it could be fluid around the heart and with open heart surgery to drain it she could live another year. We decided that since she was old for a mastiff and we didn’t think she would live through surgery even if fluid was her problem, that we would put her down before she started suffering. This is the hardest one for us because she was the best of our mastiffs and every other time we have had a dog to still come home to. Here are some pictures I took of Misty in her last days…

Goodbye my sweet girl. We will always love you and miss you.

Today we took Misty to a Petsmart because we still think there is something growing in her stomach. The vet was concerned about her pale gums (which I noticed last year) and thought that she might have something wrong with her spleen. They x-rayed her stomach and chest and found that her heart is huge compared to what it should be. She said she was actually surprised that she didn’t die 2 months ago. She has had a few episodes that we thought were mild seizures that I guess were cardiac episodes. We are going to put her down on February 28, 2009 in Savannah. We don’t want her to suffer anymore than she needs to.

#1: DO NOT pour boiling water on your leg…

Last night while making dinner I tried to put the oven rack in the oven. It was sitting next to the fold up counter behind the stove. The rack hit the fold up counter which slid down throwing the pan of boiling water off of the stove and onto me.

I am thankful that Nathan was thinking more clearly than me and he got me into the shower very quickly with cool water. I called Nurse One who said NOT to put any type of lotion or oils on it because it would trap the heat. Then I called my friend Roger who is an ER nurse to find out what they would do at the hospital and it seems that the only reason to suffer without the cool water would be to get pain medication so I stayed home and Nathan went and got me some gauze.

Today it looks horrible and is blistered but it is not hurting! :)

Monday my mom made the decision to put down her dog, Punch. Punch had a tumor that started out small on her shoulder and it grew quickly to a size that it was affecting her walking. We were having to lift her in and out when she had to get in the RV and a few times when she was getting in to the camper. She was also dropping weight although she was eating. It was time, but it is never easy. Rest in Peace, sweet Punch. :(