September 2nd

Day 3 - Rissa continues to take it easy, rest and do some short walks, no car rides. The booties and carpet really are helping - not falling and keeping her grip.

September 1st

Day 2 post FCE. Rissa is OK. She was slipping a lot on the floors and that is not good for her spine. "you want her to walk as normal as possible" I went and got some remnant carpet runners to put around the walk ways of the house. She follows me as I move to do something or clean and slips so the carpet helps a lot! Denise made another home visit and brought some rubber booties to help her not slip also. She agreed with the carpet runners. She also gave me some homeopathic treatments for her. All in all - we are progressing. this will be a slow recovery in a normal aged dog and will be more challenging for a dog at 14 years of age - she wants to do as she normally does. It just takes her longer to process what she is doing and she does have deficit on her right side. She is a trooper! Day by day...

August 31st

Rissa had an event - stroke like to me last eve. I was here when it happened. It was awful to see, she was in pain, had no clue where she was or what was going on, blinded, could not walk... I did get an aspirin into her within minutes and sat with her. just so scary. I had help and moved her to the living room so I could sit with her. Eventually she calmed and wasn't in as much distress, her pupils became less dilated, she had some vision but was leaning and did not seem to recognize her right side. I would have brought her to the emergency vet to be put to sleep if she was suffering. She seemed to improve as the night went on - still could not walk. I knew that I would have to take her if she could not walk. I dreaded making the call and just as I was about to dial the phone - she got up and walked to me, went out to pee.... I was in shock as I had tried to walk her with a sling just 30 mins before. A friend that is a PT and has a side passion for animal PT was able to piece together and came up with a diagnosis.... something called FCE (fibrocartilagenous embolism) a doggie stroke but it is not vascular like humans - it is in their spinal column... AND - they can make a full recovery... wow... and how close was I to euthanizing her?? Mega support from friends and my Facebook community of lab folks during the first 24 hours. Denise (the PT/friend) made a home visit to see Rissa at about he 24 hour mark. She was very happy with her level of functioning as some dogs are paralyzed for days to weeks. I got some instructions and gentle exercises to help the nerves start up again, raise her food bowl etc...  What a week!

August 29th

The pathology report came back on Timber... Lymphoma stage 1. I said "No treatment" she is 12.5 and I want her not to be sick and enjoy her days. The vet wanted me to open as there are good drugs and the goal is remission not cure. We are to discuss it Tuesday 9/4 when we go have her staples out. I have done a little research and will make a plan on Tuesday after I hear what they have to say. My guess is they think she is prime to take chemo since she is stage 1 and - the one nose involved is out - which isn't typical - you don't surgical remove lymphoma but in her case it was. The vet also thought it was an unusual presentation - it was so large, yet encapsulated without spread. So... we'll see on Tuesday.

August 28th

Timber got a box from Amazon.com... I wondered if she had been shopping on line in her down/quiet time?? She got a get well gift from her doggie pal Ivy. She loves it - it honks!

August 27th

We headed to the vet unexpectedly today. Timber's incision started leaking serosang drainage - A LOT of of drainage... she drips all over the house. The vet wanted to check it to make sure her wound had not dehis'd and it was just a seroma. In the mean time - Rissa has been off all weekend and continually nudging me as if saying - "I don't feel good" - I don't know if the abscess needs more antibiotics or?? so I took her with us to the vet.

Timber's incision is fine and I will keep hot packing it and she will be on antibiotics for another week. Physical exam showed nothing on Rissa. We did lab work - all WNL - just as she was in April. X Rays of tummy and chest. No tumors or heart failure... a puzzle. Thoughts ? nerve pain, ? old age?

August 21

Timber had surgery today on her tumor. The vet said "it was nasty" - she meant looking - it appears to be some kind of round cell tumor. She did say it was encapsulated and she did not see signs of spread. Pathology report will be 5 working days. Her incision is quite large. It looks great. The tumor was large, went under her muscle, wrapped around her neck and was resting on her carotid artery. Good thing it was removed and after recovery (2 weeks) she will be able to swim and run. she was difficult to get out of the car. She did not want to walk on it. I got some pain medicine in her and at about midnight - she got up on her own and was walking. Need to have her take it easy, hot pack it as she more than likely will get fluid accumulation since the tumor was large and that area is now vacant.