Wordless Wednesday

Luxtating Patellas, Arthritis, and Senioritis (Or "It Could Be A Lot Worse")

Thank you all for the kind thoughts and prayers.  According to my family and I they were just what we needed.  I don’t have anything broken, fractured or torn.  What I do have is a case of Senioritis.  

All us Yorkies are susceptible to luxating patellas and the patella in my back left leg is luxating all over the place.  When the vet checked my leg she said she could feel the patella slipping in and out of place with each flex of my leg.  She also said she was sure I have arthritis.  

This is hereditary.  I got it from my Mom.  She has bad arthritis and had had two knees replaced.  On Friday Mommy got a novacaine shot in her neck that was supposed to help her neck pain and headaches.  Worked for about an hour.  Daddy refers to us as his two “broken girls.”

Anyway, back to me. The doctor said that they usually don’t treat this with surgery, and that I was not a good candidate for surgery anyway.  Both Mommy and I said right on sister.  She told Mommy I needed to be on the supplement Glucosamine and on Senior Food.  I am not crazy about being on Senior Food,   I have long avoided that term and threw everything from the AASD (American Association of Senior Dogs) in the trash.  But now I am going to have to embrace it.  I’m a Senior.  There are a lot worst things to be, and one much better thing, which is what I am, healthy in all the important areas.

There are restrictions, no more long walks, no climbing, no jumping on the furniture, but the good thing is there will be lots of carrying and I love to be carried.  Maybe with the supplements I will be back to 100% but Mommy doesn’t want me to take any chances.  If being a Senior Dog means more pampering than I am all for it.  Makes me wonder why I ever fought off being a Senior Dog for so long.

I want to thank you all for the prayers, the well wishes and the concern.  You really got us all through a hard time, but that’s what family is for and we know we can count of all of you.  Yorkie kisses and tiny hugs to all of you.  Now don’t be wasting anymore prayers on me, I am fine.  Plenty of pups in worse situations than mine can use the prayers.  I can’t thank you all enough.  Going to go sit on the porch and whittle, or maybe needlepoint, whatever Seniors do.

Thank you again.  

Misha is our April 7, 2013 Pup of the Week

When I used my blog to whine about my back legs that keep going flopsy under me causing me to face plant myself on the floor, I mentioned that, while I would not shun your prayers there were others who deserved them more.  One of these dogs is a good friend from mine on DS:  Misha.  As they say on Law and Order:  This is her story.

Misha is a beautiful golden retriever with two sisters of the same breed.  Misha is 12 and slowing down from arthritis (why do I hear a bell ringing?)  but there were  no signs of problems.  A few days later Misha’s Mom was rubbing her neck when she felt a large lump.  In a panic she called the vet and set up another appointment. The lump seemed to come out of nowhere and was bigger than a golf ball.  Her Mom asked for prayers as she nervously waited for the results.   

On a Friday Misha was back at the vet.  She got a needle stick and an x-ray.   The needles stick hurt quite a bit.  The vet said she could tell there were lots of activity in the cells, which is bad, and that it was a tumor, which is worse.    

The results were not what anyone had hoped or prayed for.  The biopsy showed it was the big bad C.  They had to go to the cancer center to see if it was even possible to operate on it because the neck is such a sensitive area.  The scariest part of the story is that the bad C grew so quickly.  Within two weeks it went from nothing to life threatening with no chance for anyone to prepare.  Misha was showing signs of being unable to swallow and something needed to be done quickly.

Misha went to the cancer center and got another big needle stuck in her.  They did not find any cancer in her heart or lungs which was good because the probably would have decided there was nothing they could do if they did.  The doctor was not sure what the mass was but knew it had to come out.  There plan was to get all the cancer and then get it tested.  Like human cancer centers it was both depressing to be there, with so many sick dogs, and hopeful, with so many getting better.  

As they waited for surgery the mass grew and it when operation cay came it was larger than they expected.  It was attached to her tonsils and lymph nods.  Because of this, after surgery, chemo was likely.  It was a nightmare scenario they had hoped to avoid.

                                   

The surgery was a success through her will, the surgeon’s skills and prayers.  She got to come home after some much needed care after the surgery.  Her neck was shaved but that was a small price to pay for the tumor being gone.  She got put on pain meds and amoxicillin. . She came home hungry and now swallowing was easier.  Through it all she never lost her appetite.  

Her parents will meet with the doctors this week to discuss radiation and chemo treatments and how likely it would be that the treatment will be successful.  Further treatments will be lengthy and hard on Misha so there are difficult decisions to be made but I know her parents will do what is best for her.  As her mother said:  “they say to us before every trial: remember to have fun with your dog and love them no matter what because you don't know if its your last day with them.”

True words,  But I think if we all come together and pray Misha can hold off that last day.  We have seen Summer, Chelsea and Willie come through some dark and hopeless times.  Now we are counting on a Misha miracle.

And we vow never to lose hope.                                                                                   

I Busted Myself

I have a bit of unfortunate news.  I busted myself.

I am not sure how or why but I do know I am definitely busted.  Yesterday my parents came home, let us out of the bedroom and we both went running to Daddy who took us outside.  After we came in I harassed them for food while they ate.  Nothing unusual.  Then they cleaned  up and sat in their chairs before Daddy went to work while I licked the every inch of the kitchen.

I don’t know what happened, or how it happened, and being a dog I am not telling anyone what is wrong but shortly after Mommy and Daddy sat  I came in the living room with my left hind leg lifted hobbling on three legs and acting extremely pathetic.

Mommy hoped it was a temporary thing but I became less mobile as the night went on.  I couldn’t push off my back legs at all. I fell down trying to walk backwards.  I couldn’t hold weight on the leg.  There was no jumping.  I couldn’t climb stairs. I was busted.

After Daddy got home she examined me with Daddy and then went on the Google and got scared to death.  There were all sorts of things wrong with me.  I had lime disease, lymphoma, hip dysplasia, the bird flu.  You name it they diagnosed me with it.  Oh for heavens sake all I was doing was limping!  Humans!

I am a little better today but I still wobble when I walk.  I don’t put much weight on my leg, and after I am taken out I pant in pain.  Mommy called the dogtor and made an appointment for me on Monday to maybe have some x-rays and to eliminate anything bad to make them feel better.  Make them feel better?  I am the one who is busted!

I think I am doing good,.  Everything a human could want in a dog, except for the walking.  I am eating fine, still tasting every inch of the floor with my tongue (just a bit slower), doing my pooping and peeing with no problem, have got in two fights with Pocket, don’t react in pain to any touching or probing.  I do start panting a short while after I go outside for my business  but hey!  my leg hurts.  I am sure I am fine but maybe say a quick prayer for me, after the much more important dogs there are to pray for with serious problems. I am just a little gimpy that’s all.  

And maybe say a little one for my parents too.  I am really worried about them.  They are carrying me, and talking to me softly and giving me extra treats and food.  Hey, what am I talking about? Foget the prayers.  Life’s never been better.

Except for the walking.

Wordlesss Wednesday

Crystal is our March 31, 2013 Pup of the Week

The inevitable truth is that each day we get older, both dog and man, and there is nothing we can do about it.   Some day in the hopefully very distant future we will all be dust.  This I accept, but I do worry about this wonderful online world, full of caring friends sharing wonderful stories, shoulders to cry on, invaluable experiences, and great fellowship.  Who will carry on what we have built when we are gone?

Then I remember Crystal and her Mom and I feel better.  Not only is Crystal a young pup who is going to be with us for a long time, but her Mom is very young, and when the rest of our Mommies are too old to use the computer Crystal’s Mom will be young enough to run the whole Internet.

Crystal and her Mom are showing us old hands that we can learn so much if we would listen to our young friends.  Last week, for the first time, Crystal was allowed to run free, and her Mom said that Crystal showed her that being a good dog owner doesn’t just mean keeping your dog on leash but building the trust between owner and dog to have them off leash.  This insight just blew me away.  And, considering that my Mom has never trusted me off leash, showed that the young have so much to teach their elders.

Then there was Crystal Mom’s reaction to my blog saying that Michael Vick would likely fail in his second attempt at dog ownership:  “Making mistakes are a giant part of every humans life. It's almost what their made for.  When humans are impacted by their mistakes, as Vick was, they tend to learn from them. Their mistakes change them. Some humans change for the good, and some change for the bad. We hope Vick changes for the good. I for one dont believ in judging someone for the rest of their lifes over a mistake that they made. I do not stand by Vicks mistakes and dont care for him much either. But everyone deserves a second chance.”  We could not have said it better ourselves (and didn’t.)  

One of our favorite Internet experiences is watching Crystal and her Mom learn and grow together.  Like when Crystal’s Mom saw that Crystal liked to sleep curled up.  She bought Crystal a bed but Crystal, being a big dog, laid every way possible, across it, over it, around it, but with help from her Mom she figured out how to curl up and sleep in it.  That is what I love Crystal and his Mom as they both grow towards adulthood, together they are taking time and figuring out how it works.

So this is for Crystal and her Mom.  Someday we are going to have to leave the Internet to someone, and I can’t think of anyone pup and Mom better to trust with this huge responsibility than the two of them.

Attorney in Training Pocket Dog Answers Your Legal Questions

(From Foley Monster:  I have hired (ordered) Pocket to go through my many requests for legal aid as part of her training to be a lawyer.  Here are some of the answers to questions we have received.)

Dear Attorney in Training Pocket Dog:  I would like you to represent the Southern dogs against the Northern dogs.  The Northern dogs have sent their cold weather down to us instead of keeping it up their way.  I am aggrieved that we have to experience their weather.  I want to sue them for not keeping track of their weather.  Will you take my case? - Tashi

Dear Tashi:  I am sorry, being a Northern dog I cannot take your case.  I think we should join together and sue all the dogs from the  North Pole who are sending their cold air our way, and when we win we will make them drag us around in those very cool sleds.  Either that or sue the groundhog.  I understand he was recently cleared of blame for the late winter but we believe that was just clever work by his publicist.  I shall get to filing the papers now.

Dear Attorney in Training Pocket Dog:  My Mom took me for what I think was an unnecessary surgery.  First I had to get my teeth cleaned because I had stinky breath.  What is so bad about stinky breath?  I smell butts all day long.  If I don’t find butts offensive then breath is nothing. She also had what was supposed to be a wart removed.  When I woke up there was a huge chunk of skin missing.  I thought the removal of the wart would be simple.  I think I was misled.  Will you represent me? - Max Maggo

Dear Max:  I have checked with my supervisor Attorney Foley Monster and she told me that we cannot take a case with your Mom as the defendant because of her loyalty to Tanner Bub and because she knows that your Mom did what she knew was right.  Those warts can turn into something far worse and cause you to receive a premature ticket to the Bridge.  The good news is, if the doctor said he would be able to remove the wart easily and he ended up taking a huge chunk out of your skin then he is liable.  We sent him a settlement request of 200 assorted treats.

Dear Attorney in Training Pocket Dog:  My Daddy kept me off line for over a year and I missed lots of good times with my friends.  Is this actionable? - Sophie Jean Boyd.

Dear Sophie:  You are darn right it is.  I have discussed it with Foley and we are demanding that your Daddy feed you nothing but premium dog food and treats for the next week, provides for you a new toy for every toy you own that is over two years old, and takes you for at least one half hour walk a day where you are allowed to sniff whatever you want to sniff.  If he does not do this then he can expect to go before Judge Judy in Doggycourt.  Your fee is one premium treat.  Please stay in touch if he does not meet our demands.

Pocket’s Legal Tip of the Week:  Recently the Supreme Court ruled against two of Foley’s clients.  They were dogs who worked for the police and had sniffed drugs outside a man’s home.  The police used this as probable cause to enter the house and arrest the man.  The Supreme Court ruled that just because us dogs tipped the police that there were drugs in the house it was not good enough evidence for them to enter.  Basically they said that us dogs could go boolala ourselves.  So I advise that whatever we learn through our superior senses about what humans are doing in our house, as long as they aren’t hurting animals or humans, we let it be.  If humans don’t appreciate what we do for them then they can figure out who is getting high on their own.  Instead of working for the man let’s start working on our rights so the Supreme Court will recognize us as the Superior beings.  And Dude, if you are getting so stoned we can smell you across the street, might be time for a meeting.