u/TabbieFayth

My 5 year old husky/American bulldog was just diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy. She had her 1st seizure at 3:40pm Wednesday and her 9th seizure at 10:30am Thursday. 8 and 9 were on the way and at the vet. She stayed with the vet from Thursday through Saturday morning.

She currently has no control over her bladder or bowels. I don't know if this is normal. Is it due to all the sedation during her hospital stay? Is it a side effect of the phenobarbital? Is it permanent damage from all the seizures? I realize no one can actually answer this. Just stressing out loud.

And giving her the medication is extremely difficult. She has no interest in food, or treats. Even wet food she takes a bite and walks away. I'm not unfamiliar with all the ways to hide a pill. I know so many food tricks. But those don't work for Jupiter who doesn't want food.

I just bought a pill popper to try tonight. Because I can not pry her mouth open enough to drop the pill in. Even with help. My husband has been trying to open her mouth while I give the meds, but we can't hardly open it enough to get it far enough back. It ends up taking us 15+ minutes to get it down. I keep watching videos of people and their dogs just open their mouth wide, even if for just a short moment. But my girl is keeping her jaws clamped shut.

It's only been 24 hours but I'm so stressed. The vet didn't warn me that she can't control her bladder and bowels, or that giving her meds would be this difficult. I plan to call her vet tomorrow morning. But if anyone wants to share some advice, or tell me it's going to work out, please do.

Through the doubt and anxiety, I decided to just go for it. I crossed the road, went over the hill and down the trail.

All so I could stop at a bridge for 15 minutes of serenity, surrounded by nature.

I did almost 8 miles of walking this morning. My first mile was a loop on my own gravel road because I had my doubts walking on the busy-ish road, up the hills. But then I just went for it. I wanted to visit that bridge. And I had the opportunity to watch a young deer for a few minutes as well.

Broke the walk into 2 parts so I could enjoy the destination. And know the exact distance from my house to the bridge for future walks. Gotta remember water next time. That heat was horrible.

I mostly walk indoors because I lack motivation to go outside. Not having a car and living in the middle of nowhere, means walks are soooo boring. If I do walk outside, it's just loops on my gravel road.

One day, I will cross the road, walk up that hill and keep going until I reach the trail that's just on the other side.

Until then, one round trip on my road is a mile. Got to say hello to a snapping turtle today. Totally highlight of the walk.

After finishing the C25K, I decided to just keep moving and do 5k races. Then at some point I decided to tackle 10k training. So many things kept preventing me from getting beyond week 3 of 10k training. Eventually I gave up, and kept doing 5k with my 11 year old.

Today, I ran a 10k race without training for it. When I say I was struggling, I mean it. Though honestly it was just the hills. There were SO. MANY. HILLS. One of them was a 15% grade incline that tried to take me out both directions. The photo does not do justice of the hill I had to tackle.

I managed to finish 6.40 miles in 1:32. My goal was the 10k in 1:30, and I'm not mad. I did so much better than I expected. I stopped a lot. That massive hill had me crawling my way up, and moving at a snail pace down. And then all the other hills that forced me to walk instead of run. Plus stopping at every single aid station along the way (3 of them one way lol). Not just a quick stop, but a good 30-45 second each time.

More than once I was convinced I was lost. I was the last person moving forward. The last to finish the 10k. There were people that ran the 20k and finished not long after I did. I was slow. But I finished. My feet hurt, my legs are a little sore and I'm in desperate need of a 3 day nap. And I would do it all over again. Except maybe practice some hill runs before the next race 🤣 (TBD).

Well, I did it. For the first time since I began running in January, I went a full 10k. I just really wanted to see how I would do for the actual race in a week. And maybe I shouldn't have gone from 2 miles to 6 in 2 days. But, I did lol

Honestly, it wasn't terrible. It wasn't great, but not as bad as I expected. This practice round taught me a couple things though:

1. Wear longer shorts and use a chafing stick 😂😂

2. I'm going to need water to survive the run. And not just the small sips at the halfway point. I ran inside in the air conditioned house and needed water lol.

3. Stick with doing 2m run and 1m walk. I kept wanting to run longer, but I'm glad I forced myself to jeep with the plan.

I won't be running this distance again until race day. Going to rest next couple days before doing a couple more easy runs.

This was Goblin's last 5k of the year. We went pretty slow and walked most of it. So it took us an hour to finish.

We also took our senior girl Winnie with us. She ran the first mile before I made her sit in her carriage. But I let her run through the finish line like a real runner lol. Her little legs were booking it lol.

The humidity made it a little rough out there.

Also, I forgot to stop my watch and now I have a new record for running a half marathon 🤣

I'm currently out of town with another child, so all running is on hold. However, Goblin sent me a text earlier this evening asking how to turn on the treadmill, and then did his run. All without me there 🥹

I'm so proud of this kid for making it happen, without me even there to push him along. He did have a group of cats to keep him company though. That Amethyst there loves to bat at the emergency stop cord while you run 😬😂

Planned for 2.5 easy miles today, managed 2.25 before I had to quit. Legs felt strong, stomach did not. Usually a good run settles my chronic nausea, but today it did not.

Looking at my intervals I wonder if I would have made it under 40 minutes if I had gone for 3.1mi. That 2nd interval had me worried. At one point (well several) during mile 2 my watch said my pace was 19-20 minutes per mile. And I knew that wasn't right. Even if I had slowed down, I knew it definitely wasn't that much. I don't know how to slow that much and still be jogging, I've tried 🤣

Love that my watch GPS picks up my treadmill location and then creates a crazy route. Like I just ran wobbly circles around my house lol.

Did a 5k today on the treadmill. My watch GPS seemed to be lost in that though and didn't get the memo I was indoors 😂

My knees started burning about halfway, but didn't actually hurt. That was weird. Just a really warm feeling in my knees 🤷‍♀️

Tomorrow is a full rest day. Just going to deliver some chickens to a customer and grocery shop. Easy peasy kind of day.

Did I say I wanted warmer weather? Because if so, I lied. Bring back the cooler temps please 😭

Day 2 of my own 10k training. I did another 2 miles today, plus strength training. And tomorrow will be day 3, long run. I really need to get myself back onto the original way I scheduled it. Goblin does his runs on my strength training and rest days. His runs are low effort on my part, so I feel comfortable doing it a day after my own run.

My average pace for today's 2 miles was more like 13'15, but I forgot to stop my watch for a solid 4 minutes after 😂

Also, finally turned my treadmill. You can't see anything, but I get to watch the weeds blow around and occasionally see a chicken or turkey run lol. Tempted to move the treadmill to directly in front of the window.

Anyways. Have a fun and safe weekend friends! We will be staying in and watching movies with the kids. Not much for the light shows. I'll be back tomorrow with my long run, which is only 3.5mi lol.

When Goblin decided he wanted to run, I put my original 10k training on the back burner. I just couldn't do his runs and mine without risking injury. I'm not that level of a runner. Which means, no 10k race for me this month as planned.

But then I realized there is another 10k race in September. So I made my own training plan, with planned strength and mobility training in between. I set it for 11 weeks. Then went out and bought a planner so I could write it all down on the weekly pages, and then the monthly is where I jot down my distance, pace and time for that day's run.

However, after all this, I realized I still can't sign up for an official 10k race because school will be in session, and cross country meets start pretty much right away. And when it comes between watching my children in a sport, or running a race for myself, I will choose my children every time.

I'm still going to train for a 10k. New plan is to find a virtual one, buy their shirt and metal and work towards earning it. I can do my own 10k race. It's not like I would place anywhere good in an official race 😂

Anywho, yesterday was day 1, but I did it today because I was feeling bummed after realizing XC meets would be happening.

Well, today was the day. The 20 minute run for Goblin. He made it a solid 15 minutes before we called it quits. And honestly, that was totally a win. I'm fairly certain if it wasn't so dreadfully hot and humid, he could have done the full 20 minutes. But, the heat index had the real feel at 103°f at 7:30pm, and our path today was only shaded in parts. We kept it slow, and I made sure to ask how he was feeling every few minutes. I had 2 bottles of cold water with me that he had me occasionally squeeze on his head and hands, and some to drink.

He finished his run by cooling down at the splash pad in the park we ran around. It was a nice reward after 20 minutes of movement (that 5 minute warm up walk wasn't a leisure pace). And I found treasure, a little dinosaur that definitely came home with me after checking no present child left it behind.

I guess moving forward I need to teach him how to run on the treadmill. There's not really a safe place for me to take him running in the dark. Plus, I'm old lol. Come 9pm I'm ready for my bed and a book. And neither of us are waking up at 5am to run. Even now at 10pm, the real feel still 93°f outside. And it's going to be about that when I wake at 7am.

Made it to week 5 day 2. At the start he was really nervous about the 8 minute run intervals. I told him not to stress. If he needed a break sooner than we would walk sooner. Simple as that.

He didn't ask for a break! He did ask to slow down and I reminded him he was setting the pace. When I asked how he felt about the whole run, he said good. He was tired by the end of it. The 2nd run interval he asked me not to give him updates on how much longer. That lasted until we had 40 seconds left when he caved asked.

I told him I was super proud of him for getting out there and trying the run even though he felt intimidated. And that I thought it was amazing he recognized he needed to slow down so he could keep running.

No dog with us this time. Winnie started the warm-up with us but unfortunately I had to take her back home. Someone let their GSD mix run loose and it wouldn't leave us alone. But added a photo of her cute face anyways lol.

We took a 3 day break from the 5k (which was closer to 6.5k). Mostly because we got distracted. He spent the day with his siblings at the Elder Goblin's apartment. Then Tuesday I was gone all day fir a tattoo and just too tired. So we had to suck it up and just get out there today.

Which led to him hating the run in the first 2 minutes lol. But overall, he did great. He said the 5 minute run intervals weren't his favorite, but they weren't too bad. Day 2 should be fun 😬😂

Today Goblin completed week 4 by doing his first 5k. I stayed with him the whole time, and it was good I did.

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This 5k was crazy. We ended up going for almost 4 miles. The people hosting the race didn't make sure their volunteers were in place. As a result, most of the runners ran past the first turning point. We only went a little over a quarter mile past where it should have been. My oldest daughter ran at least a half mile past before some people training for a half told the group they went too far.

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There were zero signs and no volunteers directing the turning point. We had a map, and had to stop to confirm we should have been turning. Thankfully they had some at the 2nd turning point.

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We hit a point where he had to stop and take a break for a few minutes. I forgot to pause the time for that, and he did finish a few minutes before me because he decided to sprint to the end to be finished. I'd say overall he finished 4 miles in an hour.

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My other goblin that went with us was the first female to finish, despite all her added mileage lol.

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And lastly, Winnie, our new adopted pup, was at the finish line, full of wiggles.

I went so slow, my watch said I was walking 😂 In my defense, Acorn and Trinket had way too much energy and kept trying to cash the cat following us.

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Goblin did great! This week has some 5 minute run intervals. His only complaint was he thinks he should have hydrated better.

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Anywho, enjoy some blurry photos of the run. The pups get too excited to run for clear photos lol

No photos of him this time. Once we hit the cool down he went straight into the house while I tried to just keep going.

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I am struggling. Since Goblin decided he wanted to run, I put my 10k training on the back burner. I can't do his runs and mine. And he can't do his runs solo. So for now, I'm just running with him. Cross country practice starts next month. Hopefully he still enjoys running once he has an actual coach pushing him lol

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And this Saturday is his first 5k. Looking forward to running it with him.

Decided to try running later in the day. Not gonna lie, it was a little creepy. Didn't help that Goblin kept asking if a bear was going to eat us every time we heard a noise 😂 Funny enough a bear cub was spotted in a town about 30 minutes from us, so...🤷‍♀️😬 Maybe next time we will run on our own gravel road instead of a seclude gravel trail with zero visibility lol.

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I need to remember to start and stop my watch according the warm up and cool down. This kid definitely had us moving quicker than last week, despite what my watch said the pace was (because it includes the 5 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down of just walking).

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We might switch over to the Nike Run Club 5k plan. We talked about it briefly during our run and he said he likes the idea of varying his runs during the week, including the speed run days.

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Anywho, back home and ready for bed. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Goblin did his W3D1 today. And he had me officially sign him up for a 5k race. It's next Saturday, the 20th 😬 He is confident he can finish it, and I'm just here to support him.

If anyone wants to share tips, advice or encouragement, he would appreciate it. He says as his mom, it's my job to be proud of him so it doesn't feel as encouraging 😂 but he would also be upset if I didn't tell him great he's doing.

I grabbed his photo right before he hopped off the treadmill. He said it was fun learning how to run on it. Our heat index was over 100°f and the trail wasn't very shady today.

Forgot to share his day 2 yesterday. He wanted to do day 3 today so he had a day off from moving lol. He has 2 separate trips planned with friends this weekend that will have him walking several hours on Saturday and Sunday.

He is definitely getting better, quickly. According to my watch, our average pace was 15 minutes/mi. And we chatted with each other the whole time. His only complaint was his feet started hurting, but mostly because he felt a small rock in his shoe.

I'm pretty certain this kid needs to download the app to his own phone because he's going to be going faster than me soon, if not next week 😂

Our distance doesn't include the 5 minute warm up walk, which was just a little under half a mile. But it does include the last 5 minutes because he ran most of that instead of walking it. And to top it all off, we did this in the rain. It wasn't a heavy rain, but enough to be annoying lol.