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Sherri Connell

A Lifetime in 27 Years

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You are here: Home / Archives for Living My Life

We Lost Our Baby Snickers

February 21, 2017 By Sherri

I have extremely heartbreaking news! Our baby Snickers went to Heaven in the middle of the night. She had a catastrophic stroke, most likely from the probable tumor in her brain that has been causing seizures and some neurological issues.

As many of you know, she wasn’t supposed to live more than a few days in November 2014. She wasn’t eating, her heart rate was 200 and she had a fatal heart condition, with Epilepsy. But I didn’t want to give up yet. I put supplements in a syringe and force fed her with them and she started walking and eating again. Then I made her fresh meats and vegetables. She has needed a ton of hands on care around the clock, including constant feeding since then. Nonetheless, she was happy, eating, wagging her tail and running around like a puppy. In fact, we had to slow her down most of the time!

Anyhow, several people have commented that they noticed we have been through a lot lately. I don’t want to be negative, but it has been unbelievable! The past few years alone, we have had constant crisis after death after crisis after death. 7 deaths, Mom and sister with cancer, 3 more family members really struggling and major crisis situations, in addition to my broken ankle (which a year later is still not totally healed), as well as recent flu, bronchial pneumonia and current torn ribs.

And now, my baby Snickers is gone. I am thankful for the time we had! But Mommy misses you SOOO much! Goodbye for now, my sweet little monkey! Thank you for bringing love and laughter into my life!

 Mommy






Filed Under: Grief and Tribulations, Living My Life, Safari Sherri's Animal World Tagged With: alert dog, animals, chronic illness and pain, death, dog, furbaby, grief, loss, personal story, pets, service dog, Snickers, therapy dog

We Finally Have a Christmas Tree!

December 5, 2016 By Sherri

christmas-tree-collage-2I am SO EXCITED about our new tree!!! Wayne surprised me and set it up yesterday!

We have only had two trees in 22 years of marriage. The first we had at our old house in the sun-room. The next we had here in the living room.

I have never really liked fake trees, but fresh are always so much work to get, decorate and keep watered. What’s worse, I had a bad reaction to the chemicals on the last one. Yes, chemicals on a fresh tree! We got it at a big box store and would not be surprised if it were sprayed with pesticides and probably even pine scented chemicals!

It’s true! Some places are spraying trees and flowers with scents these days. Our world is so inundated with strong, neuro-toxic chemical fragrances that people are losing their sense of smell, which leads to adding more toxic scents to everything from cleaning products to laundry to soaps, lotions, shampoos and deodorants. You don’t EVEN want me to elaborate on that! … But if you do, go to my blog.

Anyway … back to my story. We had been looking for several years, but I wanted something different than the average wide tree with lights and a green, plastic trunk. I wanted pine cones and berries! We walked into Hobby Lobby two years ago after Christmas and there it was! Wayne went to get an employee to help find the box, because there was only one left. So, I stood there and waited.

Another customer came up behind me and started to grab the tree! I turned to him and said, “Oh I am so sorry, but my husband and I are buying this tree. He just went to get the box.” He was quite upset, but thankfully he didn’t want to fight about it. The employee who helped us get the box, made a call and found the other customer another store where he could get the tree. So, it all worked out. But boy was that close!

Happy ending? Almost there. Hang on! Since fake trees are made of plastics, paints and glues, we really had no idea if I would even be able to have it in the house. What we did know, was that we would have to out-gas it for at least a year before we even tried. So, Wayne put it downstairs and didn’t bring it back up for almost two years.

After all of that, I am elated to say that he was able to set it up in our living room without any problems! Wahoo!

Long story short, when you live with debilitating illness and have to think twice about everything you buy, bring into the house, put on your body, wear or eat … the small things like finally having a Christmas Tree is an extra special blessing!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Filed Under: Counting My Blessings, Living My Life Tagged With: awareness, chemicals, Christmas, Christmas tree, chronic illness and pain, counting my blessings, environmental illness, fake tree, fragrance-free, fragrances, personal story, pesticides, pine tree, real tree, scents, toxic chemicals

Celebrating Another Year with Snickers!

November 20, 2015 By Sherri

Sherri and Snickers Portrait 1 Copyright

Today, we celebrate another year with our baby doggie, Snickers!

One year ago today, she wouldn’t eat, was shaking and her heart rate was 200. We took her to the ER and they ran lots of tests. She saw a cardiologist and a general practice vet.

They found she has serious heart failure and said she would not live without a pacemaker. However, she probably would not live through the surgery and it would not resolve the grandmal seizures she had been having, because they believed she had a head injury from a fall off the couch and/or a brain tumor. The blood tests showed, 95% chance she had cancer. We could have done an MRI, but with her heart and the necessary sedatives, they said she probably would not survive it.

They said she would not recover and suggested we say goodbye. I was not ready to let her go until I had tried everything possible. I was not going to let her continue to starve, but I was going to take her home and do everything possible to see if I could get her to eat. I even took a syringe and put liquefied vitamins and enzymes in it. Even if I were to get her to eat, if her quality of life did not improve (I had to carry her, help her stand and potty), then we would do the right thing.

But much to our amazement, she started eating and walking again! We took it one day at a time and here we are one year later!

Read the Full Story! See More Photos and Videos!

JULY 30, 2016 UPDATE:

Snickers made it to her 15th birthday! Nobody can believe it. AMAZING!!!


Have you subscribed to my blog yet? Are you following me on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest? What are you waiting for?

Simply go to the top right side-bar to follow me!

♡ Sherri


Celebrating Another Year with Snickers

Click on the above image to enlarge.




Filed Under: Counting My Blessings, Living My Life, Safari Sherri's Animal World Tagged With: animals, counting my blessings, dog, just for fun, personal story, Snickers

A Beautiful Tribute to Wayne’s Dad

October 11, 2015 By Sherri

Wayne at Russ Memorial 2

We had a BEAUTIFUL Celebration of Life Service for Wayne’s Dad, Russ Connell, yesterday!

4 of his 5 children spoke about the things they most remember about their dad’s life and what impacted their lives. I am so proud of Wayne’s tribute to Russ. It was loving, with lots of laughter!

We also had a really fun and emotional video of his life, what he loved and his family. And what a treat it was to have the Connell nephews get up and sing in a quartet! They were incredible! Can’t wait to share that too!

I want to say THANK YOU to all of the amazing people who attended in support of Wayne and me! A special thanks goes out to several friends of Wayne’s and IDA Board Members who were there. We can’t begin to express how much your presence meant to us!

I would also like to thank a few of my special friends who were there when I didn’t even ask them to be! Thank you, Ali, Ann, JOdy and Nancy!! I love you all SO much!!!

Filed Under: Grief and Tribulations, Living My Life Tagged With: death, father, grief, in memory, russ connell, video, wayne connell

Spring is Finally Here! My Favorite Time of Year!

March 20, 2015 By Sherri

AStay Warm www.SherriConnellSpring Forward 2015 - PumpkinAndCookie.comll Winter long, I count down the days until Daylight Savings Time starts again!

I NEED the sunlight! When we turn our clocks forward, I literally come out of a dark tunnel!

Time for sunshine on the patio, BBQ’s and more time outside!

Then, next thing I know, Spring is finally here, so I can do my Spring cartwheels and come ALIVE!

I'm So Excited Spring is Here www.SherriConnell

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Counting My Blessings, Humor and Fun, Living My Life Tagged With: anti-depressant, bitstrips, counting my blessings, just for fun, spring, sunshine

Cookie Got Pet of the Day!

March 18, 2015 By Sherri

Cookies and Cream is Pet of the Day sm

LOOK at ME!!! I am the “Pet of the DAY!” Wahoo!

I wanna tell the world how amazing goats are and help other goats find loving goats like we have!!

Check out the Pet of the Day page, leave comments about me, tweet it and more!

Check out Pet of the Day on Facebook!

LUV, Cookie

 








Filed Under: Counting My Blessings, Humor and Fun, Living My Life, Safari Sherri's Animal World Tagged With: animals, cookie, counting my blessings, goats, just for fun, pet of the day, pets, the adventures of pumpkin and cookie

Updates on ME! From Snickers

February 20, 2015 By Sherri

My Snickers Update 2015Story on November 20, 2014:

On November 20th I was in the ER. The internist and cardiologist said I wouldn’t live without a pacemaker, but I couldn’t get one, because I wouldn’t survive the surgery. They said my heart condition is not treatable with medications or supplements. They also said I either had a brain tumor or injury (from falling off the couch a couple of years ago) and they were 95% sure I had cancer. My personal vet and Pumpkin and Cookie’s vet agreed with the findings and prognosis.

I hadn’t eaten for days, couldn’t stand or walk and was having seizures and passing out from my heart rate being 200!! They said I wasn’t going to make it. Mommy decided to take me home and let me say goodbye to Grammy and she wanted to be totally sure she couldn’t make me better enough to at least have a few more days or weeks (she knows a lot about supplements and diets).

When I made it a few more days, my vet was amazed! When I made it 2 weeks, he said he was totally shocked! Well, here I am exactly 3 months later!

It hasn’t been easy. Most of the time, I want to eat, but nothing sounds good. So, Mommy has to give me all kinds of different foods about five times a day to try to get me to eat. If I don’t want it, she has to put it all back and try again later. I am also very restless with my heart rate all over the place. I want up, then down then eat, no don’t eat. I’m fragile. I can easily become stressed, start shaking, my blood sugar goes down then I either pass out or start having a string of seizures for several days or a week.

Just trying to cut my hair throws me into a tizzy, so Mommy has had to do just a bit at a time. In the picture on the bottom right of the above collage, you can see Mommy finally got the bulk of my coat cut then a week later, did my face (first picture)! Sadly, she says, my tail is full of knots she can’t get out, so she’s going to have to cut the hair off my beautiful flowing tail.

However, as bad as it sounds, for the most part, I am still eating something every day, gained some weight back and wag my tail a lot. So, we are still living day to day and thanking God for every day we still have each other!

Thank you all for your prayers!

♡ Snickers

MORE UPDATES On Snickers:

Happy Birthday Party Hats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014 UPDATES:

JULY 30 UPDATE: 

I MADE IT TO MY BIRTHDAY!!

Last November, I was only supposed to live a few days, but I am here and I made it to my 14th birthday! I am still having lots of problems, so we are being thankful for every day I have! Wahoo! ♡ Snickers

JULY 8 UPDATE: I’ve had 3 seizures in 4 days! Mommy’s worried to leave my side. But I am still eating. I know it is a big pain to feed me, cuz I have to eat every two hours or my blood sugar drops. Yet, Mommy usually has to try 8 different foods to get me to eat. And I am still wagging my tail and happy! So, I keep fighting until my day comes. ♡ Snickers

JUNE 7 UPDATE: Rough day! We have had company, which is awesome! But I get so upset with another dog here (several years ago a friend’s dog bit me in the face). I had another heart episode (hacking and wheezing to get it to beat). Then I had a seizure. Later, I had a panic attack and another seizure. Mommy had hard time getting me to stop shaking, but I was able to eat a few bites and am going to nap. ♡ Snickers

APRIL 22 UPDATE: I GAVE MOMMY A BAD SCARE this morning! I had a seizure then died! This happened a year ago. I have been blacking out and having seizures for 2 years, but this the second time my heart stopped and I quit breathing.

Mommy did CPR again and again and again. I wasn’t coming back, so she flipped me over and pounded on my heart then did CPR again and again. I was a rag doll with my mouth open and tongue hanging out. No life signs. She thought I wasn’t coming back, but she wasn’t giving up.

Finally, there was a short, small breath, so Mommy massaged my lungs and did some more compressions … AND I CAME BACK!

Thinking back, Mommy realizes I have been having more shaking and high heart rate episodes the past couple of weeks. And as usual, she has to work really heart to get me to eat 6 times a day or my blood sugar drops and I pass out and heart could stop or I could go into a coma.

But I have been happy in between, wagging my tail and loving life, so she wasn’t about to let go of me!

Thank you, Lord, for another day with Mommy and Daddy!! ♡ Snickers

APRIL 3 UPDATE: In case you all were wondering … I have a whole ‘nuther month under my belt! That makes 4 months of living, when they said I had only a few days! Mommy is really working hard 6 times a day to get me to eat. I am not picky, I just have a hard time finding something that sounds good these days. But because once I get my appetite or my blood sugar drops, I scarf up my food and because one of my foods has rice in it, I have gained all my weight back! Wahoo! ♡ Snickers

March 20 UPDATE: In case you all were wondering … I have a whole ‘nuther month under my belt! That makes 4 months of living, when they said I had only a few days! Mommy is really working hard 6 times a day to get me to eat. I am not picky, I just have a hard time finding something that sounds good these days. But because once I get my appetite or my blood sugar drops, I scarf up my food and because one of my foods has rice in it, I have gained all my weight back! Wahoo! ♡ Snickers

MORE VIDEOS AND PHOTOS Of Snickers!

Snickers Strikes Again

Snickers the Mighty Alert Dog

Beware of the Celery Monster

Drive-In Dinner with the Doggie

Guilty As Charged

What Does Snickers Want?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2015

A Very Thankful Thanksgiving 2014

There’s Someone Who Cares

We Have a New Breed of Dog! A Sheep Tzu!

Christmas Blessing and Happy New Year 2014




Filed Under: Counting My Blessings, Grief and Tribulations, Living My Life, Safari Sherri's Animal World Tagged With: animals, counting my blessings, just for fun, personal story, pets, Snickers

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

December 25, 2014 By Sherri

 

2014 Pumpkin N Cookie Christmas www.PumpkinAndCookie.comWe Wish You All A Happy and Adventurous New Year!

~LUV, Wayne, Sherri, Snickers,Pumpkin and Cookie






The Adventures of Pumpkin and Cookie 

www.PumpkinAndCookie.com
www.Facebook.com/PumpkinAndCookie
www.Twitter.com/PumpkinNCookie
https://plus.Google.com/+PumpkinAndCookie

© Photo Copyright The Adventures of Pumpkin and Cookie: www.PumpkinAndCookie.com. Created by: Sherri Connell www.SherriConnell.com

Filed Under: Humor and Fun, Living My Life Tagged With: animals, Christmas, cookie, counting my blessings, goats, nativity, new year 2015, nigerian dwarf, pumpkin, the adventures of pumpkin and cookie

A Very Thankful Thanksgiving

November 30, 2014 By Sherri

Thanksgiving with Family www.SherriConnell

We are so thankful to have spent the day with Wayne’s family! We had brunch with his dad, Russ and (step) mom, Eloise brother Wes and family and his (step) brother, Mark! Then we had dinner with his sister, Susan, 2 brothers, Daddy Comes Home www.SherriConnellWes and Rusty, spouses, nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews. The house was full of laughter and children running everywhere!

We missed Wayne’s brother Shawn and his family, because Shawn had to work. And we missed Wayne’s mom, Karen, who went to be with the Lord in September.

I am thankful to be in a house with lots of family again. There were many years, I could not be due to all the chemicals in fragrances. I believe people are no longer using strong fabric softeners and I have also been turning the clock back on these intolerances to chemicals.

Sherri is Thankful for Snickers www.SherriConnellI am not totally there yet, but making progress! And, of course, I still have Progressive Multiple Sclerosis, Late-Chronic Lyme Disease and Traumatic Brain Injury. Nevertheless, I am SO grateful to be able to be around family again! Praise God!

We are also so thankful to still have Snickers with us, though she wasn’t supposed to make it past November 22nd. Snickers needs a pacemaker, but she wouldn’t survive the surgery. She has a fatal heart condition that is not treatable by medications. She also has seizures from either a brain injury or a tumor and probable cancer. She wasn’t supposed to make it to Thanksgiving. So, we are thankful she did!

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Counting My Blessings, Living My Life Tagged With: awareness, bitstrips, chemicals, chronic illness and pain, counting my blessings, dog, environmental illness, fragrance-free, fragrances, friends and family, multiple chemical sensitivities, personal story, pet, relationships, shih tzu, Snickers

We Almost Lost Snickers

November 28, 2014 By Sherri

November 22, 2014 from Snickers: I’m still here!! For almost 4 days I couldn’t stand, hold up my head, potty or eat. My heart rate was 200, kept having seizures and blacking out! I have a history of heart problems and seizures.

Went to ER, Cardiologist and Internist. Mommy talked to 2 other vets. They agreed there is no long term treatment due heart failure, kidney failure, probable brain tumor or injury (I fell off the back of the couch twice and off our tall bed a month ago) and cancer. They all said I wouldn’t get better. So Mommy and Daddy brought me home for a few days to say goodbye.

Snickers and SherriSurprise! I thought I would shock everyone, start walking, eating and pottying! I don’t know how long I have (it may be a few days, weeks or months). I still have heart that cant be helped with medication, brain tumor or injury, an abcess and most likely cancer. But Mommy is really good with nutrition and supplements and made up some concoctions she’s been giving me.

Every day is a gift! So, Ill just keep fighting as long as I can. I’m tough like Mommy! Anyhow, i wanted to thank you all for your prayers!

♡ Snickers

PS) Don’t look at my bed head hair!

SnickersNovember 20, 2014: Had to take Snickers to ER today. She can’t stand or eat. She is in heart failure, cancer and probable brain tumor. Brought her home to say goodbye to my Mom. 3 animals and 2 people in the past few months! I am devastated! She’s my baby!

 

Filed Under: Grief and Tribulations, Living My Life, Safari Sherri's Animal World Tagged With: animals, counting my blessings, personal story, pets, Snickers

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About Me

About Me

I am a singer, dancer, actress, model. ... Oh wait! That was my life BEFORE Lyme Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Traumatic Brain Injury and Chemical Injury. Join me on my pursuit to find joy in the midst of loss and pain! The one thing I certainly still have in this life is my humor! I hope you enjoy my blog full of information about living with disabling illness, pain and loss, as well as counting my blessings and just being plain silly!

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A Tick Bite Changed My Life Forever
Marriage with Chronic Illness
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Living with Late-Chronic Lyme Disease
What to Say, What Not to Say and How to Help

Tick Bite Changed My Life

Living with Debilitating Illness and Pain

We Can All Make a Difference

Friendship Over Fragrances

MCS with Pluto and Minnie

MCS Can Be Lonely

Snickers the Amazing Alert Dog

Show Someone You Love Them

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The Adventures of Pumpkin and Cookie
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Where Is God Ministries

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