How was your week? Mine was...

It's been a busy week for the Jeter family. Last Friday I learned that I passed the Bar exam and had a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. No more studying for me! Congrats to all of those who passed and for those who will have to take it again, I feel for you but you can do it. We went to Panchos to celebrate and we had a party of 23 people. I guess they were all estonished that I passed the first time! Panchos did not do a good job accommodating such a large party and they have slowly declined in my book ever since my boy Eliezer went back to Mexico. Let's hope he decides to come back to Franklin soon.

On Saturday we had our first baby shower and I could not believe how much baby stuff we got from friends and family. After weeks of discussion, Autumn and I let everyone know that we are naming our little man Cooper Knox Jeter. I think about 40 people came out to the house and Chris and I hid upstairs and watched some football. Thanks to Lauren, Leah, Kristen and Jena for putting the shower on and to everyone for the nice gifts. Cooper already has more clothes than I do!

The Vols had a week off after showing the Dawgs who their Daddy was. The staff did some great recruiting and Lane made headlines for taking a chartered helicopter to a game in Georgia. I hope they also worked hard on getting in a good game plan in for Bama because they are beatable.

The highlight on Sunday was getting to go to church for the first time in a while because we were not in Knoxville or on our way to the Titans game. Speaking of the Titans, they failed to show up and embarrassed our city and state by losing to the Patriots 59-0.

Monday began as a great day and quickly went down hill when I got home around 5. I began the day getting my temporary law license from the Board of Law Examiners, registering for my Board of Professional Responsibility number, returning my Barbri books and beginning to get my law office in order. When I got home i went out back and threw a ball for my dog Wyatt and he fell on his back/neck and got up all "crooked." I thought he had broken his neck and I rushed him to the vet. Autumn was in Georgia and we decided that it would be best if she came home to see Wyatt just in case something happened overnight. I really thought we were looking at having to put him down because of a spinal injury. The local vet was about to close so they gave him a steroid injection and advised me to take him to the emergency pet vet so they could take x-rays and keep him overnight for observation. The x-rays did not reveal any structural damage so we had to wait until Tuesday for a brain scan. Autumn got home around 9:30 and we were able to visit him and he was sedated and looked pretty pitiful. We did not sleep much on Monday night without Wyatt at home. It was the first time in 7 years that he did not sleep at our house.

Tuesday was a terrible day because we still did not know what was wrong with Wyatt. We received a call at 10pm and the vet advised that there was no brain damage or tumors present. He told us that the only test left was to take a brain fluid sample to check for infections. That test also did not reveal anything and he said that it was more than likely a vestibular disease that would cure with time.

We decided to take Wyatt home on Wednesday afternoon and have been on round the clock care for him because he still has a bad neck tilt and has trouble balancing himself. He was glad to be home and enjoyed watching the Phillies wrap up the National Leauge Championship Series and looks for the Phils to repeat as World Champs. He is doing much better tonight(Friday) but he still can't straighten out his neck and has trouble keeping his balance. We are hoping for a full recovery in the next few weeks. Thanks to Dr. Birdwell at Beauchamp Animal Hospital, Dr. Lisa Martin at Pet Emergency Treatment Service in Cool Springs and Dr. Murphy at Affiliated Vet Specialists in Cool Springs.

This has been a roller coaster of emotions for us this week. From passing the bar to thinking that we lost our first "kid" Wyatt. We are just glad to have him home and to know that he will be ok. The quote from the end of the movie Marley and Me really hit home this week:

"A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not. As I wrote that farewell column to Marley, I realized it was all right there in front of us, if only we opened our eyes. Sometimes it took a dog with bad breath, worse manners, and pure intentions to help us see."

- John Grogan (Marley & Me: Love and Life with the World's Worst Dog)

I also take a new found appreciation for the following quote from the late Jim Valvano:

“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.”

I guess we have had a few special days this week. A funny thing just happened as I am writing this blog; Wyatt, who is basically unable to get around by himself, just jumped right up in the chair next to me and is resting contently as he watches me type. I guess they were right when they said a dog is man's best friend!

Let's hope the Vols beat Bama tomorrow and finish this week with a high! Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers this week.