Monday, September 28, 2009
Family Photo
Last night my friend Elizabeth took some amazing pictures of Bob and I with the pups. Check it out out http://fowlerfive.blogspot.com/2009/09/bob-and-marty.html.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Spider
I took these pictures the other day. Not a small feat with no flash and lots of shaking. Shaking was due to the fear of that thing jumping on me. I was balancing on a chair and only a foot away from its web. I'm not sure what kind of spider it is but it sure is ugly.
(You can click on the pictures to get a better view.)
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The past week
9/10/09 - Mia and Maddox were running around chasing squirrels and acting like themselves.
9/11/09 - Friday morning I was laying with Mia and she was not acting like herself. Not responding to her name and not wanting to eat. As I was laying with her she started to moan and that scared me enough to call Bob so he could take her to the vet. When Bob got her to the vet she was in pretty bad shape. Basically it was do emergency surgery or she could die. So Mia had surgery. I was able to make it to the vets office to see her before her surgery. It was awful leaving her there not knowing if she was going to make it.
I left my car at the vets and we decided to go get a drink (Starbucks). Bob said he didn't want to go to our Starbucks because he didn't want them to see so distraught. I told him if he went to ours its far enough away for me to gain my composure and I could order our drinks. So we got to our Starbucks and I went in and order our drinks. I was able to ordered our drinks but once they asked me where Bob was at I lost it. So I told them what was going on and they were so sweet to me. They bought our drinks and told me that they would pray for her.
After Starbucks we drove around for a little bit and then ended up waiting at the house. After and hour had passed I asked Bob if he could call to get an update. Right as he was about to call his phone rang and Mia had made it out of surgery. She had a tumor on her spleen that caused her spleen to rupture. They said we could come see her at 2.
When we saw her she looked so good. She was responsive and was starting to show some attitude. The vet was guarded and said he would feel better once Monday came and she was doing good. They sent her tumor off for testing.
Bob and Terry transferred Mia from the vets office to an overnight doggie hospital so they could keep an eye on her. I was watching Caden and Kristen and got lots of Caden hugs which is just what I needed after the events of this day!
After Daryl got home Bob and I headed to the doggie hospital to see the girl. She was doing great. Standing up and demanding lots of love. We were also able to take her for a potty break. After seeing her I felt so reassured and couldn't wait to pick her up the following morning. I was so grateful on so many different levels.
9/12/09 - At 9:00am Bob and I went to pick up Mia from the overnight doggie hospital. I drove and Bob stayed in the back with the girl. Throughout the day she regained her appetite and she was acting more and more like herself. We loved on her and we were so grateful she was with us.
Mia just home from the doggie hospital.
9/15/09 - Mia had Terry, Bob, and I laughing on this night. Bob was trying to give her kisses and she kept moving her head away every time he moved in. She also started to avoid my camera. We were all in agreement. The Mammas was back!!
Mia and Terry on Tuesday night.
9/16/09 - The vet called with Mia's biopsy results. She has cancer. In fact she has the worst cancer dogs can get. In shock we took her back to the vets office for x-rays and to get some more info on her condition. The news was awful to hear. She could have anywhere from 19-65 days with no chemo or 3-6 months with chemo according to her books. We got a recommendation to a oncologist and tried to get an appointment for the next day. We weren't able to (they told Bob it would take ten days before we could get her in) so Bob called the vet and asked if she could help us. What a long night this was. I was pretty much out on the chemo. I didn't want my girl to suffer and more than she had to. Lots of crying and lots of praying. All I knew was her quality of live was more important than quantity.
9/17/09 - The vet called Bob and told him Mia has an appointment at 3:30 with the oncologist. The appointment went well. They answered all of our questions. We also told the oncologist the hardest part was she looks so great and acts like nothing is wrong. She explained that this is how she will be until the end.
Recent studies on this type of cancer show without treatment pups live an average of 2-3 months and with chemo 6-9 months. She told us these were averages and even with chemo she could still die within a short period. Chemo is not a guarantee. Chemo on pups isn't as harsh as it is on humans. The main side effects are nausea and diarrhea and they would give us drugs to counteract these effects. We also explained we would rather have quality vs quantity and she agreed with us. She said in the rare event that a pup has a bad reaction to the chemo they stop the treatment because they would rather have quality time.
After talking with the oncologist we talked to one of the nurses and she explained the chemo process to us. Somebody would cuddle with Mia during her treatment and another nurse was administer the drugs. She let us see the treatment area and answered any questions we could think of. Both of were starting to think chemo might be an option for Mia.
We left the office and talked it over. Even though there is no guarantee we felt this is something we should do.
9-18-09 - Mia had her first chemo treatment. As long as she keeps acting like herself we will do this for her. She will have a chemo every 3 weeks for a max of 5 treatments.
9-19-09 - The girl is doing great! Bob and I on the other hand are still processing all of this. There has been lots of tears and prayers over the past week. We have also been so blessed by all of our friends. Thanks for sending us messages! (Now that I can talk/write without crying as much I will be getting back to all of you.) I feel like we are in the grieving process even though she is still here with us. She has been getting lots of love from myself, Bob, Terry, my dad, and lots of other people.
So if we only have a day, a month, 6-9 months or longer we are going to make sure her last days are full of love. We are so grateful for the time we have had and the time we will have. As one of my friends told me "Horribly sad but we know where she is going. No more sickness and there couldn't be a better master then the Master!!!" So true! I wonder if Mia will sass Him like she sasses us?
So if you see tears come to our eyes please be gentle. I know to some people she might just be a dog but to us she is our little girl whom we love very much.
9/11/09 - Friday morning I was laying with Mia and she was not acting like herself. Not responding to her name and not wanting to eat. As I was laying with her she started to moan and that scared me enough to call Bob so he could take her to the vet. When Bob got her to the vet she was in pretty bad shape. Basically it was do emergency surgery or she could die. So Mia had surgery. I was able to make it to the vets office to see her before her surgery. It was awful leaving her there not knowing if she was going to make it.
I left my car at the vets and we decided to go get a drink (Starbucks). Bob said he didn't want to go to our Starbucks because he didn't want them to see so distraught. I told him if he went to ours its far enough away for me to gain my composure and I could order our drinks. So we got to our Starbucks and I went in and order our drinks. I was able to ordered our drinks but once they asked me where Bob was at I lost it. So I told them what was going on and they were so sweet to me. They bought our drinks and told me that they would pray for her.
After Starbucks we drove around for a little bit and then ended up waiting at the house. After and hour had passed I asked Bob if he could call to get an update. Right as he was about to call his phone rang and Mia had made it out of surgery. She had a tumor on her spleen that caused her spleen to rupture. They said we could come see her at 2.
When we saw her she looked so good. She was responsive and was starting to show some attitude. The vet was guarded and said he would feel better once Monday came and she was doing good. They sent her tumor off for testing.
Bob and Terry transferred Mia from the vets office to an overnight doggie hospital so they could keep an eye on her. I was watching Caden and Kristen and got lots of Caden hugs which is just what I needed after the events of this day!
After Daryl got home Bob and I headed to the doggie hospital to see the girl. She was doing great. Standing up and demanding lots of love. We were also able to take her for a potty break. After seeing her I felt so reassured and couldn't wait to pick her up the following morning. I was so grateful on so many different levels.
9/12/09 - At 9:00am Bob and I went to pick up Mia from the overnight doggie hospital. I drove and Bob stayed in the back with the girl. Throughout the day she regained her appetite and she was acting more and more like herself. We loved on her and we were so grateful she was with us.
Mia just home from the doggie hospital.
9/15/09 - Mia had Terry, Bob, and I laughing on this night. Bob was trying to give her kisses and she kept moving her head away every time he moved in. She also started to avoid my camera. We were all in agreement. The Mammas was back!!
Mia and Terry on Tuesday night.
9/16/09 - The vet called with Mia's biopsy results. She has cancer. In fact she has the worst cancer dogs can get. In shock we took her back to the vets office for x-rays and to get some more info on her condition. The news was awful to hear. She could have anywhere from 19-65 days with no chemo or 3-6 months with chemo according to her books. We got a recommendation to a oncologist and tried to get an appointment for the next day. We weren't able to (they told Bob it would take ten days before we could get her in) so Bob called the vet and asked if she could help us. What a long night this was. I was pretty much out on the chemo. I didn't want my girl to suffer and more than she had to. Lots of crying and lots of praying. All I knew was her quality of live was more important than quantity.
9/17/09 - The vet called Bob and told him Mia has an appointment at 3:30 with the oncologist. The appointment went well. They answered all of our questions. We also told the oncologist the hardest part was she looks so great and acts like nothing is wrong. She explained that this is how she will be until the end.
Recent studies on this type of cancer show without treatment pups live an average of 2-3 months and with chemo 6-9 months. She told us these were averages and even with chemo she could still die within a short period. Chemo is not a guarantee. Chemo on pups isn't as harsh as it is on humans. The main side effects are nausea and diarrhea and they would give us drugs to counteract these effects. We also explained we would rather have quality vs quantity and she agreed with us. She said in the rare event that a pup has a bad reaction to the chemo they stop the treatment because they would rather have quality time.
After talking with the oncologist we talked to one of the nurses and she explained the chemo process to us. Somebody would cuddle with Mia during her treatment and another nurse was administer the drugs. She let us see the treatment area and answered any questions we could think of. Both of were starting to think chemo might be an option for Mia.
We left the office and talked it over. Even though there is no guarantee we felt this is something we should do.
9-18-09 - Mia had her first chemo treatment. As long as she keeps acting like herself we will do this for her. She will have a chemo every 3 weeks for a max of 5 treatments.
9-19-09 - The girl is doing great! Bob and I on the other hand are still processing all of this. There has been lots of tears and prayers over the past week. We have also been so blessed by all of our friends. Thanks for sending us messages! (Now that I can talk/write without crying as much I will be getting back to all of you.) I feel like we are in the grieving process even though she is still here with us. She has been getting lots of love from myself, Bob, Terry, my dad, and lots of other people.
So if we only have a day, a month, 6-9 months or longer we are going to make sure her last days are full of love. We are so grateful for the time we have had and the time we will have. As one of my friends told me "Horribly sad but we know where she is going. No more sickness and there couldn't be a better master then the Master!!!" So true! I wonder if Mia will sass Him like she sasses us?
So if you see tears come to our eyes please be gentle. I know to some people she might just be a dog but to us she is our little girl whom we love very much.
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