heartbroken

We had to say goodbye to our beloved Missy yesterday. Her health was up and down all this year but each time previously, a new prescription or a new dosage or a diet change had seemingly done its work and she would be perky again.  So we weren't very worried when she seemed not quite right a couple of days ago and took her to the vet on Wednesday.  How quickly our world turned upside down.  Less than 24 hours later, we heard the words "cancerous cyst on her adrenal gland", "spread to her kidney and spleen and her body wall", "no hopeful outcome".

She was the gentlest sweetest quietest dog I've ever had. She never made a sound, she only barked two times in the nearly four years since we adopted her and her companion, Shadow.

She brought us so much joy. 

I hope you will consider adopting senior dogs, possibly the best choice I ever made.

happy valentines day!

Hope your Valentine's Day is as sweet as can be!

Ours got off to a crazy start to say the least ... I give Missy her pills in a doggie food meatball and this morning she'd start to take it from me and then let it drop to the kitchen floor over and over again ACK! Hubby opened her mouth and she has a lump by her front bottom teeth. I was so overwhelmed by yet another thing happening, that I got an opthalmic migraine - stress triggers them for me - and had to go lay down in the dark for a half hour.

Hubby made me French Toast for breakfast YIPPIE yum yum yum! But the Vet was able to take us if we could come right away so I didn't get to savor and enjoy my special breakfast very much whineeee. Gulp gulp gulp and away we went ...

Turns out she broke one of her front teeth chewing on something - a piece of the sole of my old slipper had broken off ... I was in my craft room and she was sleeping there and then I hear her spitting something out and see it's a piece of the sole. She never chews on anything and here the poor thing chews on my stupid slipper and breaks a tooth. I kept them (like an idiot) for when I take her out in the morning in the backyard and the grass is so moist from the dew - and I can just toss them in the washer and dryer. WAH. kicking myself all over the place.

The vet says we'll just watch and wait but thinks she'll be fine with us doing nothing, that dogs adapt easily. Fingers crossed please please please. I feel so awful ... such a bad doggy mommy.

Speaking of mommies ... MIL went home yesterday evening. She will be getting a Physical Therapist, hopefully one that will come to her apartment. Her spirits are very good.

And my poor Auntie, who also fell (and broke her nose!!!), was moved from the hospital to a convalescent care facility yesterday for further care and therapy.

Hope your Valentine's Day is off to a less chaotic start than ours and you have a lovely day with all your sweetie pies!

helllooooo

Helloooo from Los Angeles! Gosh, time is flying, isn't it?!! Already mid February, how can that be?! 

Missy had her surgery on Saturday. The Vet ended removing two lumps, one on her shoulder and one on her head, instead of only the one on her shoulder. Other than waking for her meals, she basically slept from Saturday evening when we picked her up, through the entire day Monday. She had a bit of oomph in her yesterday, hoping even more today.

Oh! I just remembered I haven't shown you some of my photos from Modernica Props, where the Charles Phoenix event was held in December ... here's a glimpse of all the fun for you!

Last but not least (huh?!!), Owl macrame!

Happy Humperoonie Day!

missy has a boo boo - edited

Edited to add: Missy had um, intestinal distress all night long and into today, so her appointment has been moved to next weekend instead. Chicken breasts and rice today for our girl. Thank you so much for your care and kind comments!


Missy has a small growth on her shoulder and has to have it removed and biopsied tomorrow WAH! Three weeks ago the Vet thought it was just a sebaceous cyst but then I noticed a week ago it had gotten bigger and he said that it had indeed changed in size and now had become irregular in shape. Please keep good doggie thoughts that it's nothing.

its (sort of) a dogs life

Missy Gracie loves her tummy rubs more than anything! She runs outside and promptly lays down on her back and starts happily wiggly around, asking "please please please, surely it's tummy rub time NOW"?!

She had a trip to the vet yesterday - she had to be knocked out for dental work. WAH! I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to anesthesia for anybody!

Missy has always been a ravenous eater until recently and now she's really really picky.  And worse. To the point of refusing to eat. Unless you give her biscuits. She'll eat those by the bushel. ARGH.  

 

She has terrible allergies and has to take Cyclosporine for them - otherwise she chews on herself to the point of injuring herself. 

If your doggy has allergies you may know about Atopica and Cyclosporine - Atopica being the brand name and Cyclosporine the generic. Atopica costs a Kings Ransom and cyclosporine is about 1/3 or 1/2 the price? They are supposed to be the same and yet, the generic has problems that supposedly Atopica doesn't have.

One of the problems with either is an overgrowth of the animals gums, good googly moogly. And a problem with the generic can be loss of appetite, change in appetite, etc. 

Oh! and also tremendous hair growth ... Missy looks like a clydesdale or a hobbit now, she's got so much hair bwahhahahhahaha ... but then that's what you want in a Golden Retriever. She's Miss Fluffy Feathering now.

On top of her allergy meds possibly being the source of her eating problem, she has Cushings Disease and she was just tested and it was found her current dosage is way too high. WHAT?!

And the vet eyeballed her teeth while she was there for her Cushings test and found that one tooth looked problematic. So yesterday she went to be knocked out so the vet could ascertain what all was going on with her teeth. Turned out the one tooth that he thought was a problem, wasn't. But she had two other teeth that her gums had completely grown over. So she had to have her gums cut back and those two teeth removed ACK! She came home with antibiotics and a much lower dose of her Cushings meds.

So there are three things that could be causing her poor appetite - the wrong Cushings dosage, the Cyclosporine and her teeth and gum problems. Poor baby! 

Makes one feel like a horrible doggy parent and we take her to the vet (she has two vets now since she has a dermatologist too ay yi yi) at least four times a year. sniffle sniffle hanging my head ...


Still sick over here but inching towards better. Was supposed to go to the eye doctor for follow up today but changed it until next Wednesday, wanting more time to feel better for myself and not wanting to give my eye doctor this lousy bug. 

 

Doing a little bit of light puttering around the house since boredom is running HIGH.

Reading "Olive Kitteridge" ... fantastic writing but oh good grief this book is bleak. Don't grab this if you want a feel good book. Holy moly.

Loved binge watching "The Honorable Woman" over the weekend!

And loved Emma "Hermione Granger" Watson's speech at the UN assembly and He For She Campaign. Speech on You Tube here. Full transcript of speech here. No one, no one, should be thought of or treated as less than, ever.

heavenly and potato

On the best names ever front ... Our new next door neighbors have named their rescue puppy, Potato - best doggie name ever in my book. Potato has an older rescued doggie mate named Moose. Thoughts of Potato and Moose make me happy this Monday.

We went out to breakfast yesterday and took our Missy along for her very first visit to a restaurant. She was a bit apprehensive, unsure of what she was supposed to do and all the goings on but finally laid down. The place we ate also makes doggie biscuits for their furry clientele and I do believe I heard Missy say that it was a very good biscuit and she'd like to come again.

While we were driving around my husband was telling me about his new bunch of students. One little girl is named Heavenly, how great is that?! I love that her parents looked upon their precious baby girl and found Heavenly to be the most fitting of names. 

The biggest smiles are sometimes found in the little moments that make up life.

Happy Monday!

miss gracie has a baby

When we adopted George and Gracie from the rescue we were told that Gracie had many litters - that she was a puppy factory. Makes me so sad. Gracie missed out on all the fun in a doggies life - she was busy being a good mommy, over and over.

She's always been quiet and perhaps even more so after losing her lifetime companion, Georgie, last year.

But something's afoot over here. The past few months she's started to come out of her shell and become Miss Personality. She asks for rubby-doo's all the time, she wiggles all over when we wake up or come home to her, she wags her tail like a windshield wiper on high, from side to side.

She was never interested in more than a couple ball tosses at a time and she wasn't interested in stuffed toys at all. So it came as a huge surprise when she trotted into the den one night last week all happy, with a mushroom softie in her mouth a friend had made me.  (It had fallen off the shelf in my craft room and I had gotten distracted and completely forgotten to pick it up.)

So I decided she needed a "baby" of her own - that's what we called all of the sheep wool animals for our other Golden's. Golden's love to carry things in their mouths and we'd ask them "Where's your baby?" and they'd all go get them --- except for George and Gracie, who had such sad lives.

We went to two pet stores over the weekend and everything was too small or had multiple squeakies or ugly material, etc... I apparently have a demanding eye when it comes to doggie toys LOL.

I did find this one group of over sized softies that were natural colored and barnyard animals - I've always liked the sheep wool toys - and besides the pig and goat, there was a third one ... I think it's a sheep??? It's the size of a Golden puppy.

I laid it down on Missy's bed and after sniffing it all over, she very gingerly, laid down face to face with it.  And then yesterday I stood it up on her bed and she came over and sniffed it all over again AND licked it!!!

it's national doggie day!

(Dog of the Blog :: Missy poochie pie oggie doggie)

It's National Doggie Day today so give your boo boo doggie a big kiss and a tummy rub and an ear scratch and have a nice game of ball, followed by a biscuit and a nappie!

georgie is not going to make it

One year ago this very morning, we drove down to meet two senior Golden Retrievers who had been dropped off by their owner at the animal shelter to be euthanized and rescued by a GR rescue organization. We came home with two new best furry friends.

Two months later, we found out dear George had inoperable cancer. He has met and weathered all other setbacks like a champ, outliving the specialists dire forecast for him by ten months.  He has been the sweetest and best boy, bringing us joy every moment the past year.

But his cancer and this current challenge has proved to be too much. He cannot hold down food or water or his medications. 

I am sitting by his side, rubbing his dear and noble face and crying endless tears.

We will love him and cuddle him today and tomorrow we will say goodbye and let him go ...


Thank you so very much for all of your kind words and prayers for Georgie!

update on georgie

(gracie and her georgie at the doctors)

Georgie didn't want to eat much this morning ... he only ate a cup of food but I thought I'd be able to get him to eat more later. He seemed alright at first but then he refused to even eat the chicken I offered from my hand, which he's never done before. So we called the doctor and were able to get an appointment just a couple hours later for 12:30.

The doctor said he looked like a very unhappy doggie. He said that Georgie was severely dehydrated and nauseous. He wasn't sure of the cause and said he didn't know if he had a virus or an infection or if it's related to his original cancer, or what???

He said for us to leave Georgie and they would give him intravenous fluids to hydrate him and a mega dose of IV anti-nausea medicine and that they would also do more xrays and see if they could determine if something had changed about his original mass they found back in December. 

His blood work from Thursday, came back normal - nothing wrong with his kidneys, liver, etc. And nothing more learned about the new suspected mass. The doctor said that from the standpoint of his blood panel alone, Georgie appeared to be a very healthy doggie ... but we know that's not the case.

He's rebounded before so we are trying to remain hopeful --- but we also know he's been one very brave and strong doggie and fought back against a bad diagnosis for a long time already ...

Thank you so much for your sweet comments and praying for our Georgie!

please think a good thought for georgie

Well, whoever thought up the old adage when it rains, it pours, sure knew what they were talking about.  Sheesh. 

Georgie had seemed to be a bit better following his recent illness.  But then yesterday he threw up several times in the morning and I had to put on my big girl panties and put aside that I don't feel well and that I have severe arthritic pain in my thumb and run him to the vet.  I had to drop him off since the vet had no openings and I felt too wobbly anyway and remind myself he was in the best of hands.

We went back to pick him up after eight o'clock last night - the vet having done lots of xrays and blood work and finally having time to talk to us and tell us what he thinks is causing Georgie's nausea.

Heartbreakingly, he believes Georgie has another tumor, either on his pancreas or on his liver - there's a new mass on his xrays.  The blood work will make it clear which organ. We should have the results tomorrow, Saturday, and also find out what, if any, treatment can be done for him.

October 7th will be one year since we adopted George and Gracie from the rescue and October 7th will also be 10 months since George was diagnosed with terminal cancer and not expected to make it more than three or four days.  

If we know anything, we know Georgie is a fighter. He is one big, sweet, funny, loving, fur ball and he hasn't wanted to leave this life yet.

Please think lots of healing doggie thoughts for our George.

Thanks you guys! xo

october 21st

So sorry for not updating earlier! I am going at a snails pace these days and not accomplishing much.

On the eighth day of waiting, the surgeon finally called my husband with his MRI results. He said there is something suspicious on one side and that he believes sooner is better than later for the surgery. He also told my husband that he's not in danger but good gosh ... WAH!  So very scary!

So my husband will have his surgery on Monday, October 21st. We won't know until the Friday before, what time the surgery will be --- so frustrating, but I guess that's the way things are at teaching hospitals???

Georgie is doing fine, turns out he has bad reflux and he also had a bladder infection. 

We still haven't received the final results for Gracie - it's been quite a ride this week with her. I came home from my first support group meeting Thursday and found that she had chewed her dew claw off and there was blood all over their doggie bed.  sniffle sniffle SOB. So I had to run her over to the vet's lickety split and since she was there, they moved up the secondary test they give for a definitive Cushing's result, so we wouldn't have to bring her back today for it as planned. 

Rather feel like I'm losing my mind ... trying to remember to breathe ...

Since I am buried underneath a mountain of stuff over here, I have placed myself on a no purchases diet, oh yeah sure bwhahahhahha - but I just ordered myself some fun Halloween crafty stuff, to hopefully lose myself in. 

Miss you all, hope you're doing well! 

waiting

We haven't heard from the doctor yet regarding the test results. WAH! My husband called the office and was told that the results have been entered in the system and that the doctor will call him but the office personnel didn't know when that would happen.  So we're waiting ...

And George is a bit under the weather today and has me concerned. He's now been with us nine and a half months longer than they said he had left.

He only ate a little more than half his food this morning and I ended up feeding him by hand for some of it. He's been eating really slowly this week, but eating all of his food though, every day up until today. He's also started a new thing of drinking tons of water this week. (He is wagging his tail and playing catch today.)

So tomorrow we're off to the vet.

Gracie also has a problem ... they ran a test for Cushings last weekend but they didn't take enough of a sample (GRRRRRRRR), so she has to be tested again tomorrow.  

I wanted to stay by Georgie today and have been going through notebooks of craft patterns, templates, etc., that I've clipped or printed out over the years and merrily tossing most of them in the trash.

I am embarrassed to say that I may be personally responsible for the demise of the forests due to all of my printing out of unneeded junk from the internet. 

Good grief. 

My mission is to keep only what fits nicely in our (tiny, egad) home ... I know, I know, but a girl can dream, can't she?! 

Wishing you and yours a lovely weekend! 

georgie is feeling poorly today

Update June 24:  Thanks again so much for your continued care for our sweetie pie, George. His tummy is now doing fine. YIPPIE YIPPIE!  We did take him to see the Vet on Saturday - one of his back legs was acting wonky. Turns out to be old age of course, thankfully, the Vet said he isn't in any pain.

We did find out that I have fattened him up quite nicely, in fact, a few pounds too much. I was so thrilled that he was interested in food, I guess I was overly generous. Anyway, too many pounds on him is dangerous, with his blood clot and for his heart. So now George is on a diet.

We also had a blood panel done, since it's been more than six months and await the results of that.

Thanks again everyone! Happy Monday!



Update June 21: Thanks so much for your care, concern and kind comments over my sweetie pie Georgie. He seems to have just experienced some tummy upset episode (he has a very sensitive tummy!) and after a day and a half of anti-nausea meds, is feeling brighter. Yippie! Georgie wishes you all a very Happy First Day of Summer! He's hoping to get in some time in the sun and some ball playing today. And maybe a biscuit ... tummy willing ...



I've got a call into the Vet.  Poor Georgie has been sick to his tummy twice today.  Hopefully it's nothing, just one of those once-a-year doggie tummy upset things but I feel a sense of concern. He's also been doing some things that our Honey (that we lost in September) had been doing last year ... and I'm fearing that he's got mega-esophagus like Honey did or, something to do with his cancer, his blood clot, etc.  I'm a bundle of nerves over here.

He's done so well and been so happy-go-lucky that I've kind of put his very real serious condition in some far recess of my mind, closed and locked the door on it.  Been living on hope and denial.

He has been interested in his biscuits and his ball, so that's good news ...

georgie the invincible

This is my Georgie. Georgie, the believer. Georgie, the dreamer. Georgie, the lover of love.

We adopted 12 year old George last year, along with his BFF Gracie, just a mere three weeks after losing our beloved Honey. 

Life being what it is, never a puller of punches --- two months after adopting George and Gracie, two months three weeks after losing Honey, we found out that George has inoperable cancer.  He was thought to only have three or four days to live. 

And yet, here we are, six months down the road, this very day ...

Happy as a lark!

He still has cancer of course and his now 13 year old legs are achy and wobbly but he loves to trot after his ball and scratch his long lanky body along the garage wall, dancing a little doggie jig and tossing his head as he turns at the end to begin another trip down the wall. 

He luxuriates in being loved and rubbed and hugged. I fear he must have only had a little love in his previous life, enough though that he is the sweetest of souls and enough so that he knew what he was missing and knew he had a doggie sized hole in his heart, that only a family could fill. 

This Georgie who wasn't interested in food when we got him (I coaxed him and fed him out of my hand), adores his chicken breast and rice meals that his new mommy makes him and perhaps even all his pills he takes twice a day, including a chemotherapy one, every other day.

Life is good when you believe and dare to dream and find love and a family.

Sharing A Favorite Thing on Saturdays with Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage.

happy valentines day

 

Wishing you and all your sweetie pies, a very Happy Valentine's Day!

it's raining it's pouring

it's raining

it's pouring
the old doggies are snoring ...

It's raining here today so we're all cooped up in the house.  Some of us are dreaming doggie dreams while I've been reorganizing and consolidating drawers in my craft room. 

I've emptied three small drawers, one large box and two small boxes ... there's still much to be done dagnabbit! 

What to do with all of my magazines???  I thought I'd get rid of my Somerset Studio magazines since I never find the time to look at them anymore ... but no, I had to go and start thumbing through a couple of them and now the craft hoarder in me doesn't want to get rid of them. WAH! 

Are you a keeper of things or a minimalist? 

And by the way, do you have any insight into WHY I had to have so many craft punches?!  Sheesh!  There must a special name for this disorder LOL.  And all the rubber stamps I had to have that I never use. 

I'm starting to twitch ... better not think about it anymore hahahhahahhahha ...

Happy happy weekend to you!

doggie update - back where we started

ARGH!  Shortly after I posted my earlier update today, our veterinarian called and told me that the test results show that Georgie doesn't have Cushings Disease. Our doctor also told me he had spoken to the doctor at the specialty and emergency hospital and he now believes as the Internist does, that Georgie has some form of cancer. WAH! 

We're on one rotten roller coaster ride over here.

The first order of business is to make Georgie's tummy feel better - I just got back from the vet with two prescriptions. Then if his respiratory system is still doing well, he'll have another ultra sound to see what the blood clot is doing (growing or shrinking), this weekend or perhaps midweek, next week. 

Trying to take each day as it comes, with all it's bumps and give George lots of love and attention.

doggie update

 

Yesterday was quite a day!  George had um, intestinal distress, all day.

I was in a panic as there was blood involved and I called the fancy pants Specialty and Emergency Hospital, THREE times wanting to speak to someone and no one was available.

GRRRRR!

They had told us over and over again, while extracting a kings ransom from our pockets, to please call them anytime with any questions and concerns.  Uh, apparently during working hours does not work for them.

OOOF! I was so angry and so scared. The paperwork they had sent us home with had said that diarrhea was one of the things signaling distress and to call them.

After three phone calls and no one to answer my questions, I called our regular vet, crying, and I guess I sounded like a pathetic lunatic as they put him on the phone with me, even though it was his surgery day.

Well ... our vet proceeds to tell me that this condition is so rare that he thinks there's a possibility George may not have cancer at all, but rather have Cushings, which is treatable.

And he said he thought it unlikely the clot would cause a stroke and that if it did go to his lungs, George should be okay since his chest is so very big.

What the hooha?!

We are so beyond confused, having received two such divergent and extreme opinions!  Where does the truth lie?

George was very energetic yesterday - I think largely due to his intestinal upset and needing to go out repeatedly.  He's a little less bright today, dozing a bit (having pooped himself out yesterday hahahha, sorry, easy joke!), but still a happy camper, wagging his tail.

Our vet said yesterday that we should drop him off and test his blood pressure and give him the Cushings test, so we did that.  Now I'm waiting for the test results. 

the patient is home

"Nurse Gracie on duty, Mom!"

"Giving the patient a big dose of TLC!"

Thank you everyone for your sweet comments and support, I so appreciate all of you!

We brought Georgie home Saturday afternoon.  They sent him home very doped up on pain meds, so he basically slept the rest of the afternoon and through the night until Sunday morning.  Gracie loves him so and cuddled up next to him on their pillow bed and rested her face (in the cone of shame!) on his neck.

He didn't want to eat Sunday morning and that was very distressing - lack of appetite being one of the things we are to observe and note, that could be a signal that he is in distress from the clot moving. WAH! 

Thankfully I found he would eat his biscuits, in fact he gobbled them up.  And then I remembered that I had a can of a different kind of food and he ate half a can of that.  YIPPIE YIPPIE YIPPIE, doing a major happy dance!  But for some reason he refused water???

I am thrilled to say that he is very much like himself this morning - he ate his regular food (and more) and drank water and he's following me around and watching every move I make. Crying tears of joy.  He is supposed to just rest though so I keep reminding him that he needs to lay down on his pillow.  Fighting a losing battle though, he wants to MOVE!

If a miracle should happen and the clot safely dissolves/disperses, we may have some more time with him.

Husband at work, I'm on my own today, stomach tied in knots, nerves shot. Phone number at hand for an emergency Vet in case George should be in distress and needs to cross the Rainbow Bridge.

Thank you again for all your care and concern and friendship.

"Paparazzi everywhere I go!"
"Hey look, Gracie has a new cone of shame!" 

(that's because she could still chew her leg with the plastic one ARGH!)

"Just stretching my legs mom!"

"Okay, I'm laying down. SHEESH!"

"Think I'll have a little snooze."