Its been a while...

Haven't posted in such a long time, but I thought its time to start blogging again especially to document the road I am going down with my sweet Lupe.

After about 3 weeks of vet visits, we finally have a diagnosis, synovial cell sarcoma, cancer of the joint in her right front leg.  She is a good candidate for amputation as her chest x-rays were clear.  She is having blood work and an abdomnial ultrasound today which will further clarify if surgery is an option.  If it is, it becomes my decision, if it is not, the decision is made...either way, I cherish every day I have with her.  I need to go back and really put down the beginning of this journey, but I'm not ready for that just yet...maybe later today, maybe over the weekend.  For now, I wait and ponder what to do.  Oh and share some awesome pics of her :)

Post-Op Update

Just a quick post to let you all know that Lupe is doing okay. Her face is swollen, red and a little bruised, but she doesn't look nearly as horrible as I thought she would.

She's got a good appetite, is drinking well and has had no bathroom issues. She even pooped today!!! There is some whining, especially when its time to go to sleep or if she gets "lost" because of the cone of shame. She's not tolerating the cold compress on her face, so I've given up on that. She even just walked up and down a couple of stairs!

Keeping fingers crossed that her recovery keeps going well!

Sad day

Today is Lupe's surgery. I had to drop her off at 7 am at the vet. I've been pretty good about keeping it together about this whole thing. I did take lots of pictures of her the last few days and she got tons of belly rubs, butt scratches, etc. When the vet tech came to talk to me and take her, I just started to cry. Got one last good look at her face, hugged her and left. She should only be in surgery for about an hour and then they will give her about an hour and a half to come out of the drugs. At that point, they will call me with an update. Vet tech told me that she will feel so much better when this is all done and that she has 2 animals with only 1 eye. I'm just going to miss those expressive eyes. But I will have a dog that feels so much better and once the hair grows back in (they told me that will be the biggest shock, to see half of her face shaved) I think she'll look just fine.

Be strong my sweet Lupe-dog!!!

Drive by...

Just a quick post as I eat my breakfast and focus on how to tackle the day. I took Lupe to an opthomologist yesterday to have her further look into Lupe's left eye. The vet confirmed Lupe's primary vet's diagnosis, glaucoma. The pressure in her eye is quite high and causing a lot of pain. Was told she should have been on medication for the cataract all along to help prevent inflamation. Nothing I can do about that now though. The vet got all the medication ready and started to explain the disease. Basically, they can try to treat it medically, but the medicines on the market don't work well in animals and eventually they will stop working and Lupe will have to have the eye removed. The eye is blind and has been because of the advanced cataract and if it wasn't, it would be now because of the glaucoma. Vet said she was willing to try mediciation to see if it worked and we would know in a couple of weeks what was going on. So I asked what are we trying to save with a blind eye that is causing a lot of pain and the vet honestly answered me with "Nothing". The decision was made (actually I made this decision before I went in) that since there is no sight and Lupe is in pain, the eye has to come out.

Lupe won't notice the difference, except that once she recovers from surgery that she feel better. Me? I have some coping to do. I have the option of putting in a false eye which would move like a normal eye, but there are complications with that and if there were complications, that would mean a second surgery on a 14 year old dog. Still trying to convince myself that not putting in a false eye is the right decision, but the I either look at her, see a picture of her or think of her and I lose it. She's got such beautiful, expressive eyes and the change to her face is going to be drastic. I don't need to make the decision until the day of surgery (which is next Wednesday).

For now, Lu is on eye drops and pain meds to control things until surgery. I'm trying to remain calm and not over think this...but its hard.

Oh and I'm a couple of days late, but HAPPY 14th BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET LUPE!!!

Happy Birthday Lupe-Dog!

So today is my sweet girl's 14th birthday! Can't believe it! Through thick and thin she and I have managed to keep moving forward. I'm just amazed at how lucky I have been to have her in my life. There are some concerning things going on with her health-wise, but I don't want to post about that now...will when I have more information. So for today, its all good!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUPE-DOG!!!

Memories...like the corner of my mind...

Spent a weekend with a walk down memory lane. Elisa (my college roommate) came to visit. She had her grandfather's unveiling so her family all congregated in the greater Boston area, Elisa stayed with me. We were asked by her uncle how long it took us to connect and act and feel like we were never apart...about 10 seconds.

Yesterday we spent a couple of hours walking around Brandeis. We walked up the Rabb steps (55 up, 3 down), went in the library (got to see the model of the Roman forum), took our picture with the Louie statue (which had a pair of panties on its head and a bra around its neck), got a free soda at the cafeteria (many more options than we were there) and even got into our Freshman dorm.

It was just absolutely amazing. I've been to Brandeis once since I've moved back, but never walked around and I'm glad I go to do that with Elisa. Feels like yesterday we were there, but also feels like a lifetime ago.

Can't wait until she comes to visit again in July!!!

One more day...

until I celebrate my last birthday of my 30's. I have some mixed emotions on this and not because I'm closer to 40. For the last 5 years I haven't heard the story about when my parents found out they were getting me not have I heard the most horrible and beautiful rendition of happy birthday. Every year, except the first year I was in Mexico (and that's because she was in Paris), my Mom would tell me the story of when she first held me and how my brother went up to everyone to thank them for his beautiful baby sister. She would also sing me happy birthday and those who knew my Mom also know that she could not carry a tune to save her life! I do have someone who is just about as tone-deaf as my Mom so she normally sings to me and she does a great job in recreating the horrible and wonderful version of the song. But if I could just hear those both one more time...

Happy Friday all!!!