Hi guys ... thanks for the well-wishes. I am hanging in there. Still coughing but mostly only in the mornings. Finished my z-pack and the stuff coming up is no longer fluorescent! Yay. Still feeling really really tired. And just blah.
Two major issues ... my car died last night. I think it's fixed but in his usual "I'm trying to be funny" fashion, my darling hubby couldn't give me a straight answer on the phone just now.
Second, my sweet dog is pretty sick. He has tumors all over, some of which I know are lipomas ... but there are two that I think are something more nefarious. One is growing rather rapidly and has me really concerned. He's also gotten really anxious lately ... he's always been a little hyper, but this is unreal. He's nearly 11, and has had epilepsy (well controlled on medication) since he was a pup of 8 weeks. I am bringing him to a special vet tomorrow. I will be so so so sad if it is cancer. He was my first baby and I cannot imagine my life without him.
Here's his picture ...
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Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
Oh, forgot to add ... with all the sickness etc, I am not losing much. Doing a great job of maintaining as I am exactly where I was just before Christmas ... so that's good. I would love to dump this last 15-20 lbs though. I just need to get and stay healthy. Thank God warmer weather is around the corner ...
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Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
What a silly boy you have there - hope it turns out to be nothing to worry about but at 11 years old you never know. It's hard when you've had them with you so long and yet not nearly long enough.
Glad to hear you are starting to feel better. Sorry to hear about the car, and mostly sorry to hear about your pup! I truly know what you are going through and I hope that you get some great news at the vet tomorrow.
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It's hard when you've had them with you so long and yet not nearly long enough.
Thanks guys ... truck is fixed. Apparently it was an alternator issue. Hubby lost all power on the way to work ... ie no power brakes, no power steering! It stalled out about 1/2 mile from his work and they walked the rest of the way. The kids (he works at a vo-tech school) got it and fixed it and even washed it! It's fine now.
Prayers for Duncan tomorrow please ...
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Thanks guys ... it went well. I really liked the new vet and her entire approach.
She is 99% sure it is an infiltrative lipoma. (Sending out to a lab to be certain.) What this means is that although it is not cancer, it can/will grow and because it is within his muscle (pectoral) it is non-operable. (If they removed it, it would really limit his mobility because of its' location.) So the plan is to keep him comfortable ... she feels his anxiety is largely related to pain. Labs are "physically insensitive" so he isn't good at letting on that he has pain. So she gave me a pain med to give him twice daily and an NSAID to use on days when he is having more pain (like when he falls down the stairs in the morning or if he overdoes it swimming or on a hike). I will check in with her periodically as to how he is doing and if the tumor is growing.
So it was really the best news it could have been.
He has been medicated and is happy and resting (on my Tempurpedic bed!).
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!!
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Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
When I had Lije, my flatcoat, he had a procedure and at the same time we had him neutered (he was easily between 8 and 10 years at the time) - they found a testicular torsion - he never let on he had been in pain. Another time, he got an NSAID (when Rymadyl first came out) for something else and he was like a changed dog - we didn't know he had been in pain (probably arthritis) at all until we saw how he was acting when on the meds.
Glad to hear the good news about Duncan.
I keep meaning to ask - he isn't named for Duncan Idaho by any chance? Or Duncan from Macbeth?
We lost a leg on our old guy to a liposarcoma. Always thought it was weird cuz he was always a skinny hard-to-gain-weight kind of dog... the surgery was hard on him, but he lived 4 more years (3 healthy, 1 in decline) after the surgery - he was 9 when he had the amputation... So glad you like this vet - that makes ALL the difference!
Lisa, "Duncan" is Scottish for "brown warrior" ... so MacBeth was a good guess ... but I'm of Scottish descent (among other things) and so I named him Duncan. Of course, people always think it's "Dunkin'" as in "Dunkin' Donuts".
I'm very encouraged ... he is like a new dog after only one dose!!
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Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
ha, I know. he was thinking "gee, I need some kind of foot massager or something, let's go looking for some contraption" so I'm like "well, would the stick work rolling on it?" and he's like "that does nothing for me, tried it" so I'm like "well you know the progression from tennis ball is lacrosse ball, right? like, if the tennis ball is too soft" and he's like "well I can stand one footed on the tennis ball" and so we went to get a lacrosse ball and he tried it when we got home and then he was all hatin on you and whatnot.
But, glad the pup is ok. I was worried for you. losing Mousie was hard on us and I'd hate that for you and the little princesses…
If someone was unused to rolling (on ball or foam roller) but has had massages in the past, what would you suggest starting with - a tennis ball or a foam roller? (or both? no idea if it's either or proposition).
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Tom
No "happy hours" makes for a lot of miserable days. - Mahler
I'd personally say both, but only because they're kinda different. Tennis ball is more for trigger points/small areas, foam roll is larger general massage-tye stuff. But I'm certainly no expert…
- he never let on he had been in pain. Another time, he got an NSAID (when Rymadyl first came out) for something else and he was like a changed dog - we didn't know he had been in pain (probably arthritis) at all until we saw how he was acting when on the meds. 
(We got a lacrosse ball tonite.)
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