Oy. Not to put too fine a point on it, the last couple weeks sucked. It's been all poop, all the time.
I'm starting to recover. I think I finally cleared the last hurdle when I decided to listen to Start Wearing Purple this morning. Definitely puts life in a new perspective. I think that'll be my new morning ritual. Possilby anthem is not too strong a word.
So ... I'm re-psyched about the Tolkien quilt, because one of my good mooter friends, Byron, has generously agreed to let me use some of his awesome Tolkien-inspired artwork as quilting designs. I'm hoping to get to work on that this weekend. (I'm learning to feed the right wolf, Byron ... thanks man!)
All the Tolkien discussion on the group also prompted me to go dig out my copy of Book of Lost Tales, which I got a long time ago but never read. So every night before bed I spend some time reading in that book, and oh ... bliss. Escape to Middle Earth. Really what I needed just now.
Some major changes are in the works. I've decided to cut back on the time I spend at my dad's, or at least seriously rearrange it. I have to at least get my weekends back, so I'll not be going over on Saturday anymore (after this weekend; pre-made plans there with my brother for this weekend). I know he'll be disappointed, but ... I have to draw some lines somewhere before I implode. I'll still be going over either 3 or 4 nights a week to make him a freshly-home-cooked dinner, and I'll make sure he has something on the weekends (as well as my day or days off during the week, like always) to heat up easily in the microwave for dinner. I'll still handle all his medications, and anything else he needs done ... just not on the weekend. He's got to understand ... I know a lot of people go spend time with family on the weekend, instead of avoiding it like I am. But I spend almost every weeknight over there, so ... I've got to have some quality time at my house for awhile. Mostly because nothing's getting done around here, and with warm weather finally here (YAY!) I'll be needing to do yardwork (BOO!). Either way (yay or boo), it's what I gotta do.
Besides, I figured whole weekends off and to myself - two whole days - ought to go leagues towards improving my mood, outlook, and energy. Whether the yardwork gets done or not.
There are other areas of my life that need some serious remodeling as well, but I think for now I'll keep quiet about those, and just ... watch and wait, as Gandalf said.
And other than that, I'm slowing clawing my way out of the bottomless pit of poo - no offense to "the" Poo, of course, who is doing wonderfully well, by the way - another yay point. He's had his stitches out and recovered completely with nary a hitch. And hopefully I'll be back to posting boring blather here real soon. I bet you can't wait.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
I didn't get any sewing done again today, but I did get some other things done. The Dread Reverend and I went out looking at houses. This is our second such foray. Not the official looking at houses that involves a realtor and actually going inside for a look-round, but just drive-by house shopping, checking out the exterior, the yard, the location, seeing if it's even worth calling up to schedule an actual showing.
The first time we did this we were out about 4 hours, and probably looked at ... I don't know, 7 or 8 houses. None of them really sparked our interest. That's not too disturbing, I remember from house-hunting days of yore how difficult it can be, especially when your needs and/or wishes are very specific.
Today was better - we saw two we're really interested in.
We still have no money, but I've decided, for now at least, to not let that trival nuisance disturb me. I'm going to operate on the assumption that when we find the perfect house, things will just fall into place. Faith? Gullibility? Recipe for depression? Who knows.
There was one house that was built in 1903 (love those big older homes). It's within the city limits of a town next-door to the one I currently live in, but it's on a quiet side street, on a corner, with only one neighbor. On the other side is an alley, and then a business of some sort (but there's quite a distance between there and the house), and across the street is the grounds of the city's historical society. So, very quiet and nice. It had two beautiful rooms, one on the ground floor and an identical one above it, in which the walls were all window. I can envision my hobby / sewing room / library in one of those, easily.
The second house is my favorite, though. We actually looked at this house several years ago, when we weren't actually looking for houses, but the Dread Reverend was really interested in it when he heard through a friend that the owner was thinking of selling it. On that initial inspection I rejected it out of hand, because it didn't appear to have any back yard at all. It's on a steep hill, and so the front of the house looks like one story, but in the back it's two stories (at least) with a sheer drop-off to a creek. No yard.
It's still for sale, though, and we went back today to take a closer look. Turns out that across the creek is a pretty decent sized lawn that also goes with this property, and the cool thing is, that lawn runs into the lawn for the property that surrounds most of this one - and it's a convent. What better neighbors could you want? And the house, at the back, is gorgeous ... two large decks (upper and lower) overlooking this beautiful little creek. We already decided that it would be relatively easy (and fun) to build a little bridge across the creek, so the Poo and the kids have access to the lawn beyond it.
I'm pretty much a goner for that place, and will surely become deeply depressed when I mean if it turns out we can't get it.
As for project work though, here's what I've been doing this weekend. I've wanted my own set of runestones for years, but for some strange reason never got any. I guess I just never found quite what I was looking for. I recently became re-interested in them, though, and decided to make my own. On a foray to the craft store yesterday, I was able to buy a huge amount of polished riverstones for $3.00, and out of that cornucopia was able to find 25 of a size and shape suitable for runes.
The first time we did this we were out about 4 hours, and probably looked at ... I don't know, 7 or 8 houses. None of them really sparked our interest. That's not too disturbing, I remember from house-hunting days of yore how difficult it can be, especially when your needs and/or wishes are very specific.
Today was better - we saw two we're really interested in.
We still have no money, but I've decided, for now at least, to not let that trival nuisance disturb me. I'm going to operate on the assumption that when we find the perfect house, things will just fall into place. Faith? Gullibility? Recipe for depression? Who knows.
There was one house that was built in 1903 (love those big older homes). It's within the city limits of a town next-door to the one I currently live in, but it's on a quiet side street, on a corner, with only one neighbor. On the other side is an alley, and then a business of some sort (but there's quite a distance between there and the house), and across the street is the grounds of the city's historical society. So, very quiet and nice. It had two beautiful rooms, one on the ground floor and an identical one above it, in which the walls were all window. I can envision my hobby / sewing room / library in one of those, easily.
The second house is my favorite, though. We actually looked at this house several years ago, when we weren't actually looking for houses, but the Dread Reverend was really interested in it when he heard through a friend that the owner was thinking of selling it. On that initial inspection I rejected it out of hand, because it didn't appear to have any back yard at all. It's on a steep hill, and so the front of the house looks like one story, but in the back it's two stories (at least) with a sheer drop-off to a creek. No yard.
It's still for sale, though, and we went back today to take a closer look. Turns out that across the creek is a pretty decent sized lawn that also goes with this property, and the cool thing is, that lawn runs into the lawn for the property that surrounds most of this one - and it's a convent. What better neighbors could you want? And the house, at the back, is gorgeous ... two large decks (upper and lower) overlooking this beautiful little creek. We already decided that it would be relatively easy (and fun) to build a little bridge across the creek, so the Poo and the kids have access to the lawn beyond it.
I'm pretty much a goner for that place, and will surely become deeply depressed when I mean if it turns out we can't get it.
As for project work though, here's what I've been doing this weekend. I've wanted my own set of runestones for years, but for some strange reason never got any. I guess I just never found quite what I was looking for. I recently became re-interested in them, though, and decided to make my own. On a foray to the craft store yesterday, I was able to buy a huge amount of polished riverstones for $3.00, and out of that cornucopia was able to find 25 of a size and shape suitable for runes.
I began engraving them with my Dremel tool, and then filling in the engraving with a bit of metallic gray paint. I've only got 11 done so far, as it takes a bit of time, and using the Dremel can make my right hand and arm a little uncomfortable after too long at one sitting.
It's harder than I thought to engrave in these stones, to get the engraving marks deep enough. I didn't do as good a job as I'd like on a few of them, but no biggie ... if they really bug me, I can always go back and deepen the marks, then repaint them. So far I'm really, really happy with how they're turning out. I will probably finish the set in the next few days.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
A Very Meh Day ... Umm, Week.
Yes, I'm still here. More or less. Let's see, what news do I have to impart? I got Tyler's test results. It was cancer, but it was a type that never spreads. So removal of the tumor is considered a complete cure. According to the vet, he should be fine, with no further problems. That is good news. And he's been feeling great - lots of energy, playing, generally a jovial Poo. One good thing in life.
The rest of the news isn't so great. I seem to have dropped into one of my depressions. I say 'one of my' because it happens from time to time. I'm just reaching levels of stress that are really wearing on me. Between dad, and problems with this house, and despairing of being able to afford a bigger house (the Dread Reverend's optimism notwithstanding), and my job ... it's all culminated in me just wanting to dig a deep burrow and not come out until ... I don't know what. It all goes away, I guess.
I suddenly became very claustrophic in this house ... it's a tiny, tiny house, and I just can't stand it anymore when all four of us are here at one time. (Me, the Dread Reverend, and the little DRs). I told him, we need to buy a bigger house. He's all for it. I of course got all Eyeore-ish about it immediately after suggesting it, and hunting through hundreds of listings online hasn't helped. Houses the size we need are expensive. We have no money. I'd have to go back to work full time. How will I take care of my dad then? I asked him if he'd consider moving in with us. He got fatalistic about it and told me, Eyeore-ish himself, that he supposed he didn't have any choice in the matter, and he'd have to do whatever I said. He wasn't mad at me - I'm sure, though I can't say I personally understand it since I'm not 81 years old, that he's just feeling terribly frustrated and burdensome because of his inability to fully take care of himself any more. I don't see it that way, but I can see that he does. So the whole 'let's get a bigger house' thing has just spiraled down into another source of stress.
Consequently, I haven't even been in the mood to work on any projects. I did no sewing again last Sunday, and haven't even worked on the log cabin blanket all week. I took a vacation day Friday - was supposed to be for some much needed R&R. Unfortunately my boss managed to bugger that up as well. I asked him last week for two days off this week (knowing myself well enough to know that when I get this stressed, one day probably isn't enough) and I wanted to use one of the days to go out and Do Something with the Dread Reverend. You know, like a day-trip mini-vacation. I thought about going to a museum or something. My boss told me I couldn't have two days, I could have one. I asked him which day, he said Wednesday. That worked out well, since this is the Dread Reverend's down week, and he'd be home and available that day. Tuesday about 15 minutes before it was time to leave work for the day, my boss told me I couldn't have Wednesday after all, how about Friday. Fine, whatever, I'd take it. But Friday, we couldn't do anything because he had a gig in the afternoon (early St. Patrick's Day stuff). Meanwhile, between the time I asked for the time off and the time I got it, I sunk into this depression, making me not feel like doing anything anyway.
So it turned out to pretty well be a wasted day off. Lovely.
I don't suppose it helps that we went from sunny and 70s on Tuesday to cold and snowy for the past several days.
The Dread Reverend also had gigs all day today. I made it to the last one, but only stayed about 45 minutes because the place was packed - a sardine would have felt at loose ends in that place. There was no place to sit, I ended up standing in the doorway the whole time. I couldn't take that and left. He's off to a private party tonight, but I'm too bushed to be up for it. It's only 10:30 but I'm probably heading for bed when I finish this post.
So that's how my life has been going for the last week. Very challenging.
I did, however, get up the motivation to start a new project. More information and a picture on that tomorrow. And I've been incredibly re-inspired to work on the Tolkien quilt, thanks to a Tolkien-friend's beautiful artwork. I may work on that tomorrow as well.
At least there's hope for Sunday this week.
Oh yeah - Happy St. Patrrick's Day.
The rest of the news isn't so great. I seem to have dropped into one of my depressions. I say 'one of my' because it happens from time to time. I'm just reaching levels of stress that are really wearing on me. Between dad, and problems with this house, and despairing of being able to afford a bigger house (the Dread Reverend's optimism notwithstanding), and my job ... it's all culminated in me just wanting to dig a deep burrow and not come out until ... I don't know what. It all goes away, I guess.
I suddenly became very claustrophic in this house ... it's a tiny, tiny house, and I just can't stand it anymore when all four of us are here at one time. (Me, the Dread Reverend, and the little DRs). I told him, we need to buy a bigger house. He's all for it. I of course got all Eyeore-ish about it immediately after suggesting it, and hunting through hundreds of listings online hasn't helped. Houses the size we need are expensive. We have no money. I'd have to go back to work full time. How will I take care of my dad then? I asked him if he'd consider moving in with us. He got fatalistic about it and told me, Eyeore-ish himself, that he supposed he didn't have any choice in the matter, and he'd have to do whatever I said. He wasn't mad at me - I'm sure, though I can't say I personally understand it since I'm not 81 years old, that he's just feeling terribly frustrated and burdensome because of his inability to fully take care of himself any more. I don't see it that way, but I can see that he does. So the whole 'let's get a bigger house' thing has just spiraled down into another source of stress.
Consequently, I haven't even been in the mood to work on any projects. I did no sewing again last Sunday, and haven't even worked on the log cabin blanket all week. I took a vacation day Friday - was supposed to be for some much needed R&R. Unfortunately my boss managed to bugger that up as well. I asked him last week for two days off this week (knowing myself well enough to know that when I get this stressed, one day probably isn't enough) and I wanted to use one of the days to go out and Do Something with the Dread Reverend. You know, like a day-trip mini-vacation. I thought about going to a museum or something. My boss told me I couldn't have two days, I could have one. I asked him which day, he said Wednesday. That worked out well, since this is the Dread Reverend's down week, and he'd be home and available that day. Tuesday about 15 minutes before it was time to leave work for the day, my boss told me I couldn't have Wednesday after all, how about Friday. Fine, whatever, I'd take it. But Friday, we couldn't do anything because he had a gig in the afternoon (early St. Patrick's Day stuff). Meanwhile, between the time I asked for the time off and the time I got it, I sunk into this depression, making me not feel like doing anything anyway.
So it turned out to pretty well be a wasted day off. Lovely.
I don't suppose it helps that we went from sunny and 70s on Tuesday to cold and snowy for the past several days.
The Dread Reverend also had gigs all day today. I made it to the last one, but only stayed about 45 minutes because the place was packed - a sardine would have felt at loose ends in that place. There was no place to sit, I ended up standing in the doorway the whole time. I couldn't take that and left. He's off to a private party tonight, but I'm too bushed to be up for it. It's only 10:30 but I'm probably heading for bed when I finish this post.
So that's how my life has been going for the last week. Very challenging.
I did, however, get up the motivation to start a new project. More information and a picture on that tomorrow. And I've been incredibly re-inspired to work on the Tolkien quilt, thanks to a Tolkien-friend's beautiful artwork. I may work on that tomorrow as well.
At least there's hope for Sunday this week.
Oh yeah - Happy St. Patrrick's Day.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Tyler's Recovery; Log Cabin Progress
Tyler's recovering really well from the surgery. Thursday he was almost back to his old self - he even played with a new toy the Dread Reverend had brought him Wednesday night. It is such a relief to have everything turn out so well ... it could easily have been much worse. And that's not just my normal cynicism ... there was a lot of potential for 'bad' there.
Early in the week I was mostly working on the pirate shirt embroidery, and last night I did just a little work on the log cabin, but thought it was time for an update picture. It's getting large, it could be a lap blanke
t by now. But I'm hoping for a full-sized bed blanket, so I have a ways to go yet. It's kind of funny that what started out as a brief diversion from Celtic Icon has become a huge project of its own. Just those two alone could take up the rest of the year, I'm sure. And there are so many other things I want to make. Now I understand why people end up with so many projects going at once. I love to make socks, but have a pair half finished because one of the needles I need to start the second sock is tied up in Celtic Icon. I think I'll take a break soon from the log cabin, and finish that second sock (by either temporarily removing that needle from C.I., or just getting a new one that size), so at least I can have that done - and so I can start a *new* pair of socks. I like making socks, and they are portable projects. I don't have any of those right now, since the log cabin's gotten so big. I was using dishcloths as my portable project, but I seem to have kind of lost interest in those at the moment, too.
It's Friday - which means grocery store after work, and coming home and cooking Tyler's food for the week. After that I'll either do some work on the pirate shirt or the log cabin, or I'll go upstairs and do some work on the Mamluk tunic. I still need to make a second mock-up of that project in muslin, since I don't want to waste the 'good' material and I'm still not sure I have the pattern figured out the way I want it.
And the Tolkien quilt has been languishing for weeks now, I'd like to get some more done on that this weekend ... I'd like to finish the flames around the eye (only a few left) and do the second dragon (in the upper left corner of the center square). The next step after that is to design a quilting pattern for the opposite corners from the dragons ... something more geometric, I'm thinking. I have no idea what yet, I'll work that out when I get to it.
The weather's still too bad to do anything outside, so this is a perfect time to stay upstairs getting project work done. Hopefully there will be lots of progress this weekend. After all, only two months till the first event!
Early in the week I was mostly working on the pirate shirt embroidery, and last night I did just a little work on the log cabin, but thought it was time for an update picture. It's getting large, it could be a lap blanke
t by now. But I'm hoping for a full-sized bed blanket, so I have a ways to go yet. It's kind of funny that what started out as a brief diversion from Celtic Icon has become a huge project of its own. Just those two alone could take up the rest of the year, I'm sure. And there are so many other things I want to make. Now I understand why people end up with so many projects going at once. I love to make socks, but have a pair half finished because one of the needles I need to start the second sock is tied up in Celtic Icon. I think I'll take a break soon from the log cabin, and finish that second sock (by either temporarily removing that needle from C.I., or just getting a new one that size), so at least I can have that done - and so I can start a *new* pair of socks. I like making socks, and they are portable projects. I don't have any of those right now, since the log cabin's gotten so big. I was using dishcloths as my portable project, but I seem to have kind of lost interest in those at the moment, too.It's Friday - which means grocery store after work, and coming home and cooking Tyler's food for the week. After that I'll either do some work on the pirate shirt or the log cabin, or I'll go upstairs and do some work on the Mamluk tunic. I still need to make a second mock-up of that project in muslin, since I don't want to waste the 'good' material and I'm still not sure I have the pattern figured out the way I want it.
And the Tolkien quilt has been languishing for weeks now, I'd like to get some more done on that this weekend ... I'd like to finish the flames around the eye (only a few left) and do the second dragon (in the upper left corner of the center square). The next step after that is to design a quilting pattern for the opposite corners from the dragons ... something more geometric, I'm thinking. I have no idea what yet, I'll work that out when I get to it.
The weather's still too bad to do anything outside, so this is a perfect time to stay upstairs getting project work done. Hopefully there will be lots of progress this weekend. After all, only two months till the first event!
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Tyler's Okay!
Everything actually went really well. What a relief.
Originally I was going to take him to the vet's and stay there through the surgery, till he was ready to go home. But when I got there about 10 till 9, they told me that the doctor had already started another surgery, and it might be several hours before they even got to Tyler. I figured sitting there for hours would just suck, since I was pretty stressed as it was, so I decided to go home.
Meanwhile, yesterday after I got out of the vet's I had called my boss to ask for today off so I could be there during Tyler's surgery, and he gave me a really hard time about it. So on the way home, I got to thinking, and decided the heck with it - if I'm just going to be sitting at home chewing my fingers off, I may as well go into the office. That way, my boss would have to get off my ass because I didn't take the day off after all, and as long as I stuck to simple projects that didn't require much thought, I should be okay.
So I ended up going to work anyway, and just calling the vet's office every hour or so all morning. And they were really great about it, too - never seemed to mind and always had a decent update for me.
Tyler had no problems with the surgery, everything went well. His pre-surgery blood work was all good. And the best news of all ... the doctor said after he removed the tumor or mass or whatever they want to call it, he didn't think it looked like it was cancerous after all. Just a benign tumor of some sort. That would be great - even though the vet told me yesterday those things rarely spread, it would be even better to know it wasn't that at all. They sent it off for a biopsy anyway, just to be sure, and I should get the results in about a week.
Tyler's home now, snoozing on the floor. He's still pretty dopey, but I don't think it's from the anesthesia - they said he came out of that with no problem. They gave him a pain shot that must be pretty potent, because they said it wouldn't wear off for 24 to 36 hours, and that's what I think has him so dopey now. He can walk around fine, in fact he trotted out to the truck when we left the vet's. But mentally he's pretty fogged. I'm sure he just needs to lie quietly and rest this evening, and maybe by tomorrow he'll start feeling closer to normal.
Well, things couldn't have gone any better, if it had to happen at all ... anesthesia can be risky in older dogs, they've told me before, but apparently he had no problems at all during the surgery or afterwards. As long as he can get through the next couple days without any major problems or too much pain, we'll be home free.
Now if I can just get rid of this monstrous stress headache I've got ... .
Originally I was going to take him to the vet's and stay there through the surgery, till he was ready to go home. But when I got there about 10 till 9, they told me that the doctor had already started another surgery, and it might be several hours before they even got to Tyler. I figured sitting there for hours would just suck, since I was pretty stressed as it was, so I decided to go home.
Meanwhile, yesterday after I got out of the vet's I had called my boss to ask for today off so I could be there during Tyler's surgery, and he gave me a really hard time about it. So on the way home, I got to thinking, and decided the heck with it - if I'm just going to be sitting at home chewing my fingers off, I may as well go into the office. That way, my boss would have to get off my ass because I didn't take the day off after all, and as long as I stuck to simple projects that didn't require much thought, I should be okay.
So I ended up going to work anyway, and just calling the vet's office every hour or so all morning. And they were really great about it, too - never seemed to mind and always had a decent update for me.
Tyler had no problems with the surgery, everything went well. His pre-surgery blood work was all good. And the best news of all ... the doctor said after he removed the tumor or mass or whatever they want to call it, he didn't think it looked like it was cancerous after all. Just a benign tumor of some sort. That would be great - even though the vet told me yesterday those things rarely spread, it would be even better to know it wasn't that at all. They sent it off for a biopsy anyway, just to be sure, and I should get the results in about a week.
Tyler's home now, snoozing on the floor. He's still pretty dopey, but I don't think it's from the anesthesia - they said he came out of that with no problem. They gave him a pain shot that must be pretty potent, because they said it wouldn't wear off for 24 to 36 hours, and that's what I think has him so dopey now. He can walk around fine, in fact he trotted out to the truck when we left the vet's. But mentally he's pretty fogged. I'm sure he just needs to lie quietly and rest this evening, and maybe by tomorrow he'll start feeling closer to normal.
Well, things couldn't have gone any better, if it had to happen at all ... anesthesia can be risky in older dogs, they've told me before, but apparently he had no problems at all during the surgery or afterwards. As long as he can get through the next couple days without any major problems or too much pain, we'll be home free.
Now if I can just get rid of this monstrous stress headache I've got ... .
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Scary Stuff; Send "Good Poo Vibes"
Tyler (aka "the Poo") and I are in the midst of quite a scare. Last night while he was laying on his back for me to rub his belly (one of his favorite pastimes), I noticed a problem ... one of his testicles was considerably, noticeably larger than the other one. I wasn't sure what that meant, but was sure it couldn't be good. I called the vet first thing this morning, and got Tyler in this afternoon. After his examination, my vet confirmed my fears - a testicular tumor.
The'good' news, if you can say that, is that the vet said judging by the size, I caught it extremely early, and this type of cancer rarely spreads anywhere else. He also said that the fact Tyler has been acting totally normal and healthy, with plenty of energy, still playing and eating normally, is a good sign.
So the solution is immediate neutering. That should remove everything, and should be a complete cure. I seriously hope so.
No, obviously I didn't have him neutered when he was younger. And it was a big mistake. Why didn't I have it done? Bunch of (now stupid) reasons. For one, I felt it was unnecessary trauma and pain. I didn't think there were any real health benefits to it, I thought it was just to keep Tyler from making unwanted puppies. And since I've always been very careful about not letting him run loose, keeping him on a leash or rope when in public and in my fenced-in back yard at home, I didn't think it was a big deal.
One vet did mention there were health reasons to have it done, but she had a very bad attitude about it - first, she treated me like I was stupid while telling me this (and it wasn't the first time she'd done that), and then did something that pissed me off so badly that I not only immediately changed vets, but completely discounted everything she'd had to say about neutering (and everything else). When I expressed concern about how it would affect Tyler to be neutered, she literally looked down her nose at me and said, quite disdainfully, "it's just a dog!"
Okay - anyone who knows me and Poo knows that is the most wrongedy wrong thing you could say to me about him. He's not "just a dog" to me. He's family. I feel about him like most people feel about their kids. Yeah - I know he's not (technically) human, but sheesh - so I had some concerns. So I dote on my dog. So get over it. Any vet worth the paper their degree is printed on would never say "he's just a dog." Perhaps she would have been happier in a lab somewhere, telling herself, "they're just monkeys."
So I completely disregarded her as some kind of dysfunctional bitch, and found a new vet.
I've been going to the new vet ever since (that's probably been about 5 years or more) and they never really mentioned it, either - once, kind of in passing, but never did anyone really explain any of this to me. So I continued to slough it off as not that important.
Now I know why it's more than just an unwanted puppy prevention. This type of cancer is very common in older un-neutered male dogs - I think I read online that something like 70% to 80% of older un-neutered dogs will likely develop this! And if it's not this, there are other problems commonly developed by aging dogs who have not been neutered, most notably prostate problems. And most of this can be 100% prevented by just having them neutered. If I ever get another dog, I won't make that mistake again. And I wish some vet at some time had taken the time to explain this to me, in a way that didn't make me feel stupid or make Tyler out to be nothing more than a "dumb animal."
Fortunately, hopefully, this will be fixable. The surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning, and if all goes well, he should make a relatively uneventful recovery and be completely cured. Dr. Nokes said many dogs have no problems with this surgery, which is technically relatively minor. The only risk for Tyler is that he's 12 years old, and anesthetizing an older dog can pose a risk. They took blood today to run some tests and make sure he's healthy enough to withstand the anesthesia (checking kidney function, for example, because it's the kidneys that filter out the anesthesia after the surgery). I'm fairly confident that'll be okay ... he is, in all other respects, very healthy. After all, he's been eating an all natural, home-cooked diet since he was 4 - whole grains, protein (turkey or chicken, sometimes tuna, beef, eggs), a variety of fresh vegetables, and fresh fruits for snacks. One of these days I'll post a rant about why everyone who loves their dog should cook for them, and not feed commercial dog foods. But not today.
And when I point blank asked Dr. Nokes if he thought Tyler would be okay, he said yes, he did. So ... hopefully, he's right.
Here's a picture I took this morning. Does this look like "just a dog" to you? Please send Poo good vibes tomorrow morning. I'll post an update tomorrow evening.
The
No, obviously I didn't have him neutered when he was younger. And it was a big mistake. Why didn't I have it done? Bunch of (now stupid) reasons. For one, I felt it was unnecessary trauma and pain. I didn't think there were any real health benefits to it, I thought it was just to keep Tyler from making unwanted puppies. And since I've always been very careful about not letting him run loose, keeping him on a leash or rope when in public and in my fenced-in back yard at home, I didn't think it was a big deal.
One vet did mention there were health reasons to have it done, but she had a very bad attitude about it - first, she treated me like I was stupid while telling me this (and it wasn't the first time she'd done that), and then did something that pissed me off so badly that I not only immediately changed vets, but completely discounted everything she'd had to say about neutering (and everything else). When I expressed concern about how it would affect Tyler to be neutered, she literally looked down her nose at me and said, quite disdainfully, "it's just a dog!"
Okay - anyone who knows me and Poo knows that is the most wrongedy wrong thing you could say to me about him. He's not "just a dog" to me. He's family. I feel about him like most people feel about their kids. Yeah - I know he's not (technically) human, but sheesh - so I had some concerns. So I dote on my dog. So get over it. Any vet worth the paper their degree is printed on would never say "he's just a dog." Perhaps she would have been happier in a lab somewhere, telling herself, "they're just monkeys."
So I completely disregarded her as some kind of dysfunctional bitch, and found a new vet.
I've been going to the new vet ever since (that's probably been about 5 years or more) and they never really mentioned it, either - once, kind of in passing, but never did anyone really explain any of this to me. So I continued to slough it off as not that important.
Now I know why it's more than just an unwanted puppy prevention. This type of cancer is very common in older un-neutered male dogs - I think I read online that something like 70% to 80% of older un-neutered dogs will likely develop this! And if it's not this, there are other problems commonly developed by aging dogs who have not been neutered, most notably prostate problems. And most of this can be 100% prevented by just having them neutered. If I ever get another dog, I won't make that mistake again. And I wish some vet at some time had taken the time to explain this to me, in a way that didn't make me feel stupid or make Tyler out to be nothing more than a "dumb animal."
Fortunately, hopefully, this will be fixable. The surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning, and if all goes well, he should make a relatively uneventful recovery and be completely cured. Dr. Nokes said many dogs have no problems with this surgery, which is technically relatively minor. The only risk for Tyler is that he's 12 years old, and anesthetizing an older dog can pose a risk. They took blood today to run some tests and make sure he's healthy enough to withstand the anesthesia (checking kidney function, for example, because it's the kidneys that filter out the anesthesia after the surgery). I'm fairly confident that'll be okay ... he is, in all other respects, very healthy. After all, he's been eating an all natural, home-cooked diet since he was 4 - whole grains, protein (turkey or chicken, sometimes tuna, beef, eggs), a variety of fresh vegetables, and fresh fruits for snacks. One of these days I'll post a rant about why everyone who loves their dog should cook for them, and not feed commercial dog foods. But not today.
And when I point blank asked Dr. Nokes if he thought Tyler would be okay, he said yes, he did. So ... hopefully, he's right.
Here's a picture I took this morning. Does this look like "just a dog" to you? Please send Poo good vibes tomorrow morning. I'll post an update tomorrow evening.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Monday Blather
Did I say I liked March? What the hell was I thinking. I woke up Sunday morning to two inches of new snow. It's been in the 20s. I am not happy. I think I was remembering Marches long past ... when I was growing up, March was much milder. But then, winter started much earlier, too. The seasons were more 'normal' then ... October was crisp, November was the beginning of winter; in March spring really began. It seems to me that the seasons have shifted oddly ... October is still quite warm, this year November and even December were quite mild. Yet winter lingers through March, and the cold damp weather continues into June.
Odd. But anyway ... I've been in a bad weather slump. I'm getting the winter blues, cabin fever, sick of the cold and snow. Way more than ready for warm weather.
Sunday I was in such a slump, I slept (off and on) till noon. Then, feeling particularly slack-ass, I made myself get up and go for a walk - yes, an actual walk, out of doors, in the snow. After that the Dread Reverend took me out to dinner. That was the extent of my activity for the day. Otherwise, I barely made it through the 4:00 episode of Midsomer Murders, and went to bed by 8:00. Sad.
I did convince myself to do some project work this evening. I was getting tired of being such a slacker. I got out the light box, and traced the embroidery pattern onto the second half of the pirate shirt front opening, and began the embroidery. So that's moving along. I didn't even do any sewing Sunday, so the Mamluk tunic is behind schedule. Hopefully in the coming week, or at the least this weekend, I'll get back to it. That's going to be some intricate embroidery, so I need to get started on it soon, to get it done by the May event.
Log cabin is spiraling along. It's getting big - big enough for a lap blanket now, but noooo, that's not good enough. I'm determined to make it at least full-bed-sized. Right. What started as a 'simple little project' to get me through a Celtic Icon slump has turned into my life's work. The larger it gets, the longer each patch is (of course) and it's really turning into a large project. But I'm desperately in love with it ... the bright colors, the soft fuzzy comforting feel, the idea of looking at such a large thing and realizing, I made each and every stitch. Myself. One at a time. Amazing. This is definitely going to become a favorite knitted thing. I just didn't think it through too much when I started it, and didn't think about how large it was going to be. Probably a good thing ... had I thought about the idea of knitting a whole entire blanket, I may have thought twice about it. I'm glad I didn't.
I guess I have nothing else useful to say, so I'll go now. Hopefully project progress will ensue throughout the week, and I'll regale you with pictures, at some point.
Odd. But anyway ... I've been in a bad weather slump. I'm getting the winter blues, cabin fever, sick of the cold and snow. Way more than ready for warm weather.
Sunday I was in such a slump, I slept (off and on) till noon. Then, feeling particularly slack-ass, I made myself get up and go for a walk - yes, an actual walk, out of doors, in the snow. After that the Dread Reverend took me out to dinner. That was the extent of my activity for the day. Otherwise, I barely made it through the 4:00 episode of Midsomer Murders, and went to bed by 8:00. Sad.
I did convince myself to do some project work this evening. I was getting tired of being such a slacker. I got out the light box, and traced the embroidery pattern onto the second half of the pirate shirt front opening, and began the embroidery. So that's moving along. I didn't even do any sewing Sunday, so the Mamluk tunic is behind schedule. Hopefully in the coming week, or at the least this weekend, I'll get back to it. That's going to be some intricate embroidery, so I need to get started on it soon, to get it done by the May event.
Log cabin is spiraling along. It's getting big - big enough for a lap blanket now, but noooo, that's not good enough. I'm determined to make it at least full-bed-sized. Right. What started as a 'simple little project' to get me through a Celtic Icon slump has turned into my life's work. The larger it gets, the longer each patch is (of course) and it's really turning into a large project. But I'm desperately in love with it ... the bright colors, the soft fuzzy comforting feel, the idea of looking at such a large thing and realizing, I made each and every stitch. Myself. One at a time. Amazing. This is definitely going to become a favorite knitted thing. I just didn't think it through too much when I started it, and didn't think about how large it was going to be. Probably a good thing ... had I thought about the idea of knitting a whole entire blanket, I may have thought twice about it. I'm glad I didn't.
I guess I have nothing else useful to say, so I'll go now. Hopefully project progress will ensue throughout the week, and I'll regale you with pictures, at some point.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Happy March
I always like March ... it sounds so 'springy,' like winter ought to be wrapping it up pretty soon. It made it into the 40s today, which is an improvement, but still not quite what I'd consider 'comfortable.'
I'm emulating a batch of dwarves today ... Sleepy, Grumpy, and Dopey - and we can add Scratchy and Fuzzy. I woke up at 4:30 this morning itching all over with hives. After an hour of futilely tossing and turning, hoping to fall back asleep, I gave up and took some Benadryl. It killed the itching in about 5 minutes, but made most of the day a real challenge. Any type of medicine like that makes me tired and sort of fuzzy-headed. On top of the lack of sleep, it made for a rough day.
It's 7:20 now, I'm in for the night, kicking back, just finished making up the menu for next week for dad, and the grocery list, and I feel mostly okay now. I'll probably pass out by about 9:00 tonight ... but at least I'll feel good tomorrow with a good, long night's sleep (if I don't turn into Scratchy again tonight and have to repeat the cycle).
I hope to get some work done on the Log Cabin tonight ... it's nice mindless work I can handle in this condition. I've worked on the pirate shirt a little this week, but it's not done yet.
I won't get back to work on the self-designed Mamluk tunic until the weekend, when I have a larger block of time. I want to do extensive embroidery on that project, and it's all counted thread work. I am trying to decide how I want to do that. I have a couple options. Make the tunic out of fabric-store linen (the affordable alternative to 'real' linen which is about $50 a yard); make the tunic out of the cotton I had in mind, but design an inset yoke made out of linen, where the embroidery will be; or embroider on linen, turn under the edges, and create a sort of 'applique' out of the embroidered piece, to be applied to the yoke area. I guess I'll decide that the next time I go to work on the project.
So that's all for now ... I owe Wren some snail mail, which I'm about to go write. If you're checking in, hi Wren, and I promise - really - snail mail soon.
I'm emulating a batch of dwarves today ... Sleepy, Grumpy, and Dopey - and we can add Scratchy and Fuzzy. I woke up at 4:30 this morning itching all over with hives. After an hour of futilely tossing and turning, hoping to fall back asleep, I gave up and took some Benadryl. It killed the itching in about 5 minutes, but made most of the day a real challenge. Any type of medicine like that makes me tired and sort of fuzzy-headed. On top of the lack of sleep, it made for a rough day.
It's 7:20 now, I'm in for the night, kicking back, just finished making up the menu for next week for dad, and the grocery list, and I feel mostly okay now. I'll probably pass out by about 9:00 tonight ... but at least I'll feel good tomorrow with a good, long night's sleep (if I don't turn into Scratchy again tonight and have to repeat the cycle).
I hope to get some work done on the Log Cabin tonight ... it's nice mindless work I can handle in this condition. I've worked on the pirate shirt a little this week, but it's not done yet.
I won't get back to work on the self-designed Mamluk tunic until the weekend, when I have a larger block of time. I want to do extensive embroidery on that project, and it's all counted thread work. I am trying to decide how I want to do that. I have a couple options. Make the tunic out of fabric-store linen (the affordable alternative to 'real' linen which is about $50 a yard); make the tunic out of the cotton I had in mind, but design an inset yoke made out of linen, where the embroidery will be; or embroider on linen, turn under the edges, and create a sort of 'applique' out of the embroidered piece, to be applied to the yoke area. I guess I'll decide that the next time I go to work on the project.
So that's all for now ... I owe Wren some snail mail, which I'm about to go write. If you're checking in, hi Wren, and I promise - really - snail mail soon.
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