The Love of a Pet

Hi to All,

This blog may seem silly today, but for Jessica it is so very special. You see, today, September 30th, is Molly's birthday. Molly is Jessica's pet - her dog - her "perrito" (this is how they say "small dog" in Mexico)! Molly is a yorkie-poo. The picture that you see on the top right of the blog is a picture of Jessica holding Molly in her Halloween costume on October 31st, 2005 - four months before Jessica starting feeling sick.

For Jessica, Molly is such an important part of her journey back to wellness. You see, for the past 3 1/2 years, Jessica has kept a picture of Molly as her screen saver on her computer. It was the first thing she would see in the morning, what she treasured seeing during the day, and the last thing she would see before possibly falling asleep at night! If you ask Jessica, one of the first things she wants to do when she is better, is to be able to play with Molly again! To be able to "really" hold her and "hug" her! To see Molly do her famous "break-dance" that she does only when she asks. To see that famous tail of hers go round and round in excitement and feel the gentle breeze that comes from it because it is almost like a propeller of an airplane when it wags! To feel her "lick" her booboos away, as only a dog can! These are the things that Jessica can't wait to experience again with her fateful companion "Molly".

Molly came to us one Christmas morning in 2001. You see, our girls, Jessica, Katherine and Michelle, had been wanting a dog for quite some time. They had asked my husband David and I many times for the "blessing" of a dog and it was me who always put it off. I would say things to them, like all parents say, things like: "You have to be more responsible first, you have to understand the work and care that is involved in taking care of a pet, it's expensive to have a pet, etc.etc.etc." Then in 2000, my beloved brother Charlie passed away from Hodgkin's disease. He had fought the "good" fight for nine years, and even after my being his stem cell donor, his healing was not meant to be here on earth, but in heaven above! It was a very sad time for our whole family. My mother, brother, sister, and I, and all of our family were devastated. It was then, during the year 2001, that our children once again revisited the idea of wanting a pet and really pushing for it. They said they wanted nothing else for Christmas - only a dog - and if we could get that for them, they would be so happy!

I guess I can honestly say that for me, because of the death of my brother, my heart softened a bit to the idea of getting a pet for the girls. For my husband it had always been a "no-brainer". He had always had pets growing up; in fact his pets were not really pets, but an extension of the family! So, we made the command decision to get them a pet for Christmas and surprise them with it on Christmas morning and for our youngest girls, who still believed in Santa, to tell them that Santa had brought the dog to our house especially for them!

Molly was chosen or should I really say, God chose Molly for us, two weeks before Christmas. It was indeed Jessica who chose Molly from a batch of dogs at the local pet shop. She saw her in the "crowd", asked to play with her in the special "room" where they allow you to do this, and from the moment she was put in Jessica's arms, there was no turning back! Molly was ours, or should I really say, Molly was "Jessica's" and would be arriving to our brick house - #90 - -- her new home!!! She arrived that Christmas morning, wrapped in a baby blanket, nestled in a big red basket - it was a site we will always remember! The girls still say that that Christmas - the one when we got Molly - was the best one by far!

The significance to this story is that, for Jessica, her love of that pet, has been one of the things that has kept her going in this quest to feeling and being well again. Her desire to play with that little dog or "perrito" once again - that "little" pet that she loves so very much --------

So hug your pet today - because sometimes it is the "little" things in life that come to mean so very much....

All our love,
Molly's family,
Sarah Gina, David, Katherine, Michelle and JESSICA*

UPDATE:
P.S. The nuero-opthomalogist is arriving today to evaluate Jessica's vision, as it still is not well and she is still experiencing the "static" vision. I will keep you posted. Also, a GI consult is coming today to review the intestinal ultrasound that was done yesterday in order to determine the cause of the contracting pains Jessica is experiencing every 3-5 minutes in her intestines. Every day is a struggle, but in the end we know it will all work for God's good and for His plan! If all goes well today, she will probably receive ketamine booster #3 tomorrow.

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