Now here's an interesting twist

So, I did not give this any airtime around the holidays(at least I think I didn't mention it, my memory is so bad) but our sister-in-law, who we cut out of our life last year after she did the most despicable thing to us, sent us a letter before Christmas. In it, she blamed me for what she did last Christmas. Said that that "wasn't her" and that I "bring out the worst in her." Hmmm, so that wasn't her that said that? WHO was it? We ALL heard the words come out of HER mouth. And considering the amount of people that she treats so badly, do we all just bring out the worst in her and she is not responsible for any of the vicious things that she says to all of us? It's all OUR fault? And what exactly did I do wrong? I bought my husband the first new vehicle he has ever owned in his life and she was jealous that I could do that and so her envy and reaction is MY fault? So, in the letter, she continues to deny responsibility, tells me that I go to church and quotes a bible passage about forgiveness(by the way, a concept she knows nothing about and mind you, she was actually alluding to the idea that SHE was not the only one that needed forgiving) Then she tells me that I should think very hard about our decision and how it affects the family. She then claimed that she is a good person and so apparently this letter was some kind of olive branch she was offering despite the fact that all she really did was try to blame her behavior and the fallout on me. Tim read the letter and was furious. Oh yeah and she also said she did not owe us an apology and that I did not have to apologize to her. WE should just put this behind us and pretend it didn't happen. REALLY?!!! She took something from us that day and it cannot be gotten back. We don't get a do-over. Just FYI, the day after that Christmas, she called Tim's mom and sister trying to save face as she knew she had really screwed up and made herself look bad but felt that we were not worthy of an apology. She already knew what Tim and I thought about her so she figured she'd just try to stay in the good graces of the rest of the family. So, I responded to this letter with a letter of my own. Gave her a fairly generous serving of reality and told her not to contact us again. Reminded her of the very negative things she has caused this whole family and told her that maybe she was the one who had to think "long and hard" about her decisions and behavior and how they have affected all of us. I found out just before this last Christmas that when Tim's father heard, the previous year, what she said to me about the truck I bought Tim for Christmas '09,(he'd been in the other room so didn't witness it) he was so furious that he was going to confront her. Tim's mother stopped him. Told him he would cause them never to see those grandkids again if Tim's brother threw a tantrum over him confronting his wife.(By the way, this would never happen. People like that don't bite the hands that feed them. There is an inheritance to consider and they've been banking on that for decades, how sick is that?) Now, Tim and I don't need anyone to fight our battles but we did what we did because this woman brings nothing but negativity and poison into our lives. The fact that everyone has let her get away with bad behavior for so long is exactly why she felt she could do something this awful to us and get away with it. We have a right to stand up for ourselves and if this family is upset by this rift, maybe they should think about how accepting her behavior all this time has led to it getting to this point. And if they don't want to admit that, or do anything about it, that's fine, but don't blame us for defending ouselves then. At this point, it is not about forgiveness, we just don't want the added stress and ugliness that she brings to the table. Despite trying very hard to impress people, she has shown her true colors so many times over the years that she is barely tolerated by those who feel they have to but not liked and in almost 46 years, and believe me, I have seen some nasty things in those years, I have NEVER heard or seen anything as despicable as what she did to us that day when you take into account what the circumstances of our lives are. So cut to yesterday. I come home from, ironically, a bullying meeting I ran to try to help kids who are being bullied in our schools, and see an invitation on the kitchen table with a picture of Tim's brother as a young child on the front. I pick it up and read it to find that who we call our ex s-i-l has invited us to Tim's brother's 50th birthday. Tim's first reaction, and without a doubt the real truth is, "Of course, Lee Ann wants to make herself look good and probably doesn't expect us to come and then will hold that up as she invited us and is so perfect and we are the bad ones who didn't come to his brother's 50th." I just laughed. For one thing, like what his family thinks about us at this point really matters? I know it does to Tim but NOT to me. I've got much more important things to worry about. The affair is not being held at their home. Tim feels torn. He is not happy with his brother but Jim is not the one who said it. Granted, he did not even have the decency to call Tim and hasn't since and aside from a "bye" last Christmas, there has not been another word spoken. I said to Tim last night, "how do you accept an invitation and be a guest of someone hosting a party when you are not even speaking to that person?" That sounds ridiculous to me. I'm thinking, send a card and gift and be done with it. I REALLY don't think Lee-Ann ever thought we would accept. I think it was only done so she could hold it up to Tim's parents and tell everyone we refused to attend his brother's party. And that is certainly NOT a reason to go to this party simply to deprive her of that. I'm of the school of thought that if you have nothing better to do with your life than talk about me and tear me down, have a party. I say, "Let's give 'em something to talk about." Bonnie Raitt What to do? For many years, we have had a policy where Tim decides things for his side of the family, I decide things for my side. My first instinct is to tell Tim that I will abide by whatever he decides. It's his brother. Olivia does have a softball game that night and it is going to be hard to miss any games. She is the best pitcher we have and we are sure to be "shelled" if she is not there. BUT we really would feel like idiots attending this party. I know that a part of it is that Tim really doesn't want to be totally removed from his brother or his kids but his brother has done NOTHING to change that and the ball was put in his court last year when he was told he and his kids were welcome in our home and then did not come to Olivia's birthday party. I'm pretty sure my mind is made up. I would hate to make Tim go on his own. It is a little bit of a drive and I do not like the thought of abandoning him to go somewhere and be uncomfortable but I don't want to go. I think it would be wrong to be someone's guest and not utter a word to them. I hate that this stupid invitation even brought all this up again and we had a long converstation about it, reliving what she did to us that Christmas day all over again. OUT-LAWS. UGHHHHHHH!!!!! I spend a lot of time in church struggling with forgiveness and I have spoken to my pastor about this very thing. He told me that he does not feel we have to continue to be around people who cause us such pain in our lives. He sees nothing wrong with a little self-preservation. Well, that's my theory too and I'm sticking to it!

Turning into quite the young lady

Well I am in all new mom territory these days. In the past few weeks, our daughter has gotten contact lenses and is starting to wear make-up. Today, she asked if she can start shaving her legs. OY!!!! What happened to pigtails and bandaids with little animals on them and teaching her how to ride a bike and throw a ball? This week, I will be sitting on the side of the bathtub with her and teaching her how to shave her legs. In one way, it makes you miss the old days. It's all
going so fast. On the other hand, it is so amazing to watch her grow and see her becoming
a little lady. Now that she is not wearing glasses anymore, you can see the beautiful blue color
of her eyes. They are just like Tim's now(they were actually violet blue until she was 2). I sat
across from both of them at a restaurant the other night and just stared on these 2 great sets
of blue eyes and I must say, Liv is pretty good at doing make-up already and her eyes looked so
pretty. Tim can't stand to even hear about some of the changes in her now. The day I told him I bought her her first bra, he got very uncomfortable and said, "I don't want to know this." To him, she's still his little girl and I think he's worried about these teenage years coming. She turns the big 1-3 on May 9th. I guess I am too a little. You know the saying, "small kids, small problems, big kids, big problems." But so far, so good with her. She is a sweet, compassionate, loving kid and I think we'll do OK. On the myeloma front, I guess I should remember to report things about that. Luckily, there is not much to report. Tim has to set up appts. for April. I plan to lay down the law and tell him I will not spend 2 months hounding him anymore. We have to make his appts. for earlier in the day too, so he is going to have to arrange his work schedule around that. I prefer Olivia not know about them so having to arrange a ride home from school foils that. Our docs and staff are just getting used to the new cancer center that was built for them and I'm hearing from folks on chemo infusions that their waits are longer right now instead of shorter so hopefully, these bugs get worked out and our appts. do not take too long. I'm booking a speaker for our next support group who is an attorney who helps people plan their finances especially where long-term care and nursing homes come into play. I met him at a caregiver support group that is held in my town and I learned so many things I never knew.
I want to go on this MM walk in Philly this year. I wanted to go last year but Tim didn't. Then something came up that weekend so we couldn't go anyway. Liv wanted to go too. Our onc. nurse and a bunch of folks from out support group go and I think it would be great. They say it is so uplifting. This year, it is the day before Easter, I think, which is not very convenient.
I also worry that if a representative from the MMRF, who sponsors it, gets up and speaks and says scary things about MM, that may be upsetting for Liv to hear. I have no intention of driving all the way to Philly by myself. We'll see if we make it this year. I'm not holding my breath. I started yoga last week. I can't really say I've been successful at putting myself on a diet but I am trying to get some exercise in. I tried to give up all sweets for Lent but fell off the wagon last weekend. I was really doing OK until PMS hit and I wasn't sure the world could handle me off sweets and hormonal. I tried to give up raising my voice too(not that I do that a lot but I threw that in the Lent basket). Well, I failed there too. Liv plugged her IPOD into the bathroom socket and proceded to blow through pretty much all the hot water taking a super long shower and belting out Justin Bieber tunes and I let her have it(having told her dozens of times she can't be in there that long.) Being so sick of having everything I say go in one ear and out the other with her, I made her put 5 bucks of her own money toward the water bill and told her the next time she did that, it'll cost her 10. Then we went rock climbing on Sunday and Tim started an argument with me in the truck so now I'm officially off the raised voice wagon too.
In reality, there's just no coping with PMS, sugar withdrawals and a husband and kid who never listen to me at the same time so it was bound to fail. I'll have to give up something next year that is much more doable. Like shaving my legs or cooking. ;o)

Support group day

Today was our monthly support group meeting for MM'ers and caregivers. They just finished building our brand new cancer center and we met there for the first time. Wow, the place is big

and confusing but I got there on time(partly because I drove Tim's truck, that thing hauls ass).

I don't know what any of us would do without this group. For an hour and a half(longer today as noone needed the conference room) we boost each other up enough to get us through to the

next month. It's amazing how much you come to care so deeply for people you hardly know

because you walk in their shoes and know each other on a deeper level because of that.

I just love this woman Rudy and sat with her again today. She is the sweetest thing and

even though she is struggling now, everyone gives her hope and she is finding joy in the little

things in life. She said she is not giving up. So brave. We had a speaker today who was diagnosed

24 years ago at 44. She found a wonderful doctor who treated her pretty aggressively even though there were not too many choices back then. She got 8 years remission from tandem auto transplants and then another 2 1/2 from her 3rd after she relapsed. She said to live for today but always plan for tomorrow and to set goals, no matter how small. Statistics said she'd never see her 4 year old grandson grow up. He graduated college awhile back and she has seen another grandchild born who is 15 now. She stressed to try to laugh which I think many of us in the MM world know. She told a story of bringing a business client to the practice tees of a golf course and her wig flew off her head and skipped on down the grass in the breeze looking like a loose Pomeranian while she ran after it. I felt so light after leaving this meeting. Quite frankly, we all just loved on each other and it was so uplifting. These people restore me. The other day, I confronted a woman who moved into a rental down the block and has been letting her dog poop all over everyone's property without picking it up. I caught her(well her dog) in the act so I felt it was time to say something. She went off on me even calling me I guess what would be considered a racial slur.

Her dog even went at my little Lacey. Damn traitor beagle. Well, I gave it to her right back(I've been known to mix it up a bit if invited) but left out swears and certainly anything racial. I came home and told Tim and he was ready to run the woman over with his new truck after hearing what she called me, he was so mad. I couldn't help finding it a bit funny actually but at the same time, I AGAIN thought how I wish I could move to a more rural area and then I go to this support group today and I know we're right where we need to be. We are a tight group of warriors and these are my "peeps" now. Of course the almost 70 degree weather certainly is helping with my mood. Been driving all day with the windows down and the radio blasting. Then again, it's St. Patty's day too so maybe I'm just feeling all those happy vibes off all the drunk, or soon to be drunk people around here. Either way, I'll take it. Today was a very good day. Hope you're wearing your green and feeling a wee bit of Irish luck today. Above pic is my in-laws in their Model A Ford ( I think it's a 29 but don't hold me to it) and Tim and Liv in the rumble seat.

Not a St Patty's day parade but Memorial Day in the GREEN mountain state of VT.

Taking the bully by the horns

A small group of parents and myself have decided to start a task force and are going to try to
make a difference in our school system where bullying is concerned. Sadly, everytime our schools have bullying lectures in the evening, they are very poorly attended despite e-mails
and notices going home to every household, so we don't know how many parents will get involved to help. Bullying is a major problem in our society. The schools are trying but the problem goes on and gets worse. Since last week, I have been obsessed with thinking of what we can do to change this. Our school system has disciplinary policies in place but, DO THEY FOLLOW THEM? And here's the kicker, with the privacy laws of today, if your kid is being bullied and you are demanding the school act to discipline the aggressor, privacy policies prevent them from telling you what they have done or said. SO, the end result is that you don't even know if the parents were called in for meetings or what steps are being taken with the bully. For a principal or teacher who does not want to do their job and take care of the less desirable of their responsibilities, this is the perfect out. Some educators want you to believe that bullying is not worse than years ago, that there is just more attention on the subject, but I disagree. With the technology used to bully and more kids having low self esteem than ever before, I think it's much worse. The president was on TV the other night saying that about 1 in 3 kids are bullied in school. I don't know where they get these statistics but I'll bet it may be more. Kids are developing anxiety issues as well as depression at an alarming rate. Suicides are up. Kids are self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. They develop "cutting" habits and eating disorders. The pressure on these kids today is unbearable for so many. I know we had bullying in the 70's but kids were not walking into school with guns and blowing away their classmates and teachers or throwing themselves off the roof of school in the morning before the first bell.(This happened just a few miles away from here with a boy who was supposed to graduate with our niece.) I can't help but think that part of the problem is a lack of discipline at home. I'm not saying this is always the case but I see WAY TOO MANY kids making the rules in their homes even from toddler age. The parents are not being parents, they're trying to be buddies. The kids have no respect for authority and feel like they can get away with anything. It's like folks have overcompensated for being too harshly disciplined as a child and now they don't want to do anything to hurt their kids' feelings. They feel it's all about raising a child with self esteem, which is great, but it's another thing entirely when you raise your kids to think they are better than others and this is the exact scenerio I have with my neighbor whose kid started bullying Olivia a few years back. Being confident is one thing, feeling entitled and superior is a whole other ball game with much worse results. I think bullies have to be held accountable for their actions and the parents have to be called in and made aware of exactly what their kid is doing and saying. Punishments have to be doled out and continued until the kid stops. Once a child develops an anxiety condition, health problem, or phobia, he or she may take years to recover from it and there are many who never do recover 100%. I know that bullies may be dealing with their own problems and may need help too, but there is a victim in each case whose life is miserable. His/her family is affected and who knows if this child will end their own life over this. We can't treat bullies with "kid" gloves. We've got to get tough with them. If we did not have to be sooooo politically correct, you could solve this issue with one simple tactic. Announce to the school that each week, the student body will vote on who is a bully and that kid's picture will be posted on the bulletin board in the front of school as "BULLY of the week." Nothing like a little embaressment to see results. And before I hear "AWWWW that's cruel", I just spent an hour on the phone today with a women whose son's life has been destroyed by bullies. Not one of them has worried about how much they have humiliated this poor little boy, so I'm thinking they deserve to know a little about how that feels. At one point, a group of boys beat up her son and pushed him down on the ground trying to force him to eat the goose poop on the playground.
She picked him up from school with poop all over him and almost had to bring him to the ER.
AND get this, one of the moms of the kids who got in trouble for this, called her furious that her son was included in the discipline because he didn't touch her son, he just stood there and laughed. UGGGHHHH. Now you see why I have to do something. I have too much on my plate as it is but I can't sit back and listen to this without trying to help.

Bullying

Well, here we go again. Olivia is having a problem in school and I have a feeling I know exactly who is behind it and why. A girl we had to take out of her life at 5 because of physical violence and emotional bullying has been her friend again for a few years. I have always been wary though. This girl is very bossy and manipulative, her mom still has no control over her, and she is charming around adults but then you
hear about the things she does or says to kids when the adults aren't around and I have come to warning Olivia about her. They were our neighbors but the parents are divorcing and she has been living at her grandma's house. I have reached out and tried to support the mom and pick the girl up and include her in activities as they go through this tough time. I think what has happened now is this girl found out that Olivia was becoming very friendly and having play dates with a mutual friend and this girl decided to put the kibash on it. She and another of her bratty co-horts have dragged this friend away from Olivia and little by little, they are involving more and more of Liv's friends in it. Yesterday, ironically on a day that I was going to a bullyng lecture at the high school, Liv came home to tell us that her BEST friend has now turned against her and is being mean. This is a girl who sleeps over our house and we take her all over with Liv to different activities. Liv is so upset. I could not even sleep last night and felt sick to my stomach with worry over this. I am going to see the school counselor today. She was at this lecture last night. I want to get to the bottom of this. Olivia goes to a middle school now that was just formed. They were looking for a motto for the school and put it out to the kids. Olivia's motto was chosen and will now be used for now on for the school. They announced it over the loudspeaker. Olivia was so proud. Once again though, I think this may have caused a problem with girls who need to be the center of attention, just like we have with Olivia's softball pitching, because they wanted their motto to be chosen. Some kids are happy for you.
Some are jealous and your achievements become something that loses you friends. The low self esteem and jealousy among girls is at an all time high. What I heard at this lecture last night basically proved to me that bullying is spiralling out of control and the technology we have today is partly to blame. Bullies are known to be cowards but now their taunts can be done anonymously with texts, e-mails, and false facebook accounts that hide true identities. One woman at this meeting has a son that has been bullied since kindergarten. He is in middle school now I think. They finally took action and the school disciplined the captain of the football team for something he did to this boy and now the boy is being bullied by the WHOLE football team. The state of NJ is required to give every child an education. Bullies will never be expelled because then the school system has to pay for private tutors for that child. School systems are broke so that won't happen. So this law that guarantees everyone an education trumps the bullies' victims' rights to an education in a safe, non-hostile environment. Hello legislative and school board people!!! Kids
are committing suicide for Pete's sake. They are developing anxiety conditions, panic attacks,
health problems and habits like "cutting" or turning to drugs or alcohol to dull the pain. They are developing self esteem problems that follow them their entire lives. When are these bullies, and their parents, going to be held accountable? I'm tired of all this beating around the bush and political correctness. This problem will not be solved unless the schools get tough about it. Call those parents in EVERY time their kid bullies. Insist that they play a role in trying to fix the problem.Take away priveleges. This stuff happens at lunch and on the playground. Have a bully spend those periods in the principal's office. He'll get tired of that eventually. If that doesn't work, suspend the kid from the ball team.
Every kid has their currency. There needs to be some incentive to stop the bad behavior and that doesn't happen until THEY THEMSELVES start paying the price for their actions. Hearing some of these stories last night broke my heart. Hearing that my daughter's best buddy is being so cruel to her was SO disappointing to all of us here. Another girl, who is usually painfully shy, stuck up for my daughter yesterday and I think I am going to call her mom(who I know well) and thank her daughter and let them know how appreciative we are for her standing by Liv.
Now, if i could just get Olivia to find her own voice and stand up for herself. How do you get them to do that when the last thing they want to do is speak out against a "friend." She's too nice!
And unfortuntately, in this day and age, that gets you steam-rolled. Good Lord, it is hard having kids. NOTHING worse in the whole world
than seeing your child suffer. And in our case, I get so upset thinking our kid already has SUCH a difficult life. School and sports are her escape and it's really hard to see that turn south too. I think I'm gonna go drown my sorrows in a bath. 5+ more years of this crap. Splendid!

Dominating at 4 years

On the 8th, it will be 4 years since Tim's dx. 4 years ago today was when I rushed him to the ER with sepsis. I can't stress enough to anyone dealing with MM how careful you have to be with illnesses and any infection. A guy Tim knew from high school just died of sepsis last week and about 6 years before Tim's dx, a friend of his had strep sepsis and wound up in a coma for 2 weeks on a ventilator and the doctors told his wife he would not survive. He did(man I hate when doctors make predictions) but it was a close call. He was literally crashing when he
arrived at the ER and it was a miracle they saved his life at all. His BP was bottoming out and his organs were shutting down. I know of other MM'ers who were dx'ed with MM due to sepsis and wound up in very serious condition also. When the immune system is compromised, the body is not able
to limit an illness or infection. Instead of the white blood cells rushing in to kill down the problem, the bacteria or virus multiplies out of control and overcomes the immune system completely, leading to sepsis. It can be deadly in a matter of hours. When the doctors told me Tim had strep sepsis, all I could think about was what happened to his friend 6 years earlier. Before we even
knew that Tim had MM, I wondered if we caught the sepsis in time and if he could recover from it as his immune system was so weak. Luckily for Tim, the antibiotic they used worked right away and he did not have the strain of strep that causes heart damage in some
people. I sure wish that, like his friend Steve, that was all it was and there was no more bad news to come. So, here we are 4 years out. Grateful for this time yet fearful about the future.
Tim still looks terrific and feels good, though he works too hard and is tired. I think people even forget that he's sick. After this bout of pneumonia at Christmas, I worry a bit more about his immune system but you just have to take things a day at a time and I know now that you can have pneumonia without sounding really bad(I sounded much worse than him at the time) and that any fever that does not resolve in a day or so
needs further investigation. His primary care doctor sent him for an X-ray even though he could not hear noises in his chest and Tim's cough was not bad. I was surprised but he said that a fever that is going on a few days is not good news. It was a good call. He caught the pneumonia before
it was serious. It still really knocked Tim out though. He said he had not felt that weak since his transplant. Our family is just getting over colds now, as it seems everyone is. Tim fought it off fine. We are looking forward to some warm weather around here and I am asking already about where we are going on vacation this year. Life is as normal as it gets, I guess. We're loving our puppy and now that she doesn't pee in the house, Tim has been officially won over and though he

doesn't want to admit it, he's glad we got her, I know. I went upstairs the other day and he was in bed with his arm wrapped around the dog. He doesn't even do that with me! She is so playful and such a love. I think it was a good idea for all concerned. Things are going to start getting very busy. Olivia starts softball soon with us coaching. I joined a yoga class thanks to being inspired by Dianne. I have the dreaded taxes to do, :o/ and lots of dog walking to see if I can start dropping a little of this weight I've gained. Well, it's more like mommy dragging if you could see us. Unbelievable how much a 24 pound mutt can pull. I'm going to attack my spare room and try to get an office set up. Then I'm going to see if I can light a fire under Tim's butt about getting around to finishing our house. If I can't, I'm going to strap on his tool belt and do it myself. Step #1. New back stairs. Happy spring y'all.

Can you stand another installment of "he never listens to me?"

Just this morning, we were talking with our employee about how fast cats and dogs can be.

Many years ago, when Tim and I were early in our dating years, he found this out about my cat. Malcolm was a gorgeous, pure white, long-haired cat who was very laid back and serene in his movements. One would not think he could move fast judging by the slow pace he kept most of the time. But when he had a reason, he moved like lightening. My father never believed in de-clawing cats so Malcolm was fully armed. We had just celebrated a birthday and the cat had been playing with a shirt box on the floor. It was ripped and Tim was on the floor sticking his finger through the hole and tempting the cat. I said, "don't do that. He is going to lay you open."

True to form, he ignored me and said the cat would never catch him. Malcolm waited patiently for the right moment and then Whammo!

Tim pulled his hand back just as Malcolm's claw went into his finger tip and with both pulling in opposite directions, Tim's finger was ripped open. He has always been a "bleeder." Even a small cut always bled pretty good on Tim so this flowed pretty well. My parents came home right after this happened and my father saw the blood on the shirt box, which I had not picked up yet to toss out(too busy bandaging Tim up.) He asked what happened. I said, "Tim thought he was faster than Malcolm."

My father laughed and I'm sure made a funny crack about it. A few years back when Sophie was still alive, Tim was getting her all riled up with a biscuit. He would wave a biscuit around and hide it in his pockets and the dog would get all frothed up searching and sniffing trying to find it.

This one time, he was sitting on a kitchen chair doing this to Sophie, who by the way was 75 pounds of pure muscle and never knew her own strength. Then, as the dog is frantically watching his hands and trying to find it, he slipped it into his mouth(most of it sticking out) and continued to trick her with his hands. I said, "Tim don't do that. You're gonna get hurt." He said, "No I won't." The dog is checking pockets and totally hyper by now and I warn him again, he ignores me. Sophie looks up, sees the biscuit sticking out of his mouth, and Whammo. She shot up at him so fast, he had no time to react. She came away with the biscuit in a millisecond and I look at him and he has dog saliva and blood running from his mouth and actually dripping on the floor. The dog's mouth hit into his so hard and fast that his tooth cut into his lip and he was bleeding. He never tried that hiding place for a biscuit again. Today though, he decides to try this same tactic with Lacey. I said, "are you kidding? You didn't learn the last time?" This time, he

escaped injury. Lacey does not have the same reach and weight behind her though at only 24 pounds, she can still be a "bull in the china shop" at times. She had to get up on her hind legs and reach for it as he bent over and let her take it. Lucky for him because me and my head cold had no intention of getting off the couch to stop the bleeding if this went the other way. It's only a matter of time though. Now that he got away with it, he will use that as one of his hiding spots and that dog will get him sooner or later. He never learns.