Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween Folks!

Not too scary tonight I hope for the little ones, but just enough, one would desire... BOO!

Here are some sites with scary Halloween stories for the children to use at your own discretion with care:  

http://www.americanfolklore.net/halloween.html
http://www.halloweenishere.com/ghost_stories.html
http://www.scaryforkids.com/scary-stories/

Now here’s my NOT so scary at all story for our little darling/bog/pal, better known as Skipper!
I suppose it should be called a tale of a tail?

Trying our darnedest to help our little guy and so we do whatever it takes and now that we have been feeding him via the tube it feels rather harsh to have to do that to him or anyone really!

Ta Da!

The below medication does offer some help and some hope to perhaps within days not needing to do that to our four footed friend…

Mirtazapine

Another medication used for both people and dogs/cats.
This is the one that I mentioned that I had Googled and came up with how to increase the appetite of a dog with cancer.

How this Medication is Used

Mirtazapine is used to treat conditions where poor appetite and nausea go together such as intestinal/stomach disease, liver or kidney disease, or others. Mirtazapine can also be used to alleviate the nausea/appetite loss that accompanies the treatment of cancer by chemotherapy.

In dogs, mirtazapine is generally given once a day, a relatively convenient dosing schedule compared to other medications. Even better, in cats mirtazapine is given twice a week.

In the event of liver disease or kidney disease, the clearance of this drug from the body is reduced by approximately 30% so ideally the dose should also be reduced. In cats, it is difficult to reduce the dose as the smallest tablet manufactured cannot be accurately cut much smaller than the regular dosing schedule allows. In this situation, a compounding pharmacy could be employed to create a lower dose or the dosing schedule can be stretched out. This is especially important for cats with liver disease.

Mirtazapine also has antihistamine properties but it is unlikely to be used for these when so many other antihistamines are more readily available.”

And so Skipper received his first dose this afternoon after Hubby brought it back from the doctor’s office.
He is on the minimal dosing of a quarter of a 15 mg. tablet.
This time his doctor’s office even cut it up for him, last time we received his Tramadol that was in Ft. My ers and I did tell the doctor that we had a pill cutter so we received it whole. I suppose I had forgotten to tell them that we have a pill cutter at his local vet’s here.

Any-who, it is in him along with his Pepcid and Tramadol and food from the a/d type of Hill’s Science Diet.

And we are feeling a bit more confident on what and how to handle this medical issue for our baby bog.

Now allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and kindly ask all of you to count all your blessings and share all those overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Hope we are not too late!



Sure we love our Skipper, and that goes without asking …  and sure we want to do everything possible for him and so after trying to get him to eat everything and anything suggested by knowledgeable people and reliable Internet sites…we finally have given in to contacting his doctor again and the holistic doc too for the first time, who is a VMD!



Now his Dr. Randy DVM has ordered medication to help with his appetite stimulation that should be in tomorrow afternoon (I had Googled to see if there were such a thing and then waited for the doc to reply on what I found.), and the holistic doc will be seeing him next week at the soonest.



It is nice to know that there are not too many divas in the veterinary profession, ya know?



We seemed to, at times, have found a few in the people medicine arena, ya know that too, I am more than sure of this.



Skipper’s appetite is iffy at best and it also becomes confusing on what to make for him when the doctors first tell you to use a specific diet that he spits out and when you go to try certain other things it says no high sodium due to blood pressure, no beef due to nasty enzymes, no toxic things of course to dogs as onions or garlic… and those things are good for humans though, not the beef or sodium but the onions and garlic.



Nutrition for people and dogs is NOT the same and what we may think is okay, may very well be taboo for our four legged friends.

Although, some silly things that Skipper would beg for that we were strict parents who made sure that he always ate his specific dog food only since he was born with a sensitive tummy and as a pup and even as an adult would find non food to eat, mostly outside that created havoc with his gastrogenic system, from the time of the infamous Hurricane Charley of 2004 when he was only a five and a half month old pup and debris flew into our yard from our home and our neighbors, insulation and such…not food stuff, but he ate a bit of it before we could grab it away of the NOT food stuff!

Yes, he with his brothers of Charlie the Cockatiel who was a mere twenty-five years old then and his pal Casey the cat, our orange tabby with amber eyes… who was around seven-ish at that time, a foundling, and so yep he was the baby, and I suppose he always will be, since his buddies have long since passed on; you all know how that goes…



Skipper’s emergency is that now that we can see through his thick lamb-like coat that he is diminishing in size…by his collar getting too big and is shoulder blades being felt as well as his ribs that were always felt just right, he has never ever been fat, but never ever too thin either, I guess one could say just right at around fifteen pounds or up or down a pound or two from there in either direction at times, but never for very long…



If we had a proper scale I would say his weight loss is significant and so we have thrown caution to the wind and Googled, yep, not too jeopardizing his well-being… I checked to see if he could, in his present condition have and egg and some bacon?



And last night, he has an entire slice of BACON with about a half of a scrambled egg!

I know some of you purist are thinking that this is not such a good idea, but he ate it!

And the verification from his doctor’s office was that he ate and now who can argue with that?

So tonight we tried it again this time with two slices of BACON and the rest of the egg and he ate nearly the whole thing, well not all but quite a bit…



Hubby and I were talking to his doctor’s office early on about whether or not to force feed him they said it could come to that and so I sent hubby to go and get the larger plastic syringes for feeding and the young woman, Sara, at the local Pet Supermarket was quite knowledgeable.

You see, her thirteen year old Great Dane was diagnosed with lung cancer six months ago with being told he had three days to live, and no there is no second hand smoke in her home she assured me.



Any-who, she went holistic with him and so far six months later he is still with her on 23 different herbs and supplements, which made me, perk up my ears and listen to what she had to say.

I told her of the holistic veterinary doctor I was told about and she said to check with her since Skipper’s cancer was in different organs and his size and all, very responsible young woman. She did say that giving our little darling fish oil which comes in squirt form, making it easy for him to take and so Hubby picked that up too and he has had some today.



Skipper had his half of Pepcid again tonight this time melted in the syringe, silly us we thought he had to chew it… perhaps that will help him with calming his tummy, it helps mine usually.



So now we have a plan of attack to try that hopefully will have a positive effect, he is so thin and weak, I sure hope we weren’t too late!



Those last few words made me feel like crying… anyway, let me be the first one to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too!



And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Copaxone shot gone wrong!


Was due today for my right arm shot of my Copaxone, and after four and a half years I was bound to get a nerve sooner or later, and it feels as if I did!
I am writing lefty and I am no lefty!
This is it for this evening and thanks for understanding, but my right arm is both numb and in pain, and yes both can happen and to me it does way too often... 

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Turmeric!



Who would have thought that a spice that has been around for nearly five thousand years could be so profound in its remedy list!

“Conditions & Treatments Related to TURMERIC

Thanks to:

*Of course there are a few warnings where you cannot take it two weeks before surgery because it can cause blood thinning, and therefore if on blood thinners I do not believe it is advisable to take it either. But if not you are good to go, always check with your physicians though.

This was the human site for it, but it also was also on the dog site too!

“In a study at UCLA, doctors found that curcumin seemed to block the cancer promoting enzyme that stimulates the growth of head and neck cancer. The Department of Small Animal Clinical Scientists has conducted studies that show that curcumin can inhibit tumor growth and may even shrink existing tumors. This has to do with the spice’s amazing ability to shut down blood vessels that feed tumors.
Antioxidant properties are also helpful in reducing the negative side effects of chemotherapy.
Now, we are not saying turmeric is the only thing you should do to prevent, control and/or treat cancer; however, it certainly has us excited about its anti-cancer properties.”

  • “Aids in the treatment of epilepsy
  • Helps relieve allergies
  • Helps in preventing the formation of cataracts
  • Used in treating depression (Yes, dogs can get depressed too)
  • Kills parasites
  • Heals stomach ailments, aids in digestive disorders, and reduces gas and bloating
  • Acts as a binding agent and therefore great for treating diarrhea (Make sure you have lots of water available for your pet to drink!)
  • Aids in fat metabolism and weight management
  • High in fiber and rich in vitamins and mineral”
Thanks to:

And so I had Hubby pick some up and he did, as well as some chicken livers and chicken thighs for us to share with Skipper, the thighs, not the livers, although I do love them too!

On occasion I have been known to share them with Skipper from our whole chicken we used to buy, and he also would get the heart and gizzards.

Just a little turmeric goes a long way with him so small, the article said 1/8 to ¼ of a teaspoon per ten pounds of our little darling's weight is all that he needs sprinkled on his food.

I am sure most of you know how turmeric is in curry and used in many Asian cuisines recipes.

Yes, I know now why I always enjoyed their foods and even keep curry spice with my other spices in my dedicated spice drawer in the kitchen.

The experiment went well with Skipper eating both the liver and the Tilapia that was cooked with a sprinkle of the turmeric on each; just tiny amounts to test his waters, meaning his taste buds desire to eat, and he did, but not all, just some. Although, more than he had in one sitting previously in the last few days!

I know this sounds like a full time job and in many ways it is, i.e. all consuming, but in our hearts and minds worth the effort.
Perhaps, if you too have had a very ill pet, you too can understand what we are doing and the reasoning why with our love for him, he is family.

On that note of much hope afloat, allow me to tell you all to have a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Monday, October 27, 2014

Found the culprit! Or so we think!



Foaming at the mouth sounds so ominous, especially when speaking about any  wild animal and definitely when discussing a domestic pet it is downright frightening!

Not to worry, Skipper has had all his shots, including rabies, and even if he hadn’t he is never ever left outside alone; he is always with Hubby or in the old days me.
And although he has gone nose to nose with our local opossums neither has bit the other, plus they are less likely to carry rabies than our roll out of feral cats over these last few years that seem to love our yard too.

So his foaming and spitting was due to an ingesting property, sadly administered by either Hubby or dare I say or me! Nay! This one was purchased by me, but Hubby gave it to him with me encouraging/egging him on to do so. Those drops from the holistic online company appear to be the cause of his diminished appetite and foaming at the mouth! All we know is that it happened when he was given it and now since he has not been given it he is no longer foaming with just the Tramadol. He seems to be eating a little bit more too, yogurt, chicken , even some of his own kibbles, as well as the Nutri Cal, quite a bit actually, and even some bits of apple I once again tried sharing, while Hubby was at the post office returning the drops of herbs of holistic nature. I called them, Natural Wellbeing Inc. and they have a good return policy, full refund except we had to pay to mail them back. I suppose for some they work just fine, but for him it appeared to make it all worse.
Oddly enough that n/d Hill’s Science diet for cancer too was not liked either and spit out no matter how many times we tried, but the a/d Hill’s for his upset tummy he ate, even today. And the raw frozen food seems to work now and then!

If this continues, between consuming water whenever, but not more or less than usual it seems, and he is weeing but not doodling without solids in him I suppose that will take time to start up again? We can only hope.
For the last few days he was barely eating, except the Nutri Cal, and pain medication every ten to twelve hours and drinking water when need be, so I sure hope that the additional foods in his system creates a bit of normalcy.
He sleeps well and cuddles with both of us taking turns.
Too bad love isn’t enough for a cure for everything, there would be no more ills anywhere and for us if that were the case we would have a HAPPY HEALTHY BOG (boy-dog) CHILD!

That’s all folks for tonight, and so allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Sunday, October 26, 2014

"Soon, your old friends will remind you of your forgotten childhood joys."



If it's Sunday it must be China City?



Nah, any day of the week that we get the desire for Chinese comfort food we will probably get it.



The above title was actually opened by me, but I wanted it to be shared with Hubby since again they gave us three fortune cookies. His was actually not bad either, you be the judge, “If you wait too long for the perfect moment, the perfect moment will pass you by.”



I take that back, about it being good. It sounds more prophetic as if a warning?



The last one was mine alone, and to me I think it is telling me that what is happening now, oh wait let me tell you first what it is, and “It can’t rain all the time.”

Now if rain is a metaphor for illness or problems or bad times than I do believe it is an uplifting message. Although, if it means the literal “rain”, than it is absolutely correct for we haven’t had any rain in days, only lower temps and lower humidity, but it is supposed to rain, perhaps next week and by then we will be looking forward to it!

Still though, right now, it would be more appropriate for the western portion of our country than us right now.



Delving too deeply into meanings of things is only one of my many flaws…But at times can be fun!



Sure, that is if we don’t take any of it too seriously.



Skipper again made getting food into him a bit difficult, but we both did as well as we could, but not with his Tramadol.



I, on occasion have proved that I do have some common sense in many situations, but in quite a few I disprove that theory of mine with doing something totally STUPID, way too often!



Remember how I said that Hubby was now using a spoon and a little bit of water to melt Skipper’s one quarter of his Tramadol pill, which is the dose? Any-who, Hubby thought Skipper might not need his pain medicine, because the last couple of times Skipper even though it went down he spit up some foam that did not look good and Hubby was concerned about that plastic syringe.

And so I said Okay I will try to give it to him the original way we were doing it; you know with taking this tiny pill and sticking it in his mouth, down his throat and tickling his throat for him to swallow it…WELL, dummy here, tried this previously tried and true method that had worked for years with too many to mention of the predecessors of our little love, and he got me again! This time on the same finger, my right pointer, but a puncture wound on either side, a little like a snake bite would be!


I did recall that my tetanus shot was in September of 2011 when I tried to mandolin my thumb, an avulsion wound, on that same right hand, and according to what I read they are good for ten years, thank goodness!

Heaven knows why I do the things I do definitely wonder…always after the fact.

So I went into the bathroom and first I poured rubbing alcohol on it, I seem to recall one of the vets telling me that years ago, then I washed it with soap and water and to top that off I used hydrogen peroxide to be sure, and even then I used the Bacitracin with zinc again then a small gauze pad that fit over both sides, since band aides only have one gauzy location and lastly, you know those colorful self adhering thingies that the venipuncture Vampiras affix to you with the cotton ball, anyway I saved a few and put it over the gauze and I was good to go!

But wait this was before I went into the shower… and when I removed it all to go in and wash it all again with shower soap and dandruff shampoo, let’s say it worked before and so why not try it again, and so it did again. The bleeding had stopped and has not started again since then, YAY!



On that note of too much sharing, you see a China City type of day, any excuse will work, allow me to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask all of you to kindly count all your blessings and share all those overages with you know who and we will too!



And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Winner, winner...



...Chicken Dinner!

Oddly enough, it has been a heck of a day.
I awoke at, would you believe 3:50 A.M.?

Sure I have done this before and it is usually only after I had tried without much luck to go back to sleep for quite a while, ya know?

I bet you do!

Why else would someone like me, a retired person need to get out of bed at that ungodly hour?

Any-who I did accomplish a lot, laundry washed and dried and put away all before Hubby awoke at eight.

Unfortunately, my coffee consumption has gone up most recently due to this very tired me; oh did I mention I have been also going to bed real early, like a child between eight and nine some nights… so it was pretty much inevitable that eventually I would also start waking up earlier too.

Not to mention the long afternoon naps, an hour and a half just today.

So in reality I am not sleep deprived I am probably attaining more than my fair share these days, hmm?

Skipper is such a sound sleeper next to me or Hubby and so, you got that right, and as if he is an infant you find yourself checking on him to make sure he is still breathing; I guess it’s a Mommy thing?

Any-who, he is, still the best patient ever as far as no accidents and mostly sleeping, but the eating thing is still rather difficult.

He continues for these last few days to be fidgety about when, what and how much he will eat at any given time. He seems to not mind the Nutri Cal anymore and is resigned to the fact it is one of those type of ingestibles that goes into him via Mommy or Daddy putting it on their finger and directing it towards the roof of his mouth.
Hubby continues to give him his Tramadol twice a day melted in the spoon then sucked into the plastic syringe, but the last two times he also put those new herbal drops in it at the same time, since they are both a two times a day habit, oops did I say that?

Poor kid, he is becoming his Mom.
I am still on seven prescriptions, true that they are legal drugs, but drugs just the same; oh and that's not counting supplements!

Tonight I made chicken breasts roasted in the oven with herbs no onions or garlic, and an enormous sweet baked potato that once again Hubby and I shared, and I zapped in the microwave a good portion of frozen cauliflower with drizzled extra virgin olive oil on it.

Hubby and I both tried the oops game with Skipper again, for the last two days it had stopped working, sadly.
But tonight, I tried, after I licked off the olive oil, not sure if that was good for him, Skipper that is; I dropped a piece of cauliflower, but no luck.

I told Hubby to try with the sweet potato for Skipper, without anything on it either, and at first he did not seem to want it, Skipper that is, but Hubby dropped some more with this time saying “Oops!”
I reminded him to say, “Oops” and Skipper ate some sweet potato!
Then Hubby got hopeful since poor Skipper was only living on a few mouthfuls of Hill’s Science diet a/d and full fat yogurt earlier today, not very much for any living creature, but of course supplemented with the Nutri Cal, thank heavens for that stuff! No one suggested it to me the first time; I seem to remember it from one of our other little darlings’ years ago…and it helping them at that time.

So when Hubby and I realized that Skipper was eating with the “Oops” game, he tried the chicken but at first the pieces were too big, and so I told him to make them smaller and sure enough, Skipper ate, and quite a few!
Winner, winner, chicken dinner! (“It means that even if you didn't succeed at one thing you were trying to do, they still think you're great.” From http://www.answers.com/Q/What_does_it_mean_is_somebody_says_to_you_%27%27_You_are_a_Winner_in_my_Book)
Thus tonight’s title!
Truly a winner for Skipper tonight.

On that feeling better about our small pal, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Friday, October 24, 2014

I actually heard from a few of you last night...



Well, I actually did not hear, I saw what you wrote to be perfectly clear.
And thanks to the gal/cuz who did leave more words and her itinerary for being quite a patriotic soul that is helping at the voting locations, BRAVA!

People are so wonderful if you give them a chance I have found.
As you get older sure there are some that can certainly rub you the wrong way and their behavior at times can be quite infuriating.

But in an adult way we must control our tempers and react in a controlled way to not to escalate any harsh words or fear of fisticuffs!

Self control, what a lovely concept.
Perhaps more wars would stop before begun; less domestic violence by the perpetrators who might to think before they react, heaven knows the robbers and murderers would be much less due to considering all sides of the situation and ramifications prior to a commitment of the act.

Who knows what would happen if the entire world took a PAUSE and a BREATH and THOUGHT FIRST, hmm?

I know just in my ordinary life of being the one where I put my foot in my mouth whenever I get too close to people or even not so close, I know my life probably would have definitely been less stressful, how about yours?

Not a problem for you?
Well, aren’t you just too goody, goody two shoes…KIDDING!

See, my green-eyed monster is showing its ugly head.

Anyone whose life is too controlled I wonder about, ya know?

No one can be that perfect, true?
YES!

Those people do exist!
Although, to me they seem like very cold SOB’s, sorry, CRINGE FACTOR way over the top; shame on me!

To be in such self control in all situations just seems that those people cannot feel true emotions.

Like now.
I joined into a conversation about the NYC Ebola case and that too many New Yorkers are getting foolishly hysterical over the case that is being taken care of safely and appropriately and the doctor was admitted as soon as he knew he had signs of diarrhea and a 100.3 temperature and the staff for the hospital picked him up with their safety gear and the proper vehicle etc… and I also had interjected that Dr. Spencer’s parents live here in Port Charlotte Florida, and that the only way you can actually contract Ebola is through bodily fluids and basically saying that it was silly to be overly concerned at this point the officials have finally gotten their acts together from the World Health Organization , N.I.H and CDC and have made sure local hospitals in large cities have the ability to function appropriately in all the worst scenarios.
And yet, I did not feel the need to go into so much detail with my little interjections and yet, some snobby, gal wrote yawn with an emicon for the representation. So I deleted what I wrote.

Again, I have got to stop giving my opinion on peoples' blurbs…I always become paranoid.
She may have just been done with the hysterical way people were reacting in the news clips… or she knew the facts and it was becoming old hat and why doesn’t everyone?

Or that she thought that I lived in the little Podunk town, even though I grew up just outside of NYC in New Jersey and even went to college in NYC!

Oh, why should I care…? I am a grown up and supposedly that gives you the ability to control your emotions better, but better than what, I ask you?

If you have gone through life with thinking only one way, why does anyone think that when you reach a certain age you would change that childish, ridiculously stupid behavior now?

I know that even though I try, occasionally, it comes back haunting me when I least expect it, ya know?

Like tonight.
Most people would have left what they wrote and say the heck with them!

Meaning the “yawn gal”.

Geez, once again I felt the necessity to not go on, and on about our little darling Skipper’s day for my main topic tonight.

Sadly, his desire to eat with all his now choices, his; literal smorgasbord with the a/d and n/d both in the Hill’s Science diets, he really doesn’t seem to like the n/d at all for some reason, but the a/d he has had a few finger licks full… his Nutri Cal we can still get in him and he now has drops that are Holistic herbs for dogs with cancer called Life Gold by Pet Wellbeing that I had ordered and came yesterday that he gets twice a day, he wasn’t interested in the full fat yogurt too much either or the Tramadol pill for his pain or the Pepcid. 

We still have the plastic liquid medicine syringe from one of his predecessors washed thoroughly of course then and now, and so for the last few days Hubby, the retired cop, is looking a little like an escapee from the TV show Breaking Bad due to melting the quarter dose of Tramadol in an odd spoon we had so he can get it into the plastic syringe for attaining our little cancer patient’s ability to feel less pain and that has been the only way! I have been a bit gun-shy, make that tooth shy, since I got caught on his canine, pun intended, but no my finger is still fine and practically all healed!

Anybody has any other ideas on how to handle inoperable, liver/spleen cancer in a Bichon Frise ten years and seven months old we would love to hear from you.

On that note of trying to live one day at a time, at times badly, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask all of you to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who, and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Let's do this...



You tell me what's going on in your life and I will listen to you, how about that?
No answer for me yet?
I can’t hear you!
Oh dear, did I say that I could not hear any of you?
Sure I did.
Do you know why I would say such a thing as that?
You don’t?
Think…
I’m waiting…patiently…
Da duh da duh da duh da duh da…twiddling my thumbs, but I don’t suppose you can hear that either?
I have all the time in the world to wait you out.
OH WAIT I GOT IT!
I can’t hear you… BECAUSE THIS DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT, it’s sadly only a one way street, aha!

That is with me talking-writing to/at you and you reading/listening to me?

Gosh another one of the world’s too many mysteries/problems resolved!
The list is infinite…

Days march on and so does the world with so much violence in it and people just not feeling the love.
But that is not the only way to change it all…
Any ideas?
I at least know that now it’s not worth my wait for you to chime in, hmm?

And I also know that I have been a bit boring to most of you with my moment to moment accounting of our darling little Skipper’s trials and tribulations as well as my own…, but now I feel the need to give you the arena to place your feelings right here.

For you too can have one of these little numbers, called a “BLOG” to tell the world what you are thinking when you are thinking about this or that or whatever you so wish?

Personally, I am physically exhausted these days.
Perhaps it is emotional.
I do know that I have a couple of projects in the craft’s department awaiting my attention that I would attempt if I wasn’t so darn tired these last couple of days.

Oops that was me talking about me.
Back to you…
Where ya from?
And what made you decide to read this drivel that I call my own little memory diary for my children’s children and their children etc..., who knows they could give me a couple of grand-kids after I leave and this is access for them before and after I go…?

Where?

I have no idea, yet.

Oh back to you, do you know where you will be going after?

After what?

Good question.

No one has returned to tell us for absolutely sure, have they?

Some claim that they have, but no, there is no absolute proof of that either, hard to come by and I am speaking ordinary Joes and Janes not some folks deities. (Author's note, disclaimer: not meant to insult any religious groups organizations etc. etc. etc....)

Back to this plane, on earth… have you ever wanted to do something that you haven’t done yet?

Convoluted question if I ever heard one; double talker as I have been known to be.
Of course if you haven’t done it yet you might consider doing it, but what?

Sure was nice chatting to you, and maybe someday this will be more than a weird one-way conversation with the world that I do hope is there and listening/reading me/mine nightly…

So on that note of being in my small envelope of your loving kindness and understanding for my need to be heard, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask all of you to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!


PS from now on Skipper's status will be on a need to know basis, mine, okay?
PSS Another note, a reminder to vote, we did by mail this past Monday, so all of you fine Americans do your duty, since here early voting has begun!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Crazy night again



This time I was sick again during the night.
Mysterious too, since Hubby and me both had the same meal for dinner last night; homemade comfort food of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables.
He was fine, but I was not.

I truly think that my GERD (http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/GERD) is getting worse due to my horrid way of still eating.
It all stems from my working years, being on the go…rarely enough time to sit and eat, most of the time I would eat on the road, in the car. Even when the boys were small and I was at home there seemed to be a rush to wait on the children and so I was known to stand to eat while I served them or just had downright bad eating habits of eating too fast, even when I was so-called skinny.

So odd now that at this point in my life that I have all the time in the world, being retired and my time is my own there is no reason to feel rushed or have to gulp anything down especially while eating at home.

I need to try harder to behave at meal times, oh I do sit these days wherever we eat at home or out, but I still eat like it’s a contest to see who will finish first, and nine times out of ten it will be me!

There’s got to be a way to retrain my eating for I am paying a terrible price with being awoken by regurgitation even after adding the Pepcid into my other nightly GERD medication that was upped back up to 40MG. that the original gastroenterologist had ordered. For months I had been taking half of the prescribed amount, until my rib cage pain and then, as a thought, I went back to what I was supposed to use, thinking that could be part of my problem, but that didn’t seem to help my rib pain, which sadly returns with these vomiting nighttime bouts.
Yes, it is the cause I do believe of my sore rib cage.
Although, I do have arthritis in my thorax region, but not severe enough to cause this pain that coincidentally seems to arrive whenever my tummy causes this unnecessary nasty reaction to bad eating habits!

With all that is going on with Skipper and his much more serious cancer I feel foolish.
Considering that Skipper seemed very concerned about me last night and today when I was in bed by not leaving my side, even with my afternoon nap he crawled in next to me.

He is selfless and so sweet and we hope that he will continue as long as he possibly can. Today he was more playful and did eat a little bit of this and that. His choices are the raw food, Hill’s Science diet a/d, full fat Greek yogurt and of course his Nutri Cal, he refused his Tramadol today. Although, I had thought I got it in him, later it was found on Hubby’s lap. I did manage to cut my finger on his tooth while trying to give it to him. Usually I would have gone to the hospital in the old days for the whole nine yards of shots and fancy anti-biotics, but I had a tetanus shot within the last few years, and Skipper had all his shots and I did it to myself he didn’t do it. I washed the small cut thoroughly with soap, water and even dabbed on some peroxide and used the anti-biotic Neosporin with zinc Bacitracin then the band aid, and during my shower I washed it again, but this time with the shampoo for dandruff, which has other ingredients in it that are medicinal and then once out I applied more medication , and it looks fine, not swollen discolored or anything nasty at all!
I will live. Even the vets used to tell me to go the hospital due to the fact at one time we had quite a few four legged critters here, always bound that something would happen, accidentally.

Skipper had his ups and downs all day long; of course his energy level due to the anemia is extremely low. But with the nodules on his spleen and liver we watch his white’s of his eyes' color as well as his gums. And yes he has too white gums, but periodically during the day we saw it a little pinker and Hubby and I verify that…Skipper is still oddly enough quite capable of jumping up on the couch and our chairs in the living room and has not had any accidents still, which is extremely remarkable with any sick child.
He continues to ask to go out when necessary and drinks and eats enough for regularity, which is wild, all things considering and still not malformed or off coloring to those issues thankfully; in other words no pink urine or black bowel movements or yellow, sorry too graphic?

Oh well, that’s me the Queen of TMI, as usual.

On that note of life goes on and we will too, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask all of you to count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Each day is a new beginning.




Now, where did I hear that before?

Not remembering, but knowing that it is significant in how we all live our lives, especially these days, hmm?



The world is in a train wreck with wars and ills and heaven knows what else!

Yet, we all live in it and have to survive here, since we don’t have anywhere else to go, we all know that we must.



Our smallest members of our society sometime teach us things that should be common sense.



And with saying that that no matter how badly you feel that you should always have time for your loved ones.



St. Jude’s Hospital comes to mind with those young critically ill patients, with many becoming survivors after being put through torturous painful surgeries medicinal treatments, etc... Those children truly are BRAVE we can all surely learn from all of them…






These things always make me understand the bigger picture in life and realize that we all have something to deal with and how we handle it is the truest measure of us as human beings on this planet, our character.



Now not everyone is an animal lover, but I bet more are than not, any-who, our little Skipper is very BRAVE too dealing with his form of cancer, and in our hearts we know that he is as loved by us as we have loved any of his four legged predecessors that also were quite brave in dealing with their lives and ills that cut them short.



We have lost people we loved too in our lives, but none had lingering illnesses and so this is different in that respect, and so we are creating a type of animal Hospice: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hospice



But if we ever forget I have my great way to remember how to become HAPPY; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynk911hiSa8

The original Happy 24 hour long one…




So we all should find HAPPY, life is way too short!



Skipper took his time to eat today but he finally did and appears to be done for today, “Each day is a new beginning!”



Now I do recall hearing that before, but from where?



Kidding; on that note now don’t float your boats or selves up too high when you enjoy the two little ditties I left you with them having become my most recent musical goto when needing an upbeat slap of realization…just allow me now to be the very first to wish all of you a very HAPPY good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too! And most of all BE BRAVE!



And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Monday, October 20, 2014

Road trip!



Today we left our compound, homestead, abode, oh well i.e. our home, yes in deedy we left that place as a family unit!

In other words to be sure it was: Hubby Skipper and me.

We all live together in our happy wee house and enjoy our lives there.

But… today’s journey was to find food that our little darling Skipper will eat without being forced fed, and no I have not done that to him. If all else fails I do understand he could go into the veterinarian's office and get IV’S if necessary, but no he is still eating what he likes when he likes it.



The raw food treats that the, oh dear, I am getting ahead of myself… Our first stop as a family group was to believe it or not to fill our nearly empty gas tank. With a car going on fourteen although it still has low mileage, of less than 42K on the odometer, but only gets around eleven miles to the gallon and until they stop recalling cars and we have less monies going to pay off things, which seems to be growing daily… we hope by next year at this time our load of bills will be a little bit less… and so when we saw on gasbuddy.com that we had a couple of gas stations with less than three dollars a gallon gas that was soooo helpful!

And so we filled up in Port Charlotte on Kings Hwy before making our rounds to Skipper’s vet and then down to the southern end of Punta Gorda to the Holistic animal food, treat and toy store, our trip was over forty miles today or in our case about four gallons, but of course worth every penny for our baby boy.



After the gas station on our way (at the gas station Skipper went berserk with Hubby out of the car, even with seeing him get gas, and so when we got to the vet’s I had him take him with him inside, since with my walker I am just too much to only pick up two small cans of food.) to I75 then on to the Choice Vet Services out on 17, not the one in Paramus, but in Punta Gorda where we picked up some canned Hill’s Science diet food a/d for tummy issues, not the n/d the doc recommended from the Ft. Myers office but that one had to be ordered and should be in by Thursday.

Next and lastly for our family togetherness trip, (where we all went in together, due to not knowing what we would be learning in there.) was the AnimaLuvers shop in south Punta Gorda, where there was a gas station on the way that was even less than what we had paid, and where we got a raw food sample of 8 oz.

The young woman/clerk, Kim, in there said that the Hill’s was not good for Skipper, which made it quite confusing. We also bought some more Nutri Cal in there since the raw food she gave to us for free.



Concerned about her statement I did not know what to do, except to contact the young woman, Susan, who had called and offered on Sunday, yes yesterday to help us anytime and so I called her at the number in her email, and guess what? It was the Ft. Myers specialty doctor’s offices number, Specialized Veterinary Services.



The doctor, Dr. Fiore, from down there and many other locations actually, called back, the one with the recipes in the emails and offered the name and number for a Holistic doctor, Anita Holt VMD in North Port that not only works with herbs as well as acupuncture too! And also to send some more recipes for Skipper, in fact we did make the croquettes for Skipper tonight, the salmon ones and in fact we ate some of them too, delish! Hubby said they were better than mine, and Skipper liked them without his full fat yogurt Hubby had picked up once we were dropped off at home, you got it, Publix again, although, Skipper does enjoy the yogurt ala natural too.



So now between keeping him fairly pain free and well fed he is acting better and hopefully it is not just method acting, get it?

The real thing is what we both want for him as long as that can be.

We have all heard of miracles and why not for this child of God that never ever did anything wrong his whole life. He has been quite exceptional with brains, love and caring,especially all those times I have needed him he has been there for me by my side literally and so please let him be with us till he reaches a ripe ole age of fifteen or twenty or more please!



On that higher note allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask all of you to kindly count all your blessings and share those overages with you know who and we will too!



And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!
 
PS As far as Dr. Fiore said that the n/d in the Hill’s is for cancer but the a/d is for high calories which he needs right now too. So tomorrow we will encompass that too in his diet, what a variety

Speaking My Mind: Which way will the war go?

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