I Shoulda Went to Work

Monday was my day off. I had spent the weekend cleaning and was pretty comfortable that I was going to get to enjoy my day off by Sunday night. Until the refrigerator made a clunking sound. And we realized that it was really warm inside (not optimal, right?) Luckily Mark was able to make some adjustments (it was almost like a breaker made just the fridge go off, which makes no sense to me, but I'm not an electrician, so whatever) and get it to seem like it might be cooling off.

But, better safe than sorry...we moved all the stuff into an ice chest - and threw most of the leftovers in their containers in the sink. (it was late - like 11).

So, in the morning I was greeted with (yeah!) a working fridge....but left in the wake of the night before was the leftover containers and the fact that I still had to unload the ice chest back into the fridge. sigh.

And then I realized that Jack was having an issue, and would need to go to the vet.

And then Daisy decided that she didn't like the ice chest. It took me 15 minutes of watching her to figure out what she was barking at. OMG dog, STOP! She saw me put it out there! and didn't start barking till like an hour later. I think it was just an excuse for her to be an asshole. But maybe I'm wrong (I'm so not wrong!)

Yesterday I was back at work, where I had a ton to do. I made the realization that, 1) my direct supervisor is not the brightest bulb and that 2) she will take every opportunity to throw her staff under the bus.

I did manage to get everything done today, but not till I spent 15 minutes trying to show her how to add three numbers together on her calculator. (i wish I were kidding, y'all)

I also managed to cry twice in the last two days, both times were about Chance.

And now, while I'm happy to have gotten my invisiline, I'm not super happy about how much my mouth hurts. I am happy that it's such a pain in the ass to take them off and then brush/floss before putting the trays back in. it's just not worth the hassle to have extraneous snacks. I'm hoping this is going to be the BEST DIET EVER.

Wish me luck.

Good Boy, Chance

I don't really have the strength to go into much detail, but I wanted to let you all know what's going on. (Thank you to those of you who have emailed to ask me about Chance). Yesterday, we had to put Chance down. And we are all heartbroken.

For those of you who didn't know...On 4th of July weekend Chance wasn't feeling well. He was lethargic and vomiting. We took him to the vet where we found out that not only did he have pneumonia, but he also had a very large (cancerous) tumor on his liver. We were advised that there was extreme risk with doing a biopsy because of it's size and also with surgery to remove it. So, we opted to treat his pneumonia (what was making him sick at that point) and see how things went.

For awhile, things were okay. The antibiotics were working on the pneumonia and he was eating and behaving normally. The weekend we went camping, he stopped eating dog food. But when we got home, he was eating dog food (I bought him a new kind - I figured he was bored). But a few days later, he wasn't eating it and I had to cook him meals. In the last few days, he stopped wanting people food too.

We got to spend a ton of time with him and he got lots of love and snuggles and special food and treats. Some moments were very very good (tail wagging and snuggling) and others were not so good. By yesterday, he just looked tired. We made the decision to let him go before he got to the point where his discomfort was unbearable.

I'm comforted knowing that somewhere he is running and playing...and he can take big gulps of water and lick his cold wet nose (he had a previous injury that left his tongue 1/2 paralyzed). He is happy that is free from injury and disease....and he's watching over us, knowing that we love him and miss him so so much.

Camping!

(please hold while I laugh hysterically at Tori Spelling trying to sing)

Is anyone still out there? I'm telling you, this has been another rough month. And on top of everything else, (including the governor cutting my salary to the whopping sum of $6.55 per hour) our office has blocked ALL BLOGS. Seriously. That's just mean.

Needless to say, I can't post from work and I can't keep up on your lives from work either. :( And when I'm at home - I'm rarely on the computer. But I will catch up! I miss you guys!

There is a lot of suckiness happening around here. Everything is clouded by the fact that Chance is sick...and while he was getting better and seemed fairly normal, he's taken a turn for the worse this week. He's not wanting to eat (which means he's eating lots of treats and people food).

But, prior to that, Mark and I planned to go on a family camping trip and we decided to take Chance with us. We went to Bodega Bay (ocean!). But we were silly because we forgot to bring coats. um, hi! ocean! water! wind! cold! So we had to stop in a small city on the way and buy sweatshirts at the outlet mall. (mine is super cute though!)

The road trip was fun. Mark and I always have fun when we go places because we laugh and talk and joke a lot. We took a couple breaks and got Taco Bell (Chance had a taco). We got to camp late and set everything up. When we were done setting up the rest of our group showed up. (almost everyone was already there when we got there, except two cousins and their wives and one baby).

The days consisted of lots of walks on the beach (Chance loved running from the tide with me and collecting sand dollars....though he did try to eat the first one.) And there was lots of food. (which Chance got to share with everyone). Mark is always a great cook, particularly when we're camping.

We had a great time. Chance was a little confused about the tent, but he caught on quick....especially when he got to wander away from his bed and sleep with us on our sleeping bag bed (he kept me snuggly warm!) and when he got to eat graham crackers around the camp fire with us.

the only downside was the horrible sunburn we came home with. Mark has a super redneck and I look like spiderman. woohoo!

Chance Update

Thank you all for your sweet emails about Chance. I wanted to update you all on what's going on and how he's doing.

Chance wasn't feeling well over the 4th of July weekend. He had a fever on Monday (the 7th) and so I took him to the vet. He had some x-rays, a blood panel, and an ultrasound. On Tuesday morning we were told that he has a touch of pneumonia. But the major issue is that he has a tumor the size of a bowling ball on his liver and his liver function numbers weren't good.

Our options were to get a biopsy done through a specialist to see how progressive the cancer was (whether it was slow growing or fast) with the understanding that the biopsy could put him in danger. Best case scenario was that the tumor would be treatable and by treatable they meant surgery to remove it plus chemo.

Our other options were to put him down or to bring him home and see how he does.

The first option didn't seem to be very Chance friendly (neither did the 2nd!) Chance is twelve, and surgery is rough. Recovery is no fun and chemo certainly doesn't sound very fun either. We think that is a lot of trauma to put him through. The second option wasn't an option. So, we opted to pick him up on Tuesday afternoon.

He came home with his temperature down from 105.4 to 100.8. (yeah!) He had spent over 24 hours getting fluids and electrolytes and on antibiotics. He was sent home with a weeks worth of antibiotics. And he is doing much better! He is pretty alert and greets us at the door. He's back to watching us eat dinner (and cook dinner). He's back to eating his dog cookies and eating meals (he wasn't eating! of course, he's only eating special dog food with gravy or chicken breast tenders that we cook for him).

Yesterday, he even laid on his tummy with his legs behind him - resting all of his weight on his belly. Hopefully, this is a good sign that his liver/tumor aren't painful to him.

For now, we're enjoying our time with Chance and keeping him on the antibiotics to make sure the pneumonia clears up. We'll keep our fingers crossed that this tumor has been growing for years and years and years and that we still have some good quality time left to spend with him.

More Good Thoughts?

Do you know how much I appreciate you guys (girls!)?! I know I've called in more than my fair share of happy thoughts - but I have to ask one more time.

Channy isn't feeling well.
He was sick most of the weekend and now he's spending the night at the vet so he can get some fluids and antibiotics. They are doing x-rays and running tests to find out what's wrong with him (he has a fever and has been lethargic and not interested in eating - which, as we all know is very unlike Chance. He's a big fan of the "c-o-o-k-i-e".)

Please send your prayers and well wishes to Channy for a speedy (and not horrible expensive!) recovery.

Thanks, gang. You rock!