Archive for September 2008
Politics Schmolitics and the Usual Random Thoughts
September 13, 2008 | 
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Mars Pet Food Recall – Pedigree
Source: http://www.petcare.mars.com/
Franklin, Tennessee (September 12, 2008)—Today, Mars Petcare US announced a voluntary recall of products manufactured at its Everson, Pennsylvania facility. The pet food is being voluntarily recalled because of potential contamination with Salmonella serotype Schwarzengrund. This voluntary recall only affects the United States.
Salmonella can cause serious infections in dogs and cats, and, if there is cross contamination caused by handling of the pet food, in people as well, especially children, the aged, and people with compromised immune systems. Healthy people potentially infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. On rare occasions, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.
Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Animals can be carriers with no visible symptoms and can potentially infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.
The company stopped production at the Everson facility on July 29, 2008 when it was alerted of a possible link between dry pet food produced at the plant and two isolated cases of people infected with Salmonella Schwarzengrund.
Even though no direct link between product produced at Everson and human or pet illness has been made, Mars Petcare US is taking precautionary action to protect pets and their owners by announcing a voluntary recall of all products produced at the Everson facility beginning February 18, 2008 until July 29, 2008 when we stopped production.
The company is continuing to work collaboratively with the FDA to determine the nature and source of Salmonella Schwarzengrund at the Everson facility. Since it has not yet identified the source of the Salmonella Schwarzengrund at the Everson facility, Mars Petcare US does not plan to resume production out of a commitment to the safety of our pet owners and their pets, customers, and associates.
The top priority of Mars Petcare US has always been and continues to be the health and welfare of pets and their owners. Consumers can continue to have confidence in the quality and safety of the products produced at other Mars Petcare US facilities. Only those products which were produced at the Everson facility are impacted by the voluntary recall.
Many of the brands involved in the recall are national brands produced at multiple facilities. A chart for all products is below. For example, PEDIGREE® is manufactured in numerous facilities throughout the country, and Everson represents a very small portion of the manufacturing base – 2.7 percent of total PEDIGREE® production.
Mars Petcare US will work with retail customers to ensure that the recalled products are not on store shelves. These products should not be sold or fed to pets. In the event that consumers believe they have purchased products affected by this voluntary recall, they should return the product to the store where they purchased it for a full refund. Specific product details and other information can be found at www.petcare.mars.com
Husband Admitted = Worst Wife EVER???
Yeah, it’s 3:00am EST. and yeah, I just got home from the ER.
This is going to be a bitch-about-my-husband type blog that I just need to get out so I will feel better about it all. So…if you’re sensitive to these types of things, please don’t read on. If not…here goes.
Today was my nephew’s 11th birthday and I’m sitting at dinner and get a phone call from the hubbs. He tells me he passed out, hit his head and was on the bottom of the shower when he came to. He goes on to tell me that he was not dizzy (rules out vertigo) and that he just put his hands up over his head, passed out and came to on his ass. I was like…wtf???
I tell him ok, I’ll check back with you…called a friend who also has APS to have her call him and see how he’s “really” doing…and then proceeded to eat. Then I get a text that says “I am scared”. Ok…so he passed out, hit his head, and is scared. I decide to cut the night short and go home after my nephew opens his gifts.
When I get home, he has already printed (and updated, mind you) his illness/surgery/medication list…so basically, he KNOWS he’s going to the ER. I walk in…oooh and the jackass didn’t feed the animals…but that is another blog…and tell him we’re going and if he wants to eat before we do then here’s his dinner (I brought him dinner home)
So he eats dinner, changes and we’re off.
We pulled into the ER and the more I think about it I’m like…it’s stupid we go in, it happened too many hours ago, he feels fine and so we kind of turn around…but keep driving in this big circle around the hospital campus…we were talking and basically we talked ourselves back into going in because there could really be something wrong…he passed out, wasn’t dizzy and his his head while on blood thinners…none of these are good. So better to be safe than sorry, right.
Well when 2 ambulances passed us going in and I had to park in the spill over ER lot…AND there was a helicopter landing at the hospital as I walked in…and omg for the first time EVER there was a LINE at the desk…I knew we were in for a long night.
We were sent straight back to triage and got a nurse who knew us, so she kind of pushed us through a bit. He had an EKG done and then we went in to see a doctor. We spoke to the doctor and she ordered a chest x-ray, CT scan of his head and blood work and he needed to be hooked up to a heart monitor…and then the doctor comes back and says that everything looks ok, but they don’t know what is going on and want to admit him overnight for observation and do a chest CT with contrast.
There’s where I become the worst wife in the world. Before we left Todd’s words to me were, “I do not want to be admitted”. But with everything he has going on, it’s ALWAYS a possibility.
So then I’m basically being BLAMED for him being admitted. Like I fucking gave him APS and all of his other issues…no todd, blame your genes or your parents’ genes hun, not me. I just married you. I didn’t birth you.
He all but said, “It’s your fault”…he might as well said that. He was so mad and his vitals and heart monitor were going nuts. Nice.
I know he’s pissed and doesn’t want to be there overnight and if I didn’t have to get home to give Topaz his meds, I’d still be up there, but if the doctors think he needs to stay for observation, then why question that? Don’t THEY know better than us…well, in theory anyways.
So, there in the ER room I was made to feel like I’m the worst wife in the world. How dare I bring my husband in…Like I wanted him to be admitted and PLANNED it.
Hell, if I could do that, wouldn’t I have planned for a husband who wasn’t sick…
Ugh…I am married to the most stubbornest man alive!!!!
And tomorrow I have to (hopefully, God willing) pick this crab up from the hospital and go through the mess again.
Someone hold me.
Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho…It’s back to the ER we go!
Well…we’re heading to the ER in a few minutes. Just giving the hubbs a few minutes to eat something, since they won’t feed him there.
Seems he slipped in the shower earlier and hit his head. And well…blood thinners + hitting head = trip to ER.
He also said he “Passed out”…which is different and he doesn’t claim to be dizzy.
He’s also been just exhausted lately and that worries me a bit.
Praying folks, please say one for us. It’s going to be a LONG night!
An Awesome Scrappy Giveaway!
If you’re a digiscrapper, I’m sure you’ve heard of Flergs from Studio Flergs and her Flergalicious blog. Well, she’s one of my absolute favorite artists and she has a brand new kit “Dusk till Dawn” that has GORGEOUS color…PERFECT for fall layouts! She also has AWESOME glitters to match! I actually bought this kit and one of the glitters last week and plan to make a scrappy page with it this weekend…which I will post here once it’s done…oooh and it’s actually my desktop right now. I can show ya that!
Anyways, on to the giveaway info…Growing in Grace Magazine is giving away 2 super add on mini kits to the Dusk till Dawn kit. If you’d like to enter, you need to follow this link to Growing in Grace Magazine and read on how to enter!
Also, be sure to check out Flergs at Scrapbook Graphics.com…she has many awesome scrappy kits and items in her store, Studio Flergs.
My Sister’s Bridal Shower is Tomorrow!
Wishing you and your prince nothing but the best and “Happily Ever After”.
I have to print the “Frog Prince” story on paper for the favors. We maybe have taken this theme a bit too far! LOL Well, our motto is “Everything in Excess”. I need to make a word art that says that! LOL Only people in my family will get it, but that’s ok.
Ok…enough froggy things already!
Yesterday the hubbs and I went to Costco to order my sister’s cake (ok, I lied…one last froggy thing) and then we went to Target and BK for dinner. We were gone maybe 2 hours. We came home to the BIGGEST mess!!! That damn dog got into the trash AGAIN!!! UGH! We need a better solution! I’m about to get a metal can that he cannot tip over…even with this one we have that has a LOCK, he’s still managing to get into it. He’s a stinker.
So we had a bit of cleaning to do prior to eating…prior to doing anything really.
The cutest thing happened in the midst of the mess. I see Razzle is ALL in one of the bags…well we picked up these “catnip sticks” at Target in the Halloween pet section and he had pulled them out of the bag and was playing with them! kicking it with his feet and biting at the packaging. It was so funny. There are 4 little sticks in the package and they have little skeletons on them. Below are a few pictures of Razzle and Malcolm playing with them today.
Please Pray For My Cousin!
My cousin is really sick right now. She has familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) which is a hereditary disease she got from her father. Her intestines are full of polyps, she’s had her colon removed, she has a tumor that they cannot remove or even shrink and I just found out that she’s back in the hospital for sepsis.
Here’s a blurb on FAP from the NIH:
Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is an inherited disorder characterized by cancer of the large intestine (colon) and rectum. People with the classic type of familial adenomatous polyposis may begin to develop multiple noncancerous (benign) growths (polyps) in the colon as early as their teenage years. Unless the colon is removed, these polyps will become malignant (cancerous). The average age at which an individual develops colon cancer in classic familial adenomatous polyposis is 39 years. Some people have a variant of the disorder, called attenuated familial adenomatous polyposis, in which polyp growth is delayed. The average age of colorectal cancer onset for attenuated familial adenomatous polyposis is 55 years.
In people with classic familial adenomatous polyposis, the number of polyps increases with age, and hundreds to thousands of polyps can develop in the colon. Also of particular significance are noncancerous growths called desmoid tumors. These fibrous tumors usually occur in the tissue covering the intestines and may be provoked by surgery to remove the colon. Desmoid tumors tend to recur after they are surgically removed. In both classic familial adenomatous polyposis and its attenuated variant, benign and malignant tumors are sometimes found in other places in the body, including the duodenum (a section of the small intestine), stomach, bones, skin, and other tissues. People who have colon polyps as well as growths outside the colon are sometimes described as having Gardner syndrome.
She’s my age and I’m worried about her. Her father and a half brother have died from this and she has another half brother and sister who have it. She’s had numerous operations.
I hope she can pull through this, but I’m afraid she won’t. She has a son and she’s the sweetest person. She’s been through so much.
Praying folks…please keep my cousin in your thoughts and prayers. She could really use them right now!
Thanks!
If No One Is Home To Listen Will A Man Still Yell At The TV?
Kind of like…if no one’s in the woods to hear, does a falling tree make a noise?
My husband was watching the news…yes, the NEWS and was screaming at the television like it was sports or something. I understand why though. Detroit’s mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, has been in a lot of trouble. Lots of scandals…a party and a dead stripper at the Manoogian Mansion (I LOVE that word!)…text message scandals…cheating on his wife…assaulting an officer…the list goes on and on and on. He went to jail at one point and had a tether on for the most part of the last month and has had numerous court dates! Personally, I’m tired of it all…but the hubbs…oh he LOVES it! He’s all in and gets really riled up. It’s funny to see.
So I was just curious if men also yell at the tv when no one is home to listen to them…I almost think he yells for my benefit. LOL
I finished Amazing Grace today at work and my supervisor surprised me with by loading her old ipod with a ton of books!! So, now I’m listening to Sisters by Danielle Steele. With all of those books at my fingertips, I didn’t know which one to start with!!! lol I almost needed someone to tell me which is good and what to listen to. I started a couple others before settling on Sisters. I spent way too much time sitting there flipping through the books. I wish I could read a little synopsis or else look them up on Amazon before hand to see what they’re about. The title tells me very little. I still need to finish Dark Destiny which is on my iPod….oooh and the new Carpatheian book comes out today! I almost forgot…
Labor Day ~ Looking for a new dish wand brush thingie!
I’m finally trying to get the dishes done. Every time I’ve went to do them, I’ve done a load and that’s all…so then they continue to pile up. Well I have one load in and when it’s done, I’m going in for the next load. I would like to finish them if possible! They need to be done.
I’m having a problem with my dish wands though. Right now I have two that are like the one below on the left. One is a Scotch Brite one and the other is from Target I believe and may be an o-cel-o one or else it’s Target’s brand. They both leak soap. Now that I’m looking…they’re both made by 3M.
