Simone the Supervisor

Simone supervises us putting out a yard of bark dust in the flower beds on a sunny April Saturday.

First Farmer's Market

Simone checks out the haul from the first Corvallis Farmer's Market of the season: apple cider, kale raab, bread, mushrooms, lettuce, potatoes, garlic, a small slab of jalepeno havarti cheese, and a leek. Yum!

Visiting Tammy

Simone got to go visit our neighbor Tammy while we went to Albany to see Cabaret last night. Tammy let Simone snuggle on the couch while they watched Marley and Me. What a happy girl!

Lilac Shopping

We went shopping for lilacs at Garland Nursery north of Corvallis today. We came home with three five-gallon plants and planted them along the back fence where the butterfly bushes used to be.

Spring Day

Simone sunbathes in the front yard in between rain showers.

April Sun

Simone sunbathes in one of her favorite spots.

A Good Scratch

Now that the ground isn't as soggy, Simone loves to roll around on it on her back every time we go to the park.

Happy Spring!

Happy spring everyone!
We went for a walk this afternoon.
We first stopped to smell the daffodils...

...then Simone joyously ran through the marsh and startled the ducks...


....and finally made a new friend at Starker Arts Park.

Little Red Riding Hood

Simone patiently models the red cape I sewed for a three-year old friend.

Go where?

Simone's response after being asked if she wants to go to Home Depot.

Pig Ear

Simone waits patiently for a pig ear, her favorite treat.

Fort Simone

Simone has taken to moving the round pillow to the middle of the futon. She generally enjoys flopping her body over it and napping all afternoon. The last couple of days, however, she's started sleeping in between that pillow and the other one for more of a "body hug".
We call it Fort Simone.

Sunday Morning Snooze

Simone and mom nap on the futon after a late Sunday morning breakfast after losing an hour to daylight savings time.

Simone's Zoo

Simone and all of her stuffed animals!

Under the Bed

Simone sleeps in one of her favorite spots...under our bed.

No Dogs Allowed

We hit the Winter Farmer's Market in Corvallis today at the fairgrounds. They had a "no dogs allowed" policy in effect, so Simone had to wait outside while we picked up some kale, new potatoes, hazelnuts, and bread. Here she hangs out by one of the closed up fair booths.

Meet and Greet

Simone shakes hands with Copper, a dog with whom she tangled leashes while on a walk in Bald Hill Park.

Valentine's Snack

We thought it would be cute to try and get a picture of Simone with a rose between her teeth.

We somehow forgot about her love of eating sticks and tearing them to shreds. Oops. Suffice it to say, not much was left of the rose. It took quite a bit of coaxing and pulling to keep her from consuming the entire flower.
At least it's high in fiber, right?

Sunday Morning

Simone listens as dad reads her stories from the Sunday morning paper.

Snuggle

Simone snuggles with mom on the couch.

McDowell Creek Falls

We took a hike out at McDowell Creek Falls, east of Lebanon today. The weather was great and Simone enjoyed the jaunt.

Tidepooling

Simone checks out the tidepools at Agate Beach in Newport.

Simone meets the neighbor's puppies

Simone inspects Kiki and her new puppies at Sunset Park.

Gone Swimmin'

Simone takes a dip in the duck pond by our house.

Simone's Got Credit!

We decided Simone was finally old enough to have her own credit card. Of course, we wanted to protect her against identity theft, so we went with the card that has photo ID.

Cozy Girl

Snuggled up on the couch for an afternoon nap.

Simone's Favorite Sleeping Position

Simone's new favorite sleeping position. She just loves having that pillow under her midriff!

Christmas Day Walk

We took a walk out at Oak Creek today. Simone loved running through the snow!

Simone and Dad

Simone snuggles with dad. She assumed this position all on her own, without any coaxing or help!

Simone's Blue Cookie

This Simone story begins about a week ago, when Gary discovers evidence of mice in the garage. He announces that he is going to ride his bike to Bi-Mart to go get something to take care of it, disappears for awhile, then returns. Nothing else was said about the mouse problem, and we went along our merry way.

Fast forward to today. We had been out running errands and picking up produce at the farmer's market. We returned home around 2:40pm. Simone stayed outside with Gary, who was working in the garage, and I went into the house. A few minutes later, I went back out to get something out of the truck, and Gary asked me what Simone was eating. I told him I hadn't given her anything to eat, save a cookie about 5 minutes ago. He went over and opened her mouth, and discovered that she was eating something blue. I told him I had not given her a blue cookie, and that's when it registered to Gary that Simone was eating a rodenticide block that he had put in what he thought was an inconspicuous place in the garage. Apparently it wasn't missed by Simone, who thought she would get to sneak a snack.

I'd been told awhile back that 3% hydrogen peroxide would cause a dog to vomit, so we gave her about 15 cc and waited a few minutes for it to work its magic. Nothing. We gave her another 5 cc and waited a little longer. Still no reaction. At this point, we realized we were going to need some help getting her to vomit, so we called our vet. They were of course closed, so we were once again referred back to Willamette, which has a 24-7 urgent care clinic. We gave them a call, and then sped down to the office.

By the time we reached the clinic, it had been about 40 minutes post ingestion. They quickly took her into the back room and gave her an injection of apomorphine, which caused her to vomit quickly. She vomited up a nearly intact block of the blue rodenticide for the vet tech. The doctor then led her back in, told us that because she had vomited up nearly all of the poison, she didn't anticipate any adverse effects. The doctor then gave us a prescription for vitamin K just in case the small amount she did absorb started to cause any problems with blood clotting.

So, Simone's home now, doped up from the morphine-related emetic, and taking it easy. The vet told us she'll probably be out of it for awhile, but should be fine come tomorrow. We're just relieved that she's going to be okay. Suffice it to say that this kind of thing won't happen again, and any tactics we might use to kill mice in the future won't be something that Simone will be able to find!

Here's a little twist: As you probably recall, I did a stint at the National Pesticide Information Center when we first moved to Corvallis. While I was there, my friend and coworker Bonnie wrote a case profile on rodenticide poisoning. She asked me if I would mind if she used my, Gary's, and Simone's names in her article, and I consented. The story is centered around Gary and Carley's daughter Simone, who may have ingested some rodenticide she found in the garage. Just as in the story, we had just returned home from shopping, and then caught Simone with some blue rodenticide. There are a lot of rodenticides out there, so we find it even more ironic that the rodenticide in the story is the same as the one that Simone actually ingested today: bromadiolone. If you'd like to read the original case study from 2005, visit http://npic.orst.edu/capro/RodentsGnaw.pdf.

Kidney stones? Are you serious?

We had the pleasure of taking Simone to the emergency vet last night at 10pm. We had gone out to a birthday party, and when we got home, let Simone out to go potty. She was acting funny and kept squatting over and over again like she couldn't go. Gary grabbed the flashlight and we followed her around trying to see if we could catch a glimpse at what was --or wasn't-- coming out. On one of her last squats, we saw that her urine had blood in it, so we called our vet, who directed us to the urgent care clinic. Her thought was Simone was either passing a stone or had a massive infection. So, we took her back to Willamette (her old vet) because they were the only ones open, and she was seen by the on-call vet. He took an x-ray and didn't see any stones. He said it could be a bladder infection, but didn't take a urine sample. He prescribed some antibiotics (doxycycline) and pain pills and sent us home about an hour later. Simone seems to be feeling fine now, so we're hoping it was a stone that she passed. We plan to follow up with her regular vet tomorrow, and expect they will probably want to culture her urine to rule out a bladder infection. We're keeping our fingers crossed that it was an isolated stone passing incident and not another infection. We'll keep you posted.

Boating

Simone enjoys the breeze boating on Foster Reservoir with the Abels.

Happy Friday the 13th!

I posted a few new photos this morning...these are photos we submitted to Reuters, who along with Sony, is sponsoring a display of "Everyday Smiles" in Times Square in NYC. We submitted photos a few days ago, and they ended up displaying 9 of our 10 photos yesterday afternoon. The photos were taken by a webcam from an office building across the street from the Reuters sign. We thought it was kind of a fun thing....If you'd like to do the same, go to the Reuters/Sony site and upload your photo. I don't think they are too picky, so long as the person is smiling. The only photo they didn't choose was the one we sent in of just Simone smiling. I guess canine grins don't count. Oh well. At least we got her in on the one where she's giving Gary a kiss!

---

It's finally sunny here in Corvallis, and Simone and I are soaking up the sunshine today. Her gums have healed nicely from the surgery and she has gotten spoiled lately with long evening walks down to 35th and back...so much so that when I am too tired and would rather take it easy at home, she lets me know by 8:30pm that it's simply not acceptable that she hasn't had her big walk of the day. So, off we go, and she runs through the tall grass over by Sunset Park and we bat our way through the evening mosquitoes until she's had her fill. I've been cheating her of the full 2 miles lately, but hope to get back to that this next week. Hopefully with Gary finally done with "Fawlty Towers" this weekend, his being home again in the evenings will help propel us back on track.

Other than that, things here are good. I finished up my first term at my clinical site in Eugene, and have "comped" on 13 different exams...mostly extremities, but now I can also play bartender with barium and perform the small bowel follow through exam. It's all good fun. For the first time in my life, I actually look forward to going to work every day and am not filled with that awful sense of dread or obligation. I think I may have finally found my niche!

With the term over, I now have a week off and plan to spend my time in the garden, catching up on my stack of untouched library books, taking Simone on long walks, and actually cooking meals again. Hopefully I can still remember how!

Happy Friday the 13th everyone...Don't let paraskavedekatriaphobia get you down!

Two Teeth Pulled!

Simone was a trooper today...Gary dropped her off at 7:30 am this morning at the hospital in Albany where the doggy dentist practices. She didn't really want to go in, but complied knowing he'd be back for her later. Gary received a call around noon letting him know she had come out of the anesthesia okay and was in recovery and doing well. She had remained stable throughout the procedure...no scary drops in blood pressure or troubles breathing, which was a huge relief. He drove back over there to get her after work, and they finally released her to him around 5:30 p.m. They ended up pulling two teeth, the one that was broken off in the back, and the one next to it. Both teeth were abcessed and the infection had spread to her jawbone. They were able to get both teeth out okay and took steps to excise what they could of the infection in the bone. She will be on antibiotics for a couple of weeks, and we go back in next week to our regular vet for a CBC just to make sure her thrombocytopenia doesn't flare up from what is expected to be a heightened immune response. She seems to be doing well tonight, and was excited to eat dinner (she had been NPO for almost 27 hours to help make sure she wouldn't get sick from the anesthesia). We're taking it easy now and having a snuggle on the couch. I'm sure her mouth must be hurting, but she's being her usual happy self and not letting on about any pain or discomfort. Hopefully she will heal quickly and without any complications.

Simone's Dentist Appointment

Simone will have at least one tooth pulled on Tuesday, May 13th. Whether the count remains at one or inches up to 2 or more will be determined by the x-ray the doggy dentist takes after they anesthetize her that morning. If any of her other teeth are questionable, we've consented to allowing them to remove whatever they feel is necessary since we don't want to have to put her through this more than once. Sounds like it will be an all day thing, so we will drop her off early (7:30 am), and then pick her up at 4:30pm. It's a bit scary, and we worry a little about the inherent risks involved with medical procedures requiring anesthesia, but we're hopeful that everything will go well and that this will put the kibosh on any future medical problems that could have stemmed from not treating it.

Lap Dog

Simone sitting on mom's lap...She still thinks she's a tiny puppy!

Simone's Going to the Dentist

Just when you think you've heard it all...

Miss Simone now needs dental work. She broke a few teeth awhile back chewing on various bones, and now the teeth stumps are looking infected.

So, she has an appointment with a doggy dentist on Friday afternoon. It's the kind of thing that we can't not take care of...infected teeth can lead to serious systemic problems. And, as her little medical mystery is still unsolved, we'd hate to trigger it again or cause her to start having kidney or heart problems. So, our poor girl will likely be having a couple teeth pulled in the near future!

Hopefully THIS will be the last thing. We hope, hope, hope....

Simone's Birthday

Yesterday was Simone's birthday. She's eight, and it's such a welcome birthday celebration. If it hadn't been for the vets at OSU, she wouldn't be here to look at me with disdain as I tried to get her to pose with the hat and cupcake :) She didn't get to eat it unfortunately, but I baked six dozen cupcakes for the vets and students at OSU's vet hospital where she spent ten days in the ICU. Simone and Gary went and took them to them yesterday to say hi and thank them again for healing our girl. She certainly wouldn't be here now without their care and expertise!

The Rock Game

Simone likes to go down to the Willamette River and chase after rocks.

Paw Print

Simone left her mark in the muddy path.

Waiting Patiently

Simone waited patiently as we sat along the bank of the Mary's River and fished this cool February day.

Enterobacter Defeated!

After nearly a month of battling the Enterobacter spp. infection in her bladder and four different antibiotics, Simone is finally winning the war. We received a call from her vet this afternoon informing us that yesterday's urine sample did not have any bacteria in it. Hooray! We will continue her on the antibiotics for another three weeks just to make sure it's gone, and then do a recheck next month to make sure it's gone for good. We're glad the latest drug (and the cranberry supplements we've been sneaking to her in hot dogs) have finally done the trick.

Hopefully THIS will be the last health problem for a very long time. :)

Butternut Squash

Simone loves to eat vegetables. Butternut squash is one of her favorites.

Bacterial Resistance

Drat! Simone's latest urine culture shows that the bacteria are not dying off in droves as we had hoped with the new antibiotic. Het vet is in the process of consulting with an internal medicine specialist to determine what to do now that she's allergic to the remaining drugs that the sensitivity test indicates would most likely work. Bladder infections can be potentially very serious, so unfortunatley it's not something we can just hope will go away. Hopefully her vet will get a successful course of treatment figured out and Simone will be able to kick this thing soon.

Anaphylaxis Avoided!

So, we went and picked up the third (and hopefully final) antibiotic in an effort to combat Simone's latest ailment. She took the first two doses without going into shock, so we went ahead and forked over a Ben and Ulysses to pick up the remianing 20 days of pills. (Sigh...) It would be nice if she could choose to not be allergic to the inexpensive, generic drugs, but what can you do? Simone demands nothing less than the best! She'll have to go back in for a urinalysis in a week to make sure she is responding to this drug. Of course, it's not quick and easy like peeing in a cup, but involves an ultrasound machine and a rather large needle. Our Simone is such a trooper! She's really been through a lot these past six months...Here's to hoping this is her last health issue for a very, very long time.

Poor Simone

So, less than a week after Simone's allergic reaction, we ended up taking her back in to the vet because she had been getting us up every 3 hours during the night. An exam, bloodwork, and urinalysis later: she has a bladder infection. Poor puppy. How she got that I'll never know. They started her on some amoxicillin, which she was one for three days before the results of her urine culture came back letting us know that the particular strain of bacteria whooping it up in her bladder right now (Enterobacter spp) is resistant to that drug. So, last night we went and picked up her new prescription (Cipro). Gave her two pills at 6pm, and by 8:30, she was acting funny: sneezing, rubbing her head on the carpet, and "talking" to us. We initially thought she was being playful, and it took us another 20 minutes to see that her eyes were nearly swollen shut and it looked like she was trying to blow up a balloon. We called our vet's office, whose answering service patched us through to the on-call vet. Sure enough, Simone was having an allergic reaction to the Cipro. She had us give Simone three benadryl and keep an eye on her breathing. The swelling started to go down around 11pm, and she slept through the night (although I didn't). So, we'll try again with another antibiotic this afternoon, one that hopefully won't cause her to go into anaphylactic shock. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Allergic Reaction

We had a fun day yesterday. Went for a long walk down past the duck pond all the way down to 35th Street and trolloped through the wetlands and down the new boardwalk at Sunset Park. After we got back, we decided it was time to clean Simone's ears (a very necessary Sunday afternoon ritual), and we noticed that her right eye was bulging out of its socket. Needless to say, we were freaked out and called the emergency vet's office. They felt it was necessary to see her right away, so we all hopped into the truck and sped down Philomath Blvd. to the clinic. We were seen within minutes of our arrival, and it was determined that Simone was having an allergic reaction to some unknown stimulus. Her other eye was starting to look puffy, as was her mouth, and the on-call vet pointed out the hives that were appearing on her skin. They used a fluorescent green dye to check out her eye and make sure there wasn't a foreign body in there, and cleaned it out with saline and a Q-tip. Simone was really good and held still while her eye was poked and flushed. The vet said her eye wasn't scratched and didn't show any signs of injury, which was a relief. Simone was taken back into the treatment room for an injection of a steroid (fortunately not prednosone, the evil steroid that caused her so many problems this past fall) to control the systemic swelling taking place, and also a large dose of benadryl. Within an hour, her eye was nearly back to normal, and her hives disappeared. We were so relieved to have a definite diagnosis and then actual cure within the space of 30 minutes. After our last traumatic veterinary experience, we weren't sure we were ready for another!

Now, back to the futon...

Simone's Bear

Simone snuggles with the bear Dennis and Mary gave to her.

Bored

Simone gives us the bored look while laying on the ottoman.

A Clean Bill of Health

We are delighted to report that after five long months, Simone has finally received a clean bill of health! She went in for blood work this past Saturday to see how things were looking, and finally everything looks good. Gary talked to our new vet, Dr. Rosenlicht yesterday afternoon, and she said all of Simone's values are finally looking normal. The enzyme that was elevated last time (CK, one that indicates muscle damage) was back down within normal limits again, and everything looks good. We can sure tell that Simone feels good, as she's got a great appetite (she now coerces us into an extra scoop of food at bedtime), enjoys running around in the mud and rain, and continually taunts us with her squeeky toys. We don't have to go back in for a recheck again until February or March. We hope everything will continue to go well and that we have all survived our journey through this challenging time.

We will be forever thankful for her recovery and for your support during this year.

Simone Update 11/24

It's been a good month. Simone has gained back the 20+ pounds she lost during her illness, and is now somewhere in the mid-80 pound range. The hard part has been cutting back her caloric intake from unlimited to something more reasonable for general weight maintenance. She's energetic, good-natured, and playful, and a lot more talkative now than she ever was. It's her new thing to walk into a room where we are and "talk" to us --not bark, per say, but make some very intent vocal sounds letting us know that something is on her mind! She used to only do it when we danced in front of her (she still objects wholeheartedly to that!), but now she does it when her water is low, if she wants to play, or if she is ready for some excitement.

We have switched vets, and were given a referral by the folks at OSU to Dr. Rosenlicht at Eastgate, on Peoria Road. Simone went in for a check-up last Saturday and had bloodwork done. Some of the results are back, and indicate that her red blood cell count is higher (up to 35 from 28). She is still slightly anemic, but this is an improvement. We're hoping the next time they check her red cell count that it's back in the normal range! Her liver values have basically dropped down to normal. Bye, bye fear of liver failure! We're excited that possibility is now no longer something we have to worry about. Her thyroid levels looked good, and she's on an appropriate level of medication for that. The only troublesome thing was her CK enzyme was really elevated. CK (creatinine kinase) is an enzyme that indicates muscle damage. It's an enzyme that can help identify if a heart attack has occurred, if muscle has been damaged, or if the kidneys are failing. Dr. Rosenlicht said this value was very high and she was concerned about it, but she was waiting to hear back from OSU to find out how Saturday's CK value compared to previous values. Since Simone's eating fine and acting happy and energetic, we're hoping that there isn't a problem and that maybe this value is lower than it used to be. We'll see. In the meantime, we're thankful to have our girl basically back to normal.

Life just wouldn't be the same without her.

Reading

Simone enjoys the latest copy of BARK magazine.

Simone Update 10/27

It's been a good two weeks. Simone is doing really well. She went in for a recheck appointment yesterday afternoon. Two of her liver enzyme values have dropped substantially (ALT from 996 to 285 and ALP from 4295 to 1088). I think normal values for those two enzymes are supposed to be under 100, so we're getting closer. An approximately 75% decrease in two weeks is very promising! Her white blood cell count is finally back within normal range (it's been elevated nearly this entire time, indicating that her body has been fighting something), but her red cell count (packed cell volume) is still low at 28%. At least it's holding steady at 28% and hasn't dropped in the last three weeks. It's supposed to be around 40% or so, so it's something we have to watch. She has an appointment to go back in next Friday to recheck her red cell count and just make sure it doesn't fall. If it does, she might be looking at another blood transfusion. We're hoping though that as her liver inflammation subsides, and with her platelets and white cell count within normal limits again, that maybe her red blood cell count will rebound too.

She continues to eat voraciously though, and wants to play all the time. She's very good at distracting me from my homework! I can't resist her "play with me" look!

Simone's Halloween Costume

Simone sunbathes in her tooth fairy costume.

Simone Update 10/11

Things seem to be going pretty good this week. We had a nice weekend at the coast, and Simone enjoyed taking a quick dip in the ocean and sleeping on the bed with us at the Fireside. Overall, she seems to be improving. She is eating dog food again uncoerced, wags her tail a lot more, and frequently grabs a toy and wants to play. She went in on Wednesday for a recheck, and although her liver enzymes are still sky-high, they are a little lower than they were last time. She still has a ways to go before reaching the normal range again, but we are hopeful with her now eating and feeling more happy and energetic that it will happen. She takes her last prednosone pill tomorrow, and then will only be on liver support drugs until the enzyme values come down. The vet is pushing for us to authorize a liver biopsy, but we are against it. For one, the procedure would require surgery, and we don't want Simone to have to go through that. The other thing about the biopsy is that all it would do is give us a better idea of her overall prognosis, and it wouldn't change her treatment or fix anything. We're just hoping that all she needs is a little more time to get back to normal and will still have many happy, healthy years ahead.

Simone Update 10/6

It's been another crazy 24 hours. We woke up yesterday to find Simone in serious discomfort from her enlarged abdomen. Her breathing had become labored, and she was stuck under the bed because of her increased girth. We debated about whether to take her to the emergency clinic (our old vet) or wait until the OSU hospital opened up. We decided to try and wait for the latter since the staff there is more familiar with what's been going on. I kept an eye on her until I left for class at 8:30, and then Gary was able to get her in at 10:30 am. Dr. Gordon said her abdomen did look distended, but she didn't know it was absolutely necessary to drain the fluid. Gary emphasized that it was affecting her breathing, and the doctor agreed to perform the procedure. Gary left Simone at the hospital and then went back to work to wait for a call.

He went back at 4pm and found a happy, energetic, bright-eyed Simone. They had inserted a tube into her abdomen and drained out 1.5 liters (nearly 6.5 cups!) of a clear fluid. No wonder she was so uncomfortable! They also did an echocardiogram to check for clots in her heart/lungs, but didn't see any. Less pressure on her abdomen helped her appetite to return, and she ate some of their dry dog food while we were there (something she hasn't done voluntarily in about 2 weeks). They sent her home with revised medication instructions, and will go back in on Wednesday for a recheck. There is a chance her abdomen will need to be drained again, but we're hoping that with the increased dose of blood thinner (stepped up again from the other day), all of her blood components will be able to stay within the vessels and not be forced out. We'll see. At least for now, things are looking up (yes, again), and we continue to be hopeful that they will stay that way!

So, we are headed to the coast today for an overnighter at a pet-friendly motel in Yachats called the Fireside. We have decided that we need a little family get away from all of the stress and chaos that is our life these days. We are looking forward to a nice walk on the beach and hopefully a good night's sleep.

Simone Update 10/4

We're starting to feel like a yo-yo, continually being yanked up and then thrown back down. We took Simone back in yesterday because she's still not eating and her abdomen has become enlarged over the weekend. The doctor did an ultrasound and discovered new blood clots in her spleen and liver and quite a bit of fluid in her abdomen. They took a sample of the fluid and found it to be clear. The doctor thinks that there is maybe a clot higher up, closer to her heart, that is causing hypertension, which is forcing the watery part of her blood to be pushed out of her arteries and into her abdominal cavity. That's one theory, and there are others too numerous to list. She has suggested we do an echocardiogram to see if there is indeed a clot higher up, but that won't change the treatment (she's already on heparin, a blood thinner). She also suggested doing a surgical liver, stomach, and small intestine biopsy, but we have decided not to put Simone through that. That test also wouldn't really change how she is being treated as she's already on antibiotics and a number of liver support drugs. They did give us another injectable medication to give her three times a day to hopefully stimulate her appetite; it worked last night, but this morning she seems to have a fever and won't touch anything resembling food. We're hoping that maybe once the antibiotic kicks in and she starts feeling better that she'll want to partake of the smorgasbord downstairs (2 different kinds of dog food, a bowl of tuna, and a bowl of eggs). Time will tell. We're afraid that despite having made it through a really scary time last month, we may be headed back to the "dark place" once again.