357, hair, duncan, and the SG CA retreat 07...

As of the last period in this sentence, 357 d, 1 hr, 15 min, 30 sec till the bloody emperor is gone... .

The state of the union ~ bloody well fucked under his reign.

'Nuff said.


And to the N.O.W. ~ get that twist out of your knickers... at least the bloated one realizes what a disaster she would be!!


And now for something completely different...

I'd seen this before, and loved it. So when Ry posted it at SG, I knew I had to copy...

"There once was a woman who woke up one morning,
looked in the mirror,
and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.

"Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today."
So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up,
looked in the mirror
and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.

"Hmmm," she said,
"I think I'll part my hair down the middle today."
So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up,
looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.
"Well," she said, "Today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail."
So she did and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up,
looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head. "YEA!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"

Attitude is everything.

Be kinder than necessary,
for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

I LOVE this, and realize I need this kind of reminder in my life, everyday. A bit too much to much to cross-stitch, but I could see it typed out and mounted on a clear acrylic altered 8x8 page...
So I am now officially putting this in my to-do queue.

And I can do that, because I got a lot of stuff done today that HAD been on my list...
I got all the little scrappy bits and pieces I've bought/collected over the last 3 months or so sorted and put away today.
I feeling VERY virtuous!!

I've also gotten the last (but one) LO of the Oct. CA retreat done today! This last one will be something that should have been at the start, but what the hey... as long as it is in there somewhere, right? :-))

And then there is my sweet baby boy Duncan... his eye is healing beautifully ~ I'm hoping we can rid of the E collar next week!! I would also like to get him weaned off the phenobarb before we start the chemo on 2/5 ~ need to talk with Dr. Sandy tomorrow. Right now, he is curled up about 2 inches from my feet, sound asleep.
And he has been spending every morning, right after breakfast, stretched out by my side in the chair... how I've missed that little bundle of warm fur next to my leg!!!

The tagging madness at SG seems to be continuing... I think I'm going to have to gracefully decline any further invitations ~ I just don't see the point.

I done been tagged!!!

So here are the rules...

Rules :
1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name).
3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers.
4. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name.
(Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)

F ~ fun, finicky

A ~ adventurous, amoral

E ~ eccentric, egocentric, Essa (Gaelic for nurse)

And I tag Kylie!!

Demon printers, greedy companies, and a clean fluffy dog!

So the last two nights, while innocently trying to do some scrapbook journaling, I've been violently attacked by my demented, satanic, psychotic, evil @$#%&*# printer...

The demonic gods that inhabit it have eaten not one, but TWO pieces of unique vellum that I was trying to journal on!! And this is after multiple tests with perfect results BEFORE I ran the precious sheets through!

What have I done to tick off the insatiable printer gods?!?!?! Should I offer an arm, a leg, my eye teeth, in supplication?? If I had nuts, I'd offer them up!!!



***sigh***



But now my blood pressure has come down from the life-threatening level it had reached, and the multiple sedatives have kicked in, so instead of hurling my POS printer into the street to shatter into thousands of pieces, I shall forge ahead...

I know the husband and poor little Duncan are glad I've finally stopped screaming!


Moving on...
(alas, to more rage-inducing items...)

I saw this morning that Exxon was due to post it's biggest profit making margin ever...
Gee, that just makes me feel so warm and fuzzy all over!! I mean, it would just be SOOOO tragic if all those already-over-paid execs, who have contaminated so much pristine enviroment, had to endure reduced earnings from the blood of the land! Sob, sob, sob...
(and that DON'T stand for crying!!!)




OK ~ now, so you don't worry about me sinking completely into the depths of despair...
I took Duncan Doodle O in for his first bath/grooming in ages this morning. True to her word, Christie did him first, so I was only without him for about 2 hours! He looks so much better now ~ staying at the hospital,and the rad tx. had done nothing for his coat! We took some pix when he came home, and one of these days, I promise I'll learn how to post pix here!!
His right eye is still pretty goopy (that's where they were shooting the radiation into), and he's still having to wear the E-collar to keep him from trying to scratch at it, but WSU did say it would take 2-3 weeks to clear up. Natch, that's not fast enough for me!!

He starts chemo on 2/5 ~ I'm hoping we can start weaning him off the Phenobarbital then, too. While he is nowhere near as stoned as he was from the PB, there are still occasional little stumbles and moments of confusion.

But thru it all, he still remains my sweet baby boy!! Since we know it hurts him to jump up in my lap now, we've been 'assisting' him up into my chair every morning after his breakfast ~ and he will stay up there with me for hours!

"Dogs are not our whole lives, but they make our lives whole"

the Quiet...

Even though Duncan never made a lot of noise, I'm just now realizing how miserably quiet it was around here when he was gone.

And now I'm thoroughly enjoying all his little sounds...

his moans & groans when its time for breakfast or dinner or carrots...
the sound of his E-collar scraping on furniture and walls...
his toenails clicking on the lino...
his subdued barks & growls when he dreams...
the sound of him "fluffing" his beds...
the sound of him pushing his Snoopy food bowl around while he eats...
his 'sigh' of satisfaction as he settles into his bed for the night...

Yup ~ that's my quiet little baby boy!!

Duh...

Yeah ~ I'm repeating myself... sorry 'bout that! Brains are still a bit scrambled after the last month of major stress. I actually think I'm very lucky to remember my own name right now!

More info...

Evidently, one of the first places a lymphoma can metastasize is to the mediastinum (breast bone) ~ Duncan's is clean!! They did an abdominal ultrasound to look for other enlarged lymph nodes;
they found one area in his spleen ~ did a fine needle biopsy... Of the five samples, only one showed a slightly increased # of lymphoblasts, which could be just a normal phenomenen... this is GREAT news!!
So even though it's a T cell lymphoma (not as responsive to chemo), it hasn't likely spread.

PS ~ 1K!!!

PS ~ one other good thing... the total bill was $1,000 less than we thought it would be!!! ~ Yee-haw!!!

Duncan is HOME!!!

They did the abdominal ultrasound (AUS) ~ they were looking for enlarged lymph nodes... They found nothing of interest except for 1 slide (out of 5) from his spleen that showed an increased number of lymphoblasts ~ which could be completely normal. So it looks like there is not much, if any, spread to his lymph nodes...

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!

That is absolutely the best news we could have possibly rec'd!!!

Still no seizures, even on the sub-theraputic dose of Pheno, so we will make no changes there. If he's still had no seizures in a month or so, we will take him off the PB.

Chemo will start in 3 weeks... it will last a total of 25 weeks, but he will not be recv'ing doses every week. ~ they break it up.

He is showing some side affects from the rad. tx. ~ a bit of eye irritation in that R eye, for which he is getting ABX BID (totally normal, since the tumor is so close to the eye); also a bit of R sided gum irritation, which is easily treatable if it begins to affect his appetite.

The lymphoma turned out to be T cell ~ this is not as responsive to chemo as B cell would be, but because it was caught so early, they think the rad. tx. will really help. The word "CURE' was used, rather than just "remission"...

We shall see ~ any single moment we have with him now is a joy and blessing!!!

To give you some idea of how sweet Duncan is, before Dr. Fidel came to meet us, a student we had never seen before walked thru the lobby ~ she said "Oh, that's Duncan!" I said "Does everyone around here know Duncan??" ~ she said "Just about!" Seems he attracted a lot of attention when he was taken for his walkies!!!

So when we got home today, he had a wonderful reunion with his Sam-Cat... a very long nose-to-nose sniff. But Sam is a bit freaked by Dunky's Elizabethan collar ~ Sam just doesn't know what to make of it! Dunc seems to have no problem with it ~ except near walls!!

Tomorrow, I will figure out how to post pix here...

D (Duncan) day!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we have our sweet baby boy back with us!!! All details in the next day or do...

Ya'll have NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO idea how happy I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

? of the day ~

What household chore do you hate the most, and what do you do to make it more bearable?

menopause and...

Let's deal with the "and..." first...

my friend Tina went and visited Duncan today... and while I'm so glad she did, I am SOOOO jealous!! Thanks for posting all those pix, Airhead! :-)))

But now on to the menopause...

IT SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was lucky when I was still having periods (before the partial hysterectomy in '84) ~ I never really had PMS, just severe cramps...

But now!!! Jay-sus! Even on the Estrogen, I am SOOOOO flippin' moody, and there is no rhyme or reason to it! I don't have "pity parties" ~ I have pity ORGIES that I don't seem to be able control no matter how hard I try. I fly off the handle at the least provocation,and go into murderous rages that leave me weak and exhausted.
And let's not even talk about my memory... never great, it has become totally AWFUL the last year or so! I feel like I'm losing my mind.

My dear sweet Robin has pointed out that I'm under a wee bit of stress right now about Duncan... and SamCat (who just now threw up again after almost a week without doing so)

To put not too fine a point on it... S H I T

Yes, finally an update!!

I need to find a rolling eyes smiley for this!

So I left ya'll on Saturday... Sunday morning, we woke up to a beautiful day ~ brilliant sunshine, but also a fresh snowfall of 3-6 inches! So we dropped Duncan off at the hospital a bit earlier than we planned. I was fine with leaving him, until we'd put him in his kennel,and were walking out the door. He started HOWLING!!!

Now, I've heard this dog scream in pain, and I've heard him whine and moan big time ~ but I have NEVER heard him howl like this!! Heart- rending doesn't EVEN begin to express it! And of course, I lost it completely! Cried for about the first half hour of the trip home.

Got home,and I was once again overwhelmed by the support and kindness of my fellow SGers.

Monday, they drew a phenobarb level ~ it was sub-theraputic. They wanted to up his dose of PB to 15mg AM/30mg PM, but I said NO! I don't want him any more 'stoned' than he has to be, and since he's had no further seizures... Thankfully, Clare and Dr. Fidel were cool with that; otherwise, I would have had to bring out my Mama Bear!!! If he has another seizure, we will cross that bridge when we come to it. It's a "quality of life" issue ~ if he's that stoned, is that a good quality of life? To my view, NO.
OK, enough on that before I get on my soapbox!!! :-)))

Back to my SG buds... so many of them are sending "shrink, shrink, shrink" thoughts ~ that damn tumor doesn't stand a chance!!! And my sweet friend Jen sent me the most wonderful "thinking of you" card ~

Yesterday when we talked with Clare, she said once he comes home, they will wait 2 to 3 weeks before starting the chemo... what a nice break for Dunky!!

So far, Dunc is still doing great ~ minimal sneezing, none of it bloody; no problems walking... lovin' his carrots, and his walks with his Japanese exchange student Joon (who has fallen head over heels in love with him!) I REALLY hope I can get a picture of them together when we pick him up! And of course I will get one with he and Clare and Dr. Fidel!!

And today, Duncan got something VERY special in the mail! One of my SG buddies is from New Zealand; she is here in the states for post-grad work. Kylie had to leave HER sweet baby boy Gizmo at home, because of all the quarantine stuff, so she KNOWS.
Anyway, she had her sister send Duncan a CD of sounds that can only be heard by dogs. It benefits the SPCA there in NZ. And with the CD came a wonderful note from Kylie's Gizmo ~ Yeah, I cried! I can't wait to play the CD for Dunc and see what his reaction is!

Now enough about Dunc, and on to our Samuel J. Cat! I think I mentioned that he'd been off his feed, throwing up a lot... Well, he has been diagnosed with early renal disease. So, he's had a change in diet, and it seems to have worked... no N/V, a bit better appetite...

I don't know I could handle both the babies being ill!!

As always, I am so thankful for my SG family that gives me so much support and laughter... and to all my friends for their love and good thoughts...

Tina and me...

So I finally got to meet up with my SG buddy Tina... she's even better IRL!!! We had a blast, shopping and giggling and lunching and talking and laughing the afternoon away!

We took tons of great pix of us with our respective doggies ~ she has a delightful (tho VERY energetic!) Yorkie who weighs about 1/4 of what Dunc does!

And right now I'm watching the Steelers (my very first football team) trying hard to win a wild card game... where's my towel?!?!

Got Duncan???

I do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We picked up my sweet baby boy just after 4 today... and he is NOT the pathetic, forlorn, limping, woozy dog we left here a week and a half ago!

He is trotting along briskly, head and tail high, no sign of a limp, little butt a-bobbing, prancing around & whining for dinner and carrot snacks!! Yessir, that's my baby!!

We met with Clare (his 4th year student; more on her later)and the head of the oncology dept., Dr. F. Dr. F. said that if you had to pick a cancer for your dog, LSA is THE one to get... it responds VERY well to the radiation/chemo combo; possibly even a complete cure, because we caught it so early! So while nothing is set in stone, we are both much relieved and very happy. The future seems to not look as bleak as we had been thinking.

Clare is wonderful! Funny, smart, very straight-forward, with some great tats! She gets this picky nurse's stamp of approval!!! There is also Japanese foreign exchange vet student that has been working with Dunc all along ~ Joon has clearly fallen in love with Dunc; I think she takes him for most of his walks, and gives him his beloved carrots as often as she can. Her command of English is still a bit rough, but it is so sweet to see her with Dunc!
We also got to see Emily before we brought Dunc back to the room here... She couldn't stop petting him, and gave both of us hugs.

One thing I forgot to mention the other day... one evening we got a phone call from Kim, who was one of the 4th yr. students on the neuro service that worked with Dunc last time we were here. He was just calling to see how we were doing, and how Dunc was doing (he is on a completely different service now). I was totally and completely blown away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I talked to my SG pal Tina this afternoon; we're going to meet tomorrow for some retail therapy and lunch... she will get to meet Duncan, and I'll get to meet her Yorkie Magoo... I can't wait! Tina always makes me laugh, and we do share certain crazy qualities... :-)))

As always, thanks to all for your hugs and love and good thoughts ~
Duncan's mom

MRI...

For anyone who may be interested, here is the link to the MRI shot that shows Duncan's tumor... it's 5 x 3 x 2cm...

Link to MRI...

LMAO!!!

check out Cathy Zielske's blog (second from the bottom in "where I go")for Dec. 19!!!! See ~ I'm not the only one!!!

Happy New Year!!

Emily (Duncan's 4th yr. student) called yesterday afternoon. They finally got a good bx. sample, and it showed a lymphosarcoma. So the treatment is not much different than what they're doing right now (the rad. tx.), but they add chemo afterwards. They're still waiting to see if it's E or B cells... that can make a difference in the chemo regime. The prognosis is still about the same ~ 12 to 18 months.

Now we just need to decide if we want to put Dunc thru the chemo... from what I've been able to research so far, dogs have similar side effects as humans from it; just not as bad.

(if you want more info on the CA, Google "canine nasal lymphosarcoma")

So we're hanging in there... going over to see him on Friday ~ home Sat or Sun. And one of the SG ladies who lives only 8 miles away is going to try to visit him, too.

Hugs, all ~