Vietnam & Cambodia

Several months ago Stephen, Liz, Cesario and I had talked about a trip together to Vietnam and Cambodia. Luckily Val had left me the card for the travel agent they used in Vietnam. I emailed him and put our trip together. We utilized cheapoair for our flights and our trip was planned. We went for 10 days and 9 nights and I will have to say it was an experience of a lifetime.

Our tour began in Saigon. We did several days there and experienced the cuchi tunnels, Mekong Delta and several other places.



After several days we flew to Hanoi. It was a little nicer in this area. We went to the Hanoi Hilton and got to do an overnight on a junk boat in Halong Bay. The junk boat trip was so peaceful and much needed.

Our tour ended in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We met up with an good friend and spent the last several days there as well as celebrating Thanksgiving. The highlight here was our friend and touring Angkor Wat.

Overall it was a fantastic trip. The Lee's were super fun to travel with. Hopefully this is one of many trips we will go on with them.

RIP Target

Florence, Arizona - Her name was Target and she was a hero. The dog, featured on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", was hailed a hero after saving her owner and other soldiers from a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.

Today, she was accidentally killed by a staff member at the Pinal County Animal Care and Control in Arizona. Target had gone missing from her owner, Sgt. Terry Young's, yard on Thursday.

Target was picked up by an animal control officer on Friday. Young located his missing dog on the shelter's website Friday night. Tragically, he assumed that the shelter was closed through the weekend - he didn't realize that the shelter operated on limited hours on Saturday.

Young went to the shelter to pick up his dog on Monday. The staff brought out a dog, but it was not his dog - it was not Target. After an hour of waiting, a tearful shelter staff member delivered the heart-breaking news. The wrong dog had been killed - a horrible mistake had been made.

A dog that had survived the war-torn streets of Afghanistan - a dog that had survived a suicide bomber and saved soldiers from certain death - has died. An innocent victim of a horrible, tragic mistake. Currently, the responsible employee is on paid administrative leave.

According to the shelter, changes are going to be made to ensure that this type of fatal error is not made again.

This entire story is tragic and heart-breaking. Sadly, Target should have never died, but some dog - rather a stray or surrendered, was slated to die today at this shelter. A dog was spared when Target's life was taken.

In a strange and ironic way, Target is once again a hero-her life taken in error, while another dog was mistakenly spared. One can only pray that the dog that was spared finds his or her way to a home so that the fatal error - the taking of Target's life - was not in vain.

Maggie Mae

After numerous trips to the vet since September 7, Maggie finally got a diagnosis. We had been taking Maggie to Noah Animal Hospital but we felt information was getting lost in translation. Dr. Jahana would prescribe medication but could never explain why. We decided it was time to make an appointment on base. We saw Dr. Ono a few weeks ago and she scheduled a follow up for yesterday. She wanted to observe Maggie's heart. Dr. Ono gave Maggie a mild sedative and performed an ultra sound on her heart. Maggie was diagnosed with mitral valve regurgitation.

Mitral valve regurgitation is a form of heart disease. When the valve between the two left chambers of the heart (the “mitral” valve, between the left atrium and left ventricle) fails to form a tight seal, the blood pumped from the atrium into the ventricle tends to be “regurgitated” back into the atrium.

The heart muscle is a pump that moves blood through the four chambers with involuntary contractions that promote the one-directional flow of the blood. The valves between the chambers prevent the back flow of blood into the preceding chamber, thus keeping the blood flowing in the direction it should.

When the valves degenerate over time they become thickened and deformed, thereby losing the tight seal and causing some blood to move backwards in the heart. This means the heart has to work harder to pump the volume of blood the body needs for normal functions.

Maggie is currently on two medications to to help her with blood flow and they seem to be helping as her cough has subsided. We will continue to monitor her and hope for the best!