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!

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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.