to encounter in a short amount of time!

I, too, am glad your Dh is recovering well.

I am very sorry you've lost a good friend.

I am also sorry your aunt has been having such a difficult time!
This must be exceptionally tough, since she is a favorite relative and so important to you. I hope she stabilizes and starts to do well.

Pups are so cute! Yet, they can also become very demanding. I have found they quickly learn to love their crates! I have crate trained 2 German Shepherds. They both have loved their crates. We'd introduced them to crates as soon as we'd brought them home with us (they were each approx. 7 weeks old); so they have grown up very used to crates.

I have one shepherd now. She is approx. 8 yrs old now. We allow her to roam at night, leaving her crate door open, so she may retreat if she chooses to. She divides her time btw. the crate and several areas of the house. She is often in the bedroom with us. As you have mentioned, this breed tends to have a tremendous amount of separation anxiety. (In a thunderstorm, she'd still prefer to be on my lap! She is fairly large for a female shepherd, physically "fit" at 92 pounds. Both of her parents were big dogs!)

We do crate her if we leave her home alone, due to the intense separation anxiety this breed tends to experience. She feels very safe in her crate. (She acts content to be in her crate when we are leaving her; she has never known anything different. When we come home, I always rush into the room to let her out of the crate immediately and she is most often sound asleep!)
Yes, the crate is in our bedroom, too, as that is where she is most comfortable.

I am glad this crating idea has worked out well for you and for your pup! (Crates can serve as a fantastic solution!)

Oh no! The Uhaul experience... my spine was aching as I was reading your account! Those vehicles are notoriously a "bumpy" ride!
(And so often in need of repair, too!)

I hope you can recover from this recent exacerbation quickly!

What an account, Billye! I don't know how you have done as well as you have with all of this going on!

I hope you exacerbation passes very quickly... in fact, I hope it is already over with!

I have had friends needing to try Cellcept (and, therefore, wanting to try Cellcept) when their rheumatological conditions had worsened. Some have done well with this... and are relatively pleased. Others have not cared for it much. If you must try Cellcept, I wish you great success with it.

I hope to hear some additional good news from you in the near future... about your own status and also some great news about your aunt!

And.. bellyrubs for the pup! (Did you say you have a few dogs?)

Truly hope more and more is "looking up" for you each day!


(I have been away from the board, also due to my own level of illness and life chaos. Your story is one I had familiarized myself with, over time and has stayed on my mind and in my prayers, along with others here. I am slowly trying to "catch up" with everyone.)