Saturday, March 15, 2014

Storm?

We are expecting a tropical cyclone to intrude upon our autumnal landscape over the next 48 hours. We don't know how bad the winds and rain will be, but we do know that Christchurch has slumped in places due to the earthquakes, and is not able to contain large amounts of water falling from the sky all at once. We recently had some very rainy days, and many houses were flooded. We are fine where we are, but we do have some big gum trees along the back which can be alarming in strong winds. 

This not so young lady had a thorough checkup today:



She almost died last year, so we are grateful for our time together. Miss Dog has some kind of liver disease. It may be a benign condition, or could be malignant. As we will not put her through a biopsy, we don't know for sure. She had an ultrasound today which showed her liver is very large and not normal. She has growths in her liver and the texture is abnormal. We already knew she had some abnormal items in her liver but whatever it is seems to be more widespread. The amazing thing is that her liver blood panel is massively improved on the last test, so her liver is still working away. We are having further tests which will show the level of lymphocytes in her blood, which, if high, would indicate malignancy. If that is the case, she probably wont be with us for a long time, but if she is just living with a benign liver disease, she could live on for quite some time. She needs to be cared for a little like an immunosuppressed doggy, and her liver needs to be protected from stress, but it really has been a good day. Big hugs to Miss Dog's special Auntie Em for her wonderful vet care at the Hornby Vet Clinic. Sorry for another stinky arse gland squeezing session. 

Zanny was also having a good day. I still find myself sitting up comfortably on her unable to believe I am actually in the saddle on the most amazing horse, and that she is mine. We worked on some skills in the arena today. I need to apologise to Zanny for my frightful seat at canter. Zanny has a stiff canter and I was bouncing like a jackhammer on the first attempt. After a couple more tries we went down the long side of the arena in a more presentable manner. Thank goodness for the nice thick padded pad we use under the saddle and on top of our saddle blanket. There is a dressage event in about a month  that I could go to with friends, so we need to keep up the good work. 

Well, I think it might be a hunkering down kind of day tomorrow. One good thing about working is that you appreciate the weekends so much. You sleep in and relish every moment of freedom before the week begins again. I am also grateful for the wonderful people I work with, and love the creative opportunities my work presents. I am also extremely thankful that work has allowed me to have Zanny, to take Miss Dog in for as many tests as she needs without worrying about the bill at the end, and to think about achieving some more things on my Bucket List. I don't dwell on the idea of dropping dead one day, but I am afraid of not living fully before I die. I'm glad I have really thought about this because I am determined that I will try to celebrate life each and every day. 

Ooooh I'm getting all deep and meaningful today. 
We love you darling!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We love Popsicle too, darling doggy. Glad her liver function has improved. We have had some rain but no wind to speak of yet. xxxxx

Anonymous said...

I hope the test results are positive...poor wee Poppy.
Stellar hopefully having surgery on her lipoma this week...it has grown too big so vet advised removal...scary :-(
It is horrible when our dearest animals aren't well.

Hope the fire brigade dinner was fun.

Raining here but nothing stormy really so far,

Megxxx